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CONTENTS. 



STATE OF TEXAS. 



General Political History : 

The name "Texas" 9 

Topography 9 

1 )iscovery 13 

Texas Comparativclv Liiknovvn till Recently. 13 

Catholic Missions .: IT 

The New Civilization. : 18 

Philip Nolan 18 

Political Chanties 21 

The " Pirate of the Ciilf " 25 

Political Chanties, continued 2(5 

The Austins.: 29 

The Austin's Colony 31 

The Empresario System 34 

Influence of the New Inimiscration 3.5 

The Labor System '; 36 

Political ana Kelisious InH.lerance 37 

Education 37 

Religion 38 

Final Pvevolution 38 

Separation of Texas from Coahuila 43 

Battle of San Antonio 48 

The Alamo -50 

The Goliad Massacre 53 

San Jacinto 55 

The Independence Convention .59 

The Declaration of Independence 60 

Flag of the Lcme Star 63 

Forei-ii Kclatinns at That Tune 63 

Early l.e.i.slaiiwn 64 

A Rebellion 69 

-Indians 70 

Santa Fe Expedition 71 

Locationof the Capital ^. _~' 

Recognition of Te>:as h\ i- ureii^n Powers. ... 73 

Lamar's and llnii-;tiins A.lnunistrations 73 

Mexican War 74 

" Moderators "ami ■' RiL;iil,iti)rs" 75 

The War Cloud 76 

Texas Annexed to the United States. 78 

To Arms 78 

Events after the War 81 

Indian Colonization 83 

Current of E; vents 85 

The " Cart War " 86 



Political Parties 86 

Signs of the (_ limine: Storm .... 87 

The Storm llroken Forth 91 

After the W.ir 94 

Recon.struction Period 95 

New Constitutions, etc 102 

Greer County 103 

General Reflections 104 

Governors of Texas. List of 105 

BloGKAPIIirAI N.>TIl i.,s 106 

EureATU.N 129 

(^TIIFK St.xti'. IxsiTirTinxs 142 

Rki-K.i.in 146 

TllK PRFSS 147 

K.MLK^AO^ 147 

MlNKKAI, Rksovkcks 149 

A<.KirrLTlKi: 187 

Climatf. 199 

Priu.i. 1,.\M)S 201 

TiiF CorMii s 206 

Cfi II ^ AM. 1 kincipal Towns 210 

Mr-< I 1 1 \M -I s : 

"IncImu 1 leiiredations in Texas" — Wilbar- 
ger s iHuik 222 

The Fort Parker Massacre 222 

Cynthia Ann Parker 2.31 

A Comanche Princess 238 

Game ."Vnimals 241 

Fearful Encounter w^ith a Bear 241 

Yellow Fever 242 

Dawson and Sims 242 

Te.\a§ Veteran Association 243 

Suffrage 243 

-~~~;g^rn^tions from Taxation 243 

Exemptions from ■V^^'^-ed Sale m 

Texas at the World's Fai. : ^44 

Illustrations : 

Austin, Stephen F 

Church of the Alamo 50 

Church of the Conception 17 

Church of San Juan \j 

Houston, Sam 55 

Ruins Near San Jose, etc 17 

Santa Anna Before General Houston 58 

State Capitol 71 



V 



/ 

HISTORY OF TEXAS 



SUPPLEMENTED WITH 



Biographical Mention of Many Prominent Per- 
sons and Families of the State. 



A Concise History of the State from its Earliest Settlement to the Present 

Date; Together with Biographical Sketches of Many of the 

Leading F'amilies of 



CENTRAL TEXAS, 



BIOGRAPHY IS THE ONLY TRUE HISTORY."— Emei 



CHICAGO : 
The Lewis Publishing Company. 
1896. * 



-l^-7 



l(>25;i 







BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



Addison, N. C 

Ainswortli, Edward 
Alexander. I. H.... 
Allard.A. it 


710 

603 

291 

353 


Anderson, A. B. , . . 
Andrews \V A 


... 400 

. 384 


Arendell, T.J 

Arrington, ]. E 


491 

816 



B 



813 



Baird, C. P 

Baldwin, X. C 

Banowsky, G. F. L. . . . 

Barbae, Elias 

Barry, G. C, Sr 

Bass, J. K 

Beach, B. F 

Belcher, James L . . . . 

Bell, J. R 

Berry, F. M 

Berry, J. D ;S9U 

Bertrand, Fritz (541 

Biffle, H. P 595 

Biggs, R. A 555 

Birdwell, 1. M 427 

Bishop, I.W 749 

Bishop, W. C 362 

Blair, I. R 433 

Blankinship, |. B 540 

Bnler, lohn.; 550 

Boiton.'I. \V 619 

Booker, G. L 316 

Boynton, CM 816 

Brannan, J. C 765 

Briant, S. A 324 

Brock, G.F 503 

Brock, Lewis 620 

Brooks, J. V 343 

Broughton, N. W 594 

Brown, Thomas 626 

Bruington, J. M 460 

Brumbelow, L 448 

Bryan, Nick 412 





.. 805 


Bryson, J. H 


.. 633 


Bryson, J. R 


. 691 


Buchanan, P. C 


.. 685 


Bull, J. W 


. 634 


Bulman, H. J 


.. 602 






Burks, T. J 


.. 345 


Burks, W.C 


.. 267 


Burns, \Vm. C 




Burroughs, C. S 


,. 341 


BurniU'di'^ Win 


342 


Byrd Will r 


. 750 


C 




Caraway, Jesse 


.. 311 


Caraway,L.J 


.. 312 


Carlton, F. M 


.. 764 


Carlton, S. L 


.. 517 


Carman, C. M 


.. 508 


Carnes, C. W 


.. 754 


Carter, H.J 


.. 704 


Chancellor, Frank 


.. 830 


Chandler, E.H 


.. 712 


Chandler, J. N 


. . 305 


Clark, J. A 


.. 389 


Cleveland, F. M 


.. 493 


Cobbs, Thomas 


. 477 


Collett, O. C 


. 616 


Condron, R. N 


.. 351 


Conlcv, F. M 


. . 459 


Conwav, |..hii 


. 739 


Oh.ihm-, AInn/n 


.. 442 


Cooper, X. L 


.. 314 


Courtney, T. | 


.. 669 


Cowan, Isaac F 


.. 417 


Cox, Alfred 


.. 784 


Cox, Jesse 


.. 580 


Cox, Wm. D 


.. 355 


Crawford, Wm. C 


.. 650 


Crews, Leonidas 


.. 264 


Cunningham, A 


802 


Cureton, R.A 


.. 320 


Cureton, J. J 


.. 274 


Cureton, W. E 


.. 273 



D 

Dabney, E. T 611 

Dabney, J. B 532 

Dabney, J. W 506 

Dahl, Peter 444 

Daniel, D. F 637 

Danley, Isaac 509 

Daughtry, A. J 667 

Davidson, J.J 636 

Davis, L. M 667 

Davis, N. ,S 488 

Davis, Wm. H 558 

Dawdy, J. S 638 

Daws, William 678 

Day, James 443 

Deaton, E. L 767 

Deals, Thomas A 563 

Deaver, Wm. C 664 

Deen, Thomas H 369 

Denison, G. H 309 

Dillard, H. S 504 

Dockum, Charles 350 

Duckworth, W. J 379 

Dunlap, T. 1 656 

Dunn, A. G.B 296 

Dyer, John 623 

E 

Edwards, J. H 406 

Eidson, I. A 271 

Elam, T."L 497 

Ellis, t. J. & Co 285 

Emison. David 420 

Ethridge, W. S 358 

Ewell, Thomas T 552 

F 

Ferguson, James 823 

Fielder, Wm. A 420 

Flinn, Benj. H 601 

Formwalt, 1. A 359 

Foster, A. B 330 

Foster, H. C 631 

Francis, Clay 813 



A 



^ 



A 



CONTENTS. 



Francis, Edward 
Freeland, G. \V 



Gaines, Joseph \\ 
Garner, Claiborn. 

Garrett, B.W 

Gate wood, A. B.. 

Gentry, F. B 

Gentry, Jonathan. 

Gentry, W. G 

George, J. C...... 

Gilbreath, A. J... 

GiUett, L. E 

Glenn, A. J 

Glenn, W. B 

Goodwin, E. T. . . 
Goodwin, J. C.... 

Gordon, J. B 

Gordon, L. F. . . . 

Grace, M. B 

Green, A. E 

Griffith, Hardin.. 

Griffith, J. A 

Guthrie, J. W..., 



H 



Hamick,T. J 

Hanbv, S 

Handy, D. S 

Hanson, J. H 

Hare, Benjamin 

Harlow, J. S 

Harris, B. F 

Harris, G.W 

Harris, LA 

Hart, A. J 

Harvev, lohn 

Hatchett, W. P 

Haves, |. L 

Helm, W. S 

Helton, J. K 

Hensley, J. C 

Hendrix, D. C 

Henlev, R.I 

Herring, Mark 

Herrington, J. L 

Hickey. W. W 

Hicks, Wm.B.. ...._.. 

Higginhotham, W. G.. 

Hines, Wm. W 

Hinkle, J.W 

Hinkle, Win 

Holder, L.E 

Holland, R. M 

Hnllis, B. L 

Hollnwav, W. M 

HolUnvood, L 

Holmes, F. D 

Holmes, \V. K 

Holmsley, T. J 

Holt, H. L 

Hooker, Thomas 

Howard, Philip 

Howard, Mrs. Philip.. 



Fidton, James M "^'^ 



.. 743 
.. 481 
, . 729 
.. 272 



Howell, J. L 

Hubbert, T. J. 
HunilK-rson,W. 



Hunt, John U.. 
Hurk'V, Moses. 



Jackson, Andrew. 

Jackson, G. E 

Jackson, J. C 

Jackson, J. P 

Jackson, Philip... 

Jackson, S. A 

Jackson, Wm. C. 

James, J. T 

Jaquess, J. A 

Johnson, Bart 

Johnson, J. H 

Johnson, J.J 

Johnson, W.M... 
Johnston, C. N. . . 

Jones, A. M 

Jones, M. G 

Jones, J. W 

Tones, W. C 

Jordan, J. P 

Jordan, W. H . . . 
Joyce, W.R 



415 
714 
. 2.54 
. 643 
. 367 
. 467 
. 812 
. 624 
. ,52.5 
. 472 
. 642 
. 42.5 
. 476 
. 4.51 
. 578 
. 576 
.. 721 
. . 392 
.. 398 
. . 249 
.. 251 



. 674 
, . 395 
, . 828 
.. 676 
.. 329 
.. 654 
. . 421 
.. 402 
. 292 
.. 376 
.. 465 
.. 653 
.. 7.53 
.. 408 
.. 737 
.. 734 



Luker, J.W 

Lumpkin, James J., 

M 



.... 690 
. ... 705 

... 810 
. . . . 4.54 
. . . 813 

... 699 
. ... 560 
. ..306 
.... 807 



604 
630 

777 
748 
544 



Kav, H.P •"•,e 

Keith, 1. H 2^' 

Kellum, E.G. P f^ 

Kennedy, A 646 

Kiker,B. M 440 

Kilgore, E. E S8.j 

King, Henry ^t,9 

King, Shelby. ^.2 

King, Thomas B f- 

Kooken,R.A ^^^ 



Lacy,H.R 2iX 

Lackey, A. A {°" 

Laine D. B ^63 

Landers,' Abel" 30J 

Lanford,W.C 549 

Larned,F.S f^ 

Laughlin.B. F |27 

Lewis, T.Y ^U 

Lidia,G.W 

Lockett, O. L 

Lockhart, J. C. R 

Logan, J. C 

Lomax, S. S 

Long, John S 

Lonk.W.T.. .. 

Loudermilk, H. (- 

Loudermilk, R. C 

Loutherhack, C 

Loyd, Simpson 

Ludwig, John 

Luker, G.W 



Main, John C 

Major, J. F 

Martin, J. P 

Martin, H. R 

Massey, N. A 

Matthews, J. J.. • ■ 
Matthews, Mack... 

Maxwell, Wm 

May, George W... 
McAnelly,W. B... 

McCamey, J. C 

McCarty,J.F..... 
McCarty,Wm. N., 
McCarty, W. P... 
McCulloch,W.H 
McCuUum, J. W.. 
McDermott, G. C. 
McElhaney, C. L. 

McGuire, J. A.. 

McGuire, John E ojd 

Mclnturff, J. W 443 

\l,K,n.ie, J.W '60 

Ai.Kn.l.v.C. M -'41 

M,Kinu\ G.W 6«4 

.MrNV.ll, W.W 2.5.5 

McPherson, S. R ^^J 

McPherson, W. L ^'» 

McPherson, Wm JSx 

Meek, John.. 'JA 

Meeker, A. M ]1" 

Mefferd.W.J 462 

Milam, Scott 

Miller, Andrew.. 

Miller, J. D 

Miller, J. P 

Miller, R. A -^ 

Mingus, William 5»1 

Moodie, Peter «'" 

Moore, Isaac if 

Moore, J. H 'H^ 

Morgan J. J... "' 

Morris, Wm. J ^o^ 

Morrison, Wm 

Moss, J. M 

?*Ioss, J.W 

Munn, John 

Murray, J. A 

Musick, Austin... 
Musick, Henry.... 
Myers, J. H 

N 



498 



811 



518 



Nabers, Wm. J. 

Neal, A.B 

Neal, E. S 

Neel, LA 

New, E. S 

Northcutt, J. R. 
Nvitt Family. . . 



567 
337 
794 
665 
477 



Oakes, G. W. 
Olson, Lars.. 



CONTEiXTS. 



O'Neal, C. M 771 

0'Xeal,\V. H 617 

Oswald, M.J 490 

Ownbey, J. L 572 

Oxford, A. L 343 

P 

Palmer, Benjamin 346 

Parker, James T 373 

Parker, J. W 253 

Parks, J. B 571 

Parks, Leroy 438 

Patton, M. L 322 

Paulson, C. A 488 

Pearce.J.A '. 683 

Penington, T. R 632 

Perkins, Simeon 348 

Perry, George F 449 

Peveler, J. M 523 

Phillips, I. C 319 

Phillii.s, k. N 817 

Picklr, W. ]•:. AI 609 

Picrson. luhn II 612 

Piersc.n, Thomas C 609 

Pint;rec, Daniel 299 

Pinkanl, 1). P 788 

Pioneer Exponent 830 

I'oe, J.A 496 

Poe, \Vm. C 671 

Pool, Thomas iM 640 

Powell, 1. R 439 

Powell, J. R 335 

Powell, \V. G. \V 334 

Prather, B. T 376 

Preacher, Philip ' 677 

Prescher, Emil E . 614 

Presley, T. E 520 

Price, E. N 600 

R 

Reeder, A. H 407 

R"-v'S j-s,,,l, 364 

R'-.v.:,. W. I 703 

Rli'"!.-. T. I 692 

Richanls, H. 1. 625 

R'^-'K^'"'. J- K 280 

RolxTts, G. W" ... -763 

R"h,-rts, I. c ;:::: 455 

Rolxrt.snii. I.M 529 

Kol>,ns,,n, 1: 1 ■;.•. 424 

I^"l""-'n, W. I ,583 

R"^-l>. .I"l'" 302 

R"ss, X. 1; 245 

R'iss, K. 1) 257 

Ross, T. J 820 

Rowland, J. A 763 

Rucker, J. P 7'^9 

Rundeii.s. I ; ;;■; 401 



Rupe, D. M 


... 365 


Russell, W. H 


... 268 


s 




Sadler, B.P 


... 522 


Sanders, E.W 


... 757 


Saxon, W.T 


... 697 


Schenck, F. R 


. .. 452 


Scl,l,-cl, F 


... 488 


Sch(i\\' () 1- 


... 326 


Schnu-, Y. K.& Binthers... 


... 325 


Scott, T. 1 


. .. 615 


Sea.cjo, T. K 


... .565 


Selman, R. L 


. .. 584 


Shaw, D. B 


. .. 535 


Sheffield, T.J 

Shelton, G. W 


... 726 


... 829 


Sherrill, F. H 


.. 514 


Shipman, H. A 


... .533 


Shirlrv, I. T 


. . . 822 


■'■"■■1;"'-. .Inn.-s 


.. 799 


"l^i|M">. 1- H.F 


... 445 


Siuitli, llrnlon 


. . . 374 


Snnth,F. P 


. .. 689 


Smith, Prank 


. . 586 


Smith, J. B 


.. G27 


Smith, I. E 




Smith, Joseph B 

Smith, L. C . .•* 


.. 599 


. . 738 


Smith, L. M 


.. 811 


Spivev, Elias 


.. 826 


Spurlin, lohn L 


.. 676 


Stanley, Ed. R 




Steplun, I. .M 


. . 2.S9 


Slephrns,' I. V 


... 518 


Stew.irt, C. C 


.. 740 


Stii^lci-, T. L 


.. 607 


Stiles, Samuel 


. . . 546 


Stone, Harriette S 


.. 333 


Stone, William 


.. 297 


Sulhvan, John 


.. 494 


Switrer, B. W 


.. 545 


Swii/,-1-, S. R 




S»-.l/,r, W.C 


.. 391 


^uii.,.,-, Win. D 


.. 515 


T 




Tabor, G.W 


.. 7(!7 


Tandy, John C 


.. 471 


Tate, J. W 


.. 710 


Terry, Elisha 


.. 590 


Thomas, L. B 


.. 308 


Thompson, |. B 


.. 719 


Thornton. D. R 


576 


Thornton, 1. H 


.. 809 


Tidwell, C.W 


.. 282 


Tudor, T.B 


.. 478 


Tuggle, T. H 


.. 331 


Tunnell,J. T 


•. 52r, 



u 

Umphress, S. E 745 

\' 

Vaughn, T. S 294 

Vernon, S. M ,586 

j W 

Wagner, S. W 797 

Wagnon, R. M 616 

Walker, A. 1 638 

Walker, Alexander 647 

Walker, G.B 747 

Walker, G.W 797 

Walker, |,,hn 787 

Walton, A. I 445 

, Weaver, Wm. C 806 

Welch, J. E 766 

Wells, J. M 492 

Whitacre, E.J 589 

' Whitacre, W. B 569 

\ White, T.C 663 

White, L). A 416 

Whitehead, R. S 741 

Whitwoith, P. H 469 

Williams, lames T 368 

I Williams, John M 744 

Williams. P. W., Sr 649 

Williams, P.W.. Ir 650 

Williams, W. t:.: 695 

W,Unn,\-,,l .530 

WiU...i, F. A 447 

! wlii'lJa-. l'''!!M|-.l...'. \\ ' 'i:,7 

: w,.iiii,a-.l. I. (;:i5 

Wc.iiiaLk. .\. (. 609 

W..iiKu;k. |..\ 694 

Wnnd, C.C 321 

W.i.Ml, 1). M 825 

Wood, L. 1) 824 

Wood. T. A 498 

Wo,,dlev. I. M 587 

Woods, H: W 681 

Woodward, J. F 411 

Woollev, M. L 643 

Word, I. P 292 

Wright, H. B 730 

Wri-ht, 1. (.: 728 

Wvatt, \: \ 718 

Wvli,-, J', .s 485 

Wysong, lames H 260 



Young, Lee. . . . 
Young, Wm. R . 



""~ ^^^^ ^ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS, 



THE State of Texas has had a career so 
remarkable that its study enchants the 
reader like the bewitching stories and 
legends of England, or of any great 
European country. It is with pleasure, there- 
fore, that the author compiles the following 
brief account, giving the substance of the 
best passages in the history of the Lone Star 
State: 

THE NAME "TEXAS." 

According to the various authorities, there 
are several origins to the name Texas. 1, 
Spanish, tejas (roof-tiles), because the inhab- 
itants had roofed houses; 2, old Spanish or 
Celtiberian, denoting a plain; 3, an Indian 
word signifying friend; 4, another Indian 
word meaning paradise, or a beautiful land; 
5, a common termination of several tribal 
names in Indian, as Tlaxcaltecas, Chlolutecas, 
Cuitlachtecas, Zacatecas, etc. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

Texas has an area of 271,856 square miles 
of land, and 2,510 square miles of water sur- 
face, the latter consisting of lakes and bays, 
making a total of 274,366 square miles, equal 
to about 8.7 per cent, of the entire area of the 
United States and Territories. It is much the 
largest State in the Union, being six times 
larger than New York and seven times as large 
as Ohio, and 100,000 square miles larger than 
all the Eastern and Middle States, including 
Delaware and Maryland. Compared to the 



countries of Europe, it has 34,000 square 
miles more than the Austrian Empire, 62,000 
more than the German Empire, and nearly 
70,000 square miles more than France. 

It is located in the extreme southern 
part of the United States, between the 26tli 
and 36th parallels of north latitude and the 
94th and 106th meridians of longitude. The 
distance between the extreme northern and 
southern points is nearly 750 miles, and 
about 800 miles from east to west. It is 
bounded on the east by the State of Louisi- 
ana, west by the Republic of Mexico and the 
Territory of New Mexico, north by the States 
of Colorado and Arkansas and the Indian 
Territory, and on the south by the Gulf of 
Mexico. General custom has divided the 
State geographically into five parts, namely: 
Central, northern, southern, eastern and west- 
ern Texas, though the dividing lines are not 
well defined. 

The topography, like many other charac- 
teristics of the State, is but little understood, 
except in a general way. 

The country lying east of the 96th degree 
of longitude and north of the 30th parallel 
of latitude, and known as "East Texas," is 
characterized by a long range of hills running 
in an irregular line from northeast to south- 
west, and containing large deposits of brown 
hematite iron ore. It is also marked by a 
heavy growth of timber, consisting princi- 
pally of forests of pine, oak and hickory. 



HISTUIiY OF TEX A3. 



The Gulf Coast is tliiis desciilio.l l.y Prof. 
I.ongliridge, of the United iStMtes Ceii.sus 
I'.ureau: 

"The coast of Texas presents features dif- 
ferent from tliose of any other State, fur while 
in many other States the mainland coast is 
greatly cut up into large bays, extending 
many miles inland, it is here bordered by an 
almost continuous chain of islands and pin- 
insuLis (the latter having the same trend as 
the islands). The (iulf border of this chain 
is a very rejrular line southwest from the 
moulh of the S:ibine river or lake to near Cor- 
))ns Christi, which occupies the highest point 
on tiie entire coast, and thence turns with a 
regular curve south and slightly soutiieast to 
Mexico." 

The territory east of the timber region and 
north of the Gulf Coast, as above outlined, is 
a vast open pliin composed of gently rol ing 
prairies and gradual elevations. It is cov- 
en d with a luxuriant growth of native grasses 
and dotted by an occasional mott of timber, 
and extends to the lied river on the north 
iirid the nionntain ranges of the west and 
U'lithwcft. The WMterconrses an<l ravines 
aie uMially fringed with a growth of hack- 
berry, ash, elm, Cottonwood, pecan, wuhiut 
iiiKJ ihe vaiious oaks. 

AV^e-t and northwest lie the hills and moun- 
tain ranges of the State, which are continna- 
ti(me ol the mountains of Mexico. ISVw 
Mexico and Colorado. In the extreme 
northwest, bordering Kansas on the south 
and New Mexico on the west, is the elevated 
table land formerly known as the Llano Es- 
tacado, or Staked I'lains. It is now desig- 
nated as the Panhandle of Texas, and is 
destined to be one of the beet agricultural 
and stock-raising sections of the State. On 
a line north of Austin and San Antonio, and 
running in a. southwesterly direction, there is 



alow range of hills that mark a change in the 
topography of the country. Wesfwanl it is 
more broken and the e'evations more abrupt. 
Tiie valleys are biuad and the lands very 
fertile. 

The water surface of Texas is estimated at 
2,510 square miles. Of this number, 800 
square miles are accredited to the rivers and 
smaller streams which drain the State. The 
balance consists of bays which lie along the 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and small iidand 
lakes. 

Chief among the rivers of the State is the 
Brazos, which drains an aj-ea of about 35,000 
square miles, and is navigable as far up as 
Columbia (about forty miles) at all times. It 
has its source in the noiUiwestern part of the 
State, at the foot of the Staked Plains, and 
flows in an easterly direction to Baylor county, 
thence southeasterly to Brazoria county, where 
it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Follow- 
ing its bends it is about 900 miles long. The 
Navasota river, which has its source in Lime- 
stone county, is its princip.al tributary, and 
drains portions of Leon, lioljcrtson, JIadison, 
Brazos and Grimes counties. 

The wes-tern most branch of the Brazos has 
its source in an extensive salt region, — not 
Mr. Jefferson's "Salt mountain,'' of which so 
much was said nnd sung at the time of the 
Louisiana purchase, — but a vast plain of 100 
or 200 raiics in extent, charged with mineral 
salt and covered in patches with nitre. The 
salt is washed out of this basin only by fresh- 
ets, through Salt branch, into the Brazos. 

The shores of the Brazos are not flat, 
though never bold, but undulating and grace- 
ful. The trees of larger growth are some- 
times covered with Spanish moss, as on the 
shores of the Mississippi; but these bearded 
nondescripts are not so frequent as to give the 
sensation of gloom; nor is there any cypress 



HltiTOliT OF TEXAS. 



to increase that effect on the mind. Where 
the land is of comparatively recent formation, 
the growth is of willow and cottonwood, with 
occasional sycamores. 

The Brazos never overflows its banks. The 
water in primeval times was slightly redder 
than was that of the Upper Mississippi, re- 
sembling that of Red river. From the cen- 
ter both shores show to advantage. There is 
no caving-in or cut-offs, and in early days no 
dead timber — scarcely a snag. The surface 
of the gently-flowing water is generally calm 
and beautiful, but in floods it is of course 
violent and darkened with mud. 

The Red river is next in importance and 
forms the boundary line between Texas and 
the Indian Territory and Arkansas. It has 
its source in the Panhandle of Texas, formerly 
known as the Llano Estacado, and flows east- 
ward through Arkansas and Louisiana, empty- 
ing into the Mississippi river. It drains 
about 29,000 square miles in Texas. The 
Big and Little Wichita rivers are among its 
principal tributaries on the Texas side. 

The Colorado river rises in Dawson connty, 
the highest point reached by any of its 
prongs, and flows in a southeasterly directionj 
emptying into Matagorda Bay, on the Gulf 
of Mexico. The Concho, San Saba, and Llano 
rivers form its tributaries. It is over 900 
miles long and drains a territory estimated 
at 25,000 square miles. 

The Trinity river has its source in Archer 
and Denton counties, the two forks converg- 
ing in Dallas county and flowing in a south- 
easterly direction to Trinity bay, in Cham- 
bers county. It is about 550 miles long and 
drains an area of about 17,000 square miles. 

The Sabine river forms the eastern boun- 
dary of the State from the thirty-second 
parallel of latitude to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and is navigable for about 300 miles. It has 



its source in Hunt county, in the northeast- 
ern part of the State, and drains about 17,000 
square miles in Texas, emptying into Sabine 
lake near the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Nueces river has its starting point in 
Edwards county and flows southeasterly into 
La Salle county, thence east into Live Oak 
county, and from thence south, emptying 
into Corpus Christi bay on the Gulf of Mexico. 
Together with its tributaries, the Leona, 
Frio, and Atascosa rivers, it drains an area 
estimated at about 16,000 square miles. 

The San Antonio river has its source in 
Bexar county and flows southeasterly to Re- 
fugio county, where it unites with the Gua- 
dalupe river about twelve miles north of San 
Antonio bay, into which it empties. Its 
principal tributariec are the Medina and 
Salado rivers, in Bexar county, and the Ci- 
bolo river, in Karnes county. 

The Guadalupe river rises in Kerr county 
and flows in an easterly direction to Gonzales 
connty, thence in a southeasterly direction to 
the point of junction with the San Antonio 
river, about twelve miles from its mouth on 
San Antonio bay. The San Marcos river, 
which lias its source near San Marcos, in 
Hays county, forms its principal tributary. 

The Rio Grande forms the western boun- 
dary line of Texas and also the boundary line 
between the United States and Mexico. It 
has its source in the southwestern part of 
Colorado and flows generally in a southeast- 
erly direction to Clarksville, in Cameron 
county, where it empties into the Gulf of 
Mexico. It is navigable for small steamers 
for about 450 miles from the Gulf, and drains 
an area on the Texas side estimated at abont 
18,000 square miles. During the greater 
part of the year it is fordable above the iu- 
lluence of tide water. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The Pecos river rises in New Mexico, on 
tlie east slope of the lidcky mountains, flows 
tiirough Texas in a southeasterly direction to 
a point near Painted Cave Spring, in Crockett 
county, where it empties into the Kio Grande. 
It drains an area of about 6,000 square miles. 

Tiie Neches river has its source in Van 
Zaiidt county and runs in a southeasterly di- 
rection parallel with the Trinity river, empty- 
ing into Sabine lake on the Gulf of Mexico. 
The Angelina river, which rises in Rusk 
county, forms its principal tributary, and, to- 
gether with the Neches, drains a large scope 
of country between the Trinity and Sabine 
rivers. 

The Sulphur Fork runs nearly parallel with 
Red river in an easterly direction, passing 
out of the State at Sulphur Station and empty- 
ing into the Red river at Dempsy, Louisiana, 
it drains a large part of the northeastern 
counties of tlie State. 

On Caney creek there was originally an 
immense cane-brake one to three miles wide 
and seventy miles long. It was on both sides 
of the creek, extending from near its source 
to within twelve miles of its mouth, and 
scarcely a tree was to be found within that 
ocean of cane. It was called the Great Prai- 
rie Canebrake, and the stream originally 
Caiiebrake creek. 

There are many unequivocal evidences that 
this creek was once a branch of the Colorado, 
constituting another mouth for that stream. 
The bed of the creek is of equal depth and 
width with the river, and the appearance of 
the banks, the nature of the adjacent soil, 
etc., are the same in both. A strongly con- 
firmatory evidence is the abrupt termination 
of the deep, wide bed of the Caney within 
less than 200 yards of the river, in an allu- 
vial bottom nearly ten miles in width. Thus 
was an island formed with a coast line of 



twenty-five miles. It is now called Bay prairie. 

There are a large number of small inland 
lakes scattered throughout the State. Sabine 
lake, lying between Texas and Louisiana, is 
the largest of these and is about- eigliteen 
miles long by nine broad. It is fed by the 
Neches and Sabine rivers and discharges into 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

All of the principal rivers of the State flow 
in a southeasterly direction and empty into 
the Gulf of Mexico, except the Red river, 
which flows east into the Mississippi river. 

As a general rule the streams east of the 
Brazos river are sluggish and muddy; those 
on the west side clear and swift running. 
Many of the streams in western and north- 
ern Texas contain pure, clear water suitable 
for domestic purposes, and abounding in tine 
fish. Some of the streams, however, are de- 
ceptive. The water is inviting to the eye, 
but is strongly impregnated with minerals 
and brackish to the taste. 

The streams in eastern Texas also contain 
large numbers of fish of the varieties com- 
mon to sluggish waters. Some of the smaller 
streams in that section, however, are fed from 
the springs and lakes of pure, clear water 
found among the sand hills. 

The bays along and near the Gulf coast 
are: Trinity, Lavaca, Matagorda, San Anto- 
nio, Espiritu Santo, Copano, Aransas, Nue- 
ces, Corpus Christi, Alazan, and Laguna del 
Madre. 

The soil of Texas and its products, timber 
growth, mineral resources, etc., are treated 
on subsequent pages. 

The figures in the following table denote 
tlie elevation above sea level, in feet, of points 
named: 

Galveston 40 

Indianola 26 

Brownsville 43 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Palestine 495 

Coreicana 448 

Denison ^BT 

Austin 513 

San Antonio 676 

Fort Ewell 200 

Fort Chadbourne 2,120 

Jacksboro 1,133 

Henrietta 915 

Fort Concho 1,888 

Fort Stockton 3,050 

El Paso 3,370 

Fort Davis 4,918 

Eagle Pass 800 

Fort Elliott 2,500 

Silver Falls " 3,800 

Midland 2,779 

DISCOVERY OF THE REGION. 

Kobert Cavalier de la Salle, the noted 
French explorer of the Mississippi valley, 
etc., came down the Mississippi river in 
1683, and returned to France. In 1685, hav- 
ing obtained royal letters patent, and pro- 
vided with four vessels, he set sail to discover 
the mouth of the great Father of "Waters, 
but, drifting too far west, he landed in Texas, 
supposing Matagorda bay to be the point he 
was looking for. After exploring the country 
he conceived the bold project of traversing 
the country northward to the Illinois river, 
a distance of 2,000 miles. Selecting a few 
of his friends, he started, but on March 20, 
1687, fell a victim to the treachery of his 
own men. He was slain by a musket ball 
fired by Duhaut, who had become jealous 
and dissatisfied with him and others in the 
party. This unjustifiable deed was com- 
mitted somewhere in the region of the Bra- 
zos river: it is impossible to identify the ex- 
act point. It "was several days' journey 



west of the Cenis Indians," whose dwellings 
at that time were on the Trinity river. 

La Salle was "saturnine in temperament, 
reserved in his communications, asking coun- 
sel of none. There was a certain hardness in 
liis manners, a tone of lofty self-reliance, 
which, though it commanded the obedience 
of his followers, did not gain their good will. 
On the other hand, his capacity for huge de- 
signs has had few parallels. He has been 
called tlie Columbus of his age; and had his 
success been equal to his ability, this distinc- 
tion might justly have been awarded him. 
Cool and intrepid, never for a moment yield- 
ing to despair, he bore the burden of his 
calamities manfully, and his hopes expired 
only with his latest breath." 

TEXAS COMPAEATIVELT UNKNOWN UNTIL EE- 
CENTLT. 

Mary Austin Holley, a resident of Texas, 
in 1833 penned the following, to the effect 
that Texas, in its merits, was not really dis- 
covered until a comparatively late date: 

" Texas, until within the last few years, has 
been literally a terra incognita. That such a 
region existed has indeed been known, but in 
respect to its geography and natural resources, 
clouds and darkness have rested upon it. 
This is the more remarkable, lying, as it does, 
contiguous to two enlightened nations, — the 
United States on the one side and Mexico ou 
the other, both by land and sea. While 
Britons, impelled by a daring spirit of enter- 
prise, have penetrated to the ice-bound region 
of Melville's Island, and our own New Eng- 
landers have encountered all the hardships 
and hazards of the western desert, the Rocky 
mountains and hostile Indians, to find a home 
at the mouth of the Columbia river, this mosi 
inviting region, lying just at their doors, has 
been altogether overlooked. 



UISTOliY OV TBX^IS. 



"Quite niu^xpectcdly, as it were, a report 
lias reached tlie public ear that the country 
lying west of the Sabine river is a tract of 
surpassing beauty, exceeding even our best 
Western lands in productiveness, witii a cli- 
mate perfectly salubrious and of a tempera- 
ture at all seasons of the year most delightful. 
The admirers of this now country, speaking 
from actual knowledge and a personal in- 
spection, are not content, in their descriptions 
of it, to make use of ordinary terms of com- 
mendation. They hesitate not to call it a 
sjjlendid country, an enchanting spot. It 
would seem as if enchantment had indeed 
thrown its spell over their minds, for with 
very few exceptions all who return from this 
fairy land are perfect enthusiasts in their ad- 
miration of it. Whatever qualifications to 
its excellence the most cautious of them are 
disposed to make, have reference to those in- 
conveniences which unavoidably pertain to 
every country in the incipient stage of its 
settlement. 

" So apparently extravagant have been the 
representations of the natural beauty and 
resources of this country, that many persons 
are incredulous and attribute them to the 
schemes of interested contractors, eager to 
allure the unwary emigrant by deceptive 
statements. Such a motive, if it really actu- 
ates the conduct of any one, cannot be too 
severely condemned. A design more crimi- 
nal and disgraceful cannot be, and ought not 
to be, lightly insinuated against respectable 
men. What design more cruel than that of 
deliberately seducing, not the confiding emi- 
grant alone, but also with him his wife and 
children, to become the certain victims of 
privation, disappointment and ultimate ruin 
in the wilderness! The character and re- 
spectability of the witnesses above referred to 
at once repel an insinuation so atrocious. 



" While listening for the first time to the 
favorable reports of Texas, it must be con- 
fessed a suspicion is very apt to arise in the 
mind that so much imputed excellence, if it 
really existed, could not have so long been 
concealed from the view of the world, and we 
are prone to ask, how has it happened that a 
territory, possessing such uncommon advan- 
tage of climate and soil, has not been explored 
and appropriated before? To this very natural 
inquiry a satisfactory answer is at hand. 

" Two causes seem to have operated to pre- 
vent the earlier settlement of the province of 
Texas and to retard the development of its 
resources. In the first place the jealous pol- 
icy of the old Spanish government uniformly 
discouraged all attempts to penetrate into 
the country. It was the policy of the gov- 
ernment that completely locked up Texas and 
all the Spanish-American possessions, and 
excluded even visitors and travelers. It was 
a favorite saying of the Spanish captain gen 
eral of the internal provinces, Don Nemisio 
Salcedo, that he would stop the birds from 
flying over the boundary line between Texas 
and the United States if it were in his power! 
This rigid policy prevented any one from at- 
tempting to explore the country by land, for 
perpetual imprisonment was the inevitable 
result of detection and capture. 

" In the second place, the Carancahua In- 
dians, who inhabited the coast, were repre- 
sented to be of a character uncommonly 
ferocious. They were popularly believed to 
be cannibals; and many tales of most fright- 
ful import were told of them, — such as, if 
true, it must be acknowledged, were suf- 
ficiently appalling to check the enterprise 
and damp the ardor of the most eager adven- 
turer. These representations of the character 
of the Carancahuas, though in a measure true, 
were greatly exaggerated; and it is believed 



U I STORY OF TEXAS. 



by many that they were either fabricated, or 
at least countenanced, by the Spanisli aiithori- 
ties, to prevent intercourse with the province, 
which it was not easy to guard by a military 
force. 

" Tlius, ths whole of this country remained 
for ages nnknown to the world ; and instead of 
being converted into an abode of industrious 
and happy freemen, as it might have been, 
it was doomed by tlie selfishness of men to 
continue a howling wilderness. No maps, 
charts or geographical notices were ever al- 
lowed by the Spaniards to be taken of it. The 
map compiled by Colonel Austin and piib- 
lished by Tanner, is the first and correct geo- 
graphical information of the country that has 
ever been published. The persons who were 
engaged in the expeditions under Generals 
Bernardo, Gutierrez and Toledo, in 1812-'13, 
knew nothing of Texas except along and near 
the road they traveled, for they were too much 
occupied by the war, during the short time 
they had possession, to explore the country. 
It is uncertain how long this expensive and 
valuable land would have remained unknown 
and unsettled had not the hold enterprise and 
perseverance of the Austins torn away the 
veil that hid it from the view of the world 
and redeemed it from the wilderness, by the 
settlement of a flourishing colony of Nortli 
Americans on the Brazos and Colorado rivers. 
With the settlement of this colony a new era 
has dawned upon Texas. The natural riches 
of this beautifxil province have begun to be 
unfolded, and its charms displayed to the 
eyes of admiring adventurers. A new island, 
as it were, has been discovered in these latter 
days at our very doors, apparently fresh from 
the hands Of its Maker, and adapted, beyond 
most lands, both to delight the senses and 
enrich the pockets of those who are disposed 
to accept of its bounties. 



" Without any assistance from the govern- 
ment or fostering care of any sort, but simply 
under a permission to enter, some thou^aixls 
of industrious farmers and mechanics, with 
their families, have already located them- 
selves here. Their numbers are rapidly in- 
creasing, and there cannot be a doubt tliat in 
a few years Texas will become one of the most 
populous of the Mexican States." 

Said De Marbois early in the present cen- 
tury: "Texas is one of the finest countries in 
the world, and yet the Europeans, eager as 
they have been to make conquests in America, 
have seemed almost to the present day ignor- 
ant of its existence. " 

With reference to the political aspects of 
the country in 1833, Mrs. Ilolley said: 

" It is not ditKcult to determine what in all 
likelihood will be the future destiny of Texas. 
Should the Mexican government adopt a cor- 
rect policy, it will form a valuable and efficient 
State of the Mexican confederation; for under 
a judicious system of administration it would 
not be the interest of the inhabitants to dis- 
solve the present connection, and they could 
feel no motive to do so. 

" It is very possible, however, that an un- 
wise course of administration might provoke 
a separation; and what might be the result 
of such a separation I shall not attempt to 
conjecture. 

" All the attention and vigor of the settlers 
appear to be now, as it ought to be, directed 
to their own individual private concerns. If 
unmolested in their lawful pursuits of indus- 
try and protected by equal laws from the im- 
position of the federal officers, they will be 
satisfied; for 1 cannot conceive that they 
should be so blind to their own interests a> 
wantonly to resist the laws of the Republic. 
One thing is certain, that no greater calamity 
could befall them than the intrusion of parly 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



politics among them. Nothing would more 
inevitably retard the development of the re- 
sources of the country, check immigration, 
and in every way thwart the benevolent pur- 
poses of heaven and blast the present sanguine 
expectations of the friends of Texas, than 
party jealousies and party intrigue. 

" Tiie question of negro slavery in connec- 
tion with the settlement of this country is one 
of great importance, and perhaps may here- 
after present a difficulty. The existing con- 
stitution and laws totally pi'ohibit this worst 
of evils. Should this wise policy be aban- 
doned and Texas become what Louisiana now 
is, — the receptacle of the redundant and jail- 
delivered slaves of other countries, — all its 
energies would be paralyzed, and whatever 
oppressions may hereafter arise, either from 
abroad or at home, must be endured, for the 
country would require a prop to lean upon, 
and from necessity would be forever depen- 
dent. " 

Until the beginning of the present century 
Texas, as a part of Mexico, lay in compara- 
tive stagnation and was but little known or 
cared for, as it was mainly occupied by rov- 
ing Indians. The population, other than In- 
dian, at the opening of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, is variously estimated at 7,000 to 20,000. 
The inhabitants were chiefly Spanish Creoles, 
besides a few French, Americans and half- 
breeds. 

With regard to later developments, it is 
interesting to read what Mrs. HoUey wrote 
concerning the Comanche Indians, as follows: 

" The Comanches are a noble race of In- 
dians, inhabiting the country to the north 
and northwest of San Antonio de Bejar. 
They are a wandering race, do not cultivate 
the earth for corn, but depend altogether 
upon the chase for subsistence. They follow 
the immense herds of buffalo which graze 



the vast plains, often to the amount of tlion- 
sands in one herd. These plains are also 
stocked with wild horses, " mustangs, " which 
run together in droves of many hundreds. 
Tlie term mustang is therefore used figura- 
tively to denote anything wild or unculti- 
vated, as a < mustang girl. ' The horses are 
not natives, but descended from the stock 
brought over by the first Spaniards. Domes- 
tic animals, and man himself, become rude 
when removed from the associations of civil- 
ized life. The Comanches catch and tame 
these wild horses, and, when unsuccessful in 
the chase, subsist upon them. 

" The Indians always move on horseback. 
Besides the bow and arrows, the usual arms 
of the Indian warrior, they are armed with a 
long spear, having a sword blade for a point. 
A war party of these Indians is sufiiciently 
formidable. They are headed by two squaws, 
who by their shrill voices serve as trumpet- 
ers, and have like them various tones, to de- 
note the different evolutions and movements. 
When they descry an object of attack or pur- 
suit, they dart forward in a column like 
lightning toward it. At a suitable distance 
from their prey they divide into two squad- 
rons, one-half taking to the right and the 
other to the left, and thus surround it. Though 
fierce in war they are civil in peace, and they 
are remarkable for their sense of justice. 
They call the people of the United States 
their friends, and give them protection, while 
they hate the Mexicans and murder them 
without mercy. 

"The Comanches have one head chief and 
many subordinate ones. They hold regular 
councils quarterly, and a grand council of the 
whole tribe once a year. At these councils 
all important matters are decided, and all 
prisoners taken for offenses are tried. Their 
discipline is rigid. If a hunting party takes 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the life of a North American after making 
him prisoner, wi_thout bringing him before 
the council for trial, the offenders are pun- 
ished with death. Not so with the Mexicans, 
who are considered as enemies and treated 
as such. This hatred is mutual, and fully- 
reciprocated by the Mexicans. Hence the 
origin of the epithet expresidng odium, so 
general in all parts of Mexico; to denote the 
greatest degree of degradation, they call a 
person a ' Comanche.' " 

The principal Anglo-Saxon settlements 
at the beginning of the present century were 
San Antonio de Bejar, with about 2,000 inhab- 
itants ; La Bahiadel Espiritu Santo, now Goliad, 
about 1,400; and Nacogdoches, with 500. 

Nacogdoches was first settled by Anglo- 
Americans in 1822-'23. when many of the 
emigrants who left the United States with the 
view of joining Austin's colony stopped at 
tills place. Here and there in Texas a small 
Catholic mission existed, around which were 
a few miserable Indian proselytes. The little 
trade carried on was effected with Mexico, by 
way of Monterey and Monclova, and with 
New Orleans through Natchitoches; the lat- 
ter, however, was contraband. In 1806 
Texas was allowed a port, namely, at Bahia 
de San Bernardo. The exchange for merchan- 
dise consisted in specie, horses and mules. 

Most of the inhabitants were of a roving 
disposition, cultivated to a still greater de- 
gree by the nature of their calling, which was 
the chase after horses and buffalo; but in 
1806 the governor, Antonio Cordero, en- 
deavored to check this thriftless and Indian- 
like mode of life by encouraging agriculture, 
and tliis he did by restricting buffalo hunts 
to certain seasons and obliging every family 
to cultivate a certain amount of land. There 
were a few wealthy Spanish residents at the 
centers of population, who exhibited some of 



the refinements of modern life, as they had 
come from the regal cities of Spain or from 
the vice-regal court. Though most of the in- 
habitants of San Antonio dwelt in miserable 
houses, with mud walls and thatched roofs, 
the upper class enlivened social intercourse 
with dinner parties and dances, at which re- 
finement of manners was noticeable. This 
place, indeed, was probably the most pleasant 
in Texas at that time. 

OATHOLIO MISSIONS. 

The early Spanish (Catholic) missions 
within the present boundaries of Texas, were 
established by Franciscan monks, under the 
auspices of the Spanish government, and were 
called presidios. They consisted of a chapel 
for worship, the cells for the monks, the dwell- 
ings for the inhabitants, and a fort for de- 
fense. The mission was of course under the 
control of the ecclesiastical power, and the 
military force was under an oflicer of the 
army, who in most matters was under the 
control of the priest. A complete list of 
these missions is as follows: 

In 1690 the mission of San Francisco was 
established on the Lavaca river at Fort St. 
Louis, by the Spanish under Captain Alonzo 
de Leon. In the same year the mission of 
San Juan Bautista was founded on the Hio 
Grande river. 

In 1714 Captain Ramon established the 
mission of San Bernard, also the mission of 
Adaes, among the Indians of that name fifteen 
miles wef-t of Natchitoches. 

In 1715 was established the mission of 
Dolores, west of the Sabine, among the Or- 
quisaco Indians. In the same year, one 
among the Nacogdoches Indians, near the 
site of the present town of that name; also 



18 



UlSTORY OF TEXAfi. 



another among the Acs Indians, near tlie site 
of tlie present town of San Augustine. The 
mission and fortress of San Antonio do Valero 
was soon after this established on the San 
I'odro river, near the site of the present city 
of San Antonio. 

In 1721 a post and mission was located at 
the crossing of the Neches, and another on 
the bay of San Bernard, called Our Lady of the 
Loretto. In the same year the mission of La 
I5ahia(the bay) was established at the lower 
'grossing of the San Antonio river. 

In 1730 the church of San Fernando, in 
the present city of San Antonio, was founded. 

In 1731 was established, not far from the 
same place, the mission La Purisima Con- 
cepcion de Acuna. 

All the buildings are yet standing. 

Under the old Mexican regime Texas was 
a province controlled by a "commandant," 
who resided at Chihuahua, and whose powers 
in this control were independent of the vice- 
roy. Each province was ruled by a military 
aiid political governor, who by his delegated 
powers had cognizance of -^W causes, being 
dependent as regards military matters upon 
the commandant general. Ii> financial affairs 
he was subject to the intcndant at San Luis 
l^otosi, with recourse to the supreme council 
of finance at the city of Mexico. Of course, 
in those times of sparse settlement and poor 
government, it was generally difficult, and 
often almost impossible, for one to transact 
any business with either the executive or ju- 
dicial department of the government, so re- 
mote were the seats of government and diffi- 
cult and dangerous tlie methods of travel. 
Tlie same difficulties were encountered in ec- 
ciesiasticiil matters, under the Uomati Catho- 
lic regime. 



A NEW CIVILIZATION. 

During the first decade of this century the 
germs of another and a better civilization be- 
gan to become manifest in the province of 
Texas. The Anglo-American race was push- 
ing westward and southward. Bold, restless 
men, impelled by the fascination of wild ad- 
venture, Boone-like made their way into new 
regions, regardless of danger and hardships. 
Rough, hardy men were indeed a necessity to 
go in advance of a more settled and refined 
community, and at this period the wave be- 
gan to move, rough side foremost. The Mex- 
ican government did not like the influx of 
foreigners, especially of Americans, and 
passed laws to imprison them if found on 
their territory; but, while this law was in- 
deed sometimes executed, it seemed to serve 
only as an incentive to the daring spirits who 
were on the crest of the west-bound wave. 
Like large, rough boys at school, when the 
master defied them or laid down any rule 
which they thought unreasonable, they glo- 
ried in taking advantage of such an oppor- 
tunity to show how bravely and successfully 
they could defy the unreasonable regulations. 
Tiie contraband trade carried on with New 
Orleans, and connived at by the Spanish au- 
thorities, opened a gateway to these intruders. 

PHILIP NULAN. 

The most conspicuous of the adventurers 
just referred to was Philip Nolan, engaged 
in trade between Natchez and San Antonio 
as early as 1785. In the Texas Almanac for 
1868 is published the most extended account 
of Philip Nolan that we have seen. We con- 
dense from it as follows: 

Philip Nolan, of Irish origin and a citizen 
of the United States, residing in Natchez, Mis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



eissippi, obtained a passport from the Baron 
de Cai-oiidelet, governor of Louisiana, July 
17, 1797, to go to Texas, for the purpose of 
buyino; horses for the Louisiana regiment then 
being organized at New Orleans. He repaired 
to San Antonio de Bejar, where he made the 
acquaintance of the governor of Texas, Don 
Manuel Miinoz, and, through the kind offices 
of the latter, entered into a correspondence 
with General Pedro de Nava, then command- 
ing the Spanish provinces, with headquarters 
at the city of Chihuahua. 

A permit was granted to Nolan to obtain 
the horses desired, both in the province of 
Texas and that of New Santander (now 
Tamaulipas), Mexico; and about the end of 
July, 1798, he took with him 1,297 head, 
which he kept for a while on the pasture 
grounds of the Trinity river. Soon afterward 
he returned to Natchez. 

The viceroy of Mexico, Marquis de Branci- 
forte, February 12, 1798, transmitted a com- 
munication from the governor of Louisiana, 
Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, successor of 
the Baron Carondelet, to General Nava, re- 
questing him, as of great importance to the 
service, to arrest any foreigners that might 
go into the Spanish provinces, because he was 
aware that some Americans intended to visit 
the country for the purpose of becoming 
friendly with the Indians and bringing about 
a revolution. He desired Nolan to be closely 
watched. At that time the movements of the 
English and the Americans had created some 
suspicions, and it was thought that even the 
French designed to invade Louisiana. 

On tiie first of June, 1799, the governor 
of Louisiana reconi mended to Don Pedro 
Nava that no American should be permitted 
to reconnoitre the territory; that he knew 
that some strangers had gone into Texas, and 
that 'the most dangerous was Philip Nolan, 



who, through deception, had obtained a pass- 
port from his predecessor, Baron de Caron- 
delet; that Nolan was a hypocrite and a sacri- 
legious man ; that he professed to be a Catholic 
among Spaniards, and laughed at this re- 
ligion when he was among Americans; that 
it would be important to secure him and dis- 
pose of him in such a manner that he might 
never be heard of; that Nolan was commis- 
sioned by General Wilkerson — who had 
raised and educated him — to reconnoitre the 
country, draw tnaps and make offers to the 
friendly Lidians to rebel against the Span- 
iards. 

August 8, 1800, the commanding general 
ordered the governor of Texas to arrest 
Nolan in case he returned to the province. 
October 6 following, the commander of the 
post at Concordia, Louisiana, informed the 
commander at Nacogdoches that Nolan was, 
under pretext of chasing wild horses, organ- 
izing an expedition of thirty or forty armed 
men to enter the territory of Texas; that he 
had remonstrated with the authorities at 
Natchez, Mississippi, but he was satisfied that 
they would not discountenance the plans of 
Nolan. 

The commander at Concordia, December 
13, 1800, forwarded a document from Mor- 
decai Richards, who therein stated, before the 
above mentioned military authority, that he 
had left Natchez with Nolan and about 
thirty-four armed Americans and six or seven 
Spaniards; that at Nogales they crossed the 
Mississippi, and that Nolan told him (Rich- 
ards) that he relied on him to guide them, 
which he promised; that thence they veered 
northwest that during their march he was 
obliged to hunt for the party; that about six 
miles from Wachita post, Nolan was detained 
by a party of militia-men, and Nolan sent a 
letter to the commander of the said post by 



HI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 



the officer in command of tlie party; that 
after the militia-men left, Mordecai Richards 
asked Nolan the reason why they had been 
stopped, when he (Nolan) had assured them 
tiiat he had a permit to go into Texas; that 
Nolan then called him aside and said to him: 
"You area man on whom I rely to carry out 
my plans; and for that reason I have ap- 
pointed you third in command. If we succeed, 
you will make your fortune. My plan is to 
travel northwest, and, passing the Caddo 
settlements to a certain distance, to build a 
fort, to protect us from any attack. Then we 
will sally forth to explore the country and its 
mines, and, after obtaining a sufficient num- 
ber of horses, we will proceed to Islas Negras 
and Kentucky without finding any obstacles. 
There we will find many friends awaiting our 
arrival, and by that time I will receive 
authority to conquer the province of Texas 
1 will be the general, Mr. Fero the second, 
and yourself the third in command." 

Mr. Kichards says that he became alarmed 
at this and determined to desert, although 
he had a son and a nephew in the party. He 
finally escaped, with two others, and on his 
return to Natchez made the statements above 
recorded. 

After the above events occurred, Lieuten- 
ant Muzquiz was ordered to start in pursuit 
of Nolan, and he left Nacogdoches with that 
object in view, March 4, 1801. The following 
is from Muzquiz' diary of the twenty-first of 
that month: "At sunrise I marched on 
Nolan's intrenchment. When about thirty 
paces from it, ten men sallied from the en- 
trenchment, unarmed. Among them was 
Nolan, who said, in a loud voice, 'Do not 
approach, because either the one or the other 
will be killed.' Noticing that the men wlio 
accompanied Nolan were foreigners, I or- 
dered William Barr, an Irishman who had 



joined my command as interpreter, to speak 
to them in English, and say to theni that I 
had cotije for the purpose of arresting them, 
and that I expected them to surrender in the 
name of the king. Nolan had a brief conver- 
sation with Barr, and the latter informed me 
that Nolan and his men were determined to 
fight. 

"Nolan immediately entered his entrench- 
ment, followed by his men, and I observed 
that two Mexicans escaped from the rear of 
said entrenchment. Soon afterward they 
joined us, stating that they had brought with 
them Nolan's carbine, which has handed to 
me. At daybreak Nolan and his men com- 
menced firing, and continued until nine 
o'clock, when Nolan was killed and his men 
surrendered. They were out of ammunition. 
His force was composed of fourteen Americans, 
one Creole of Louisiana, seven Spaniards or 
Mexicans, and two negro slaves. Nolan had 
three men wounded and several horses killed. 
His men had long beards. After the surrender I 
learned that they had left Natchez with sup- 
plies for two months, and had been in the 
woods and prairies of Texas for over seven 
months, living on horse-meat. Nolan's negroes 
asked permission to bury their master, which 
I granted, after causing his ears to be cut 
off, in order to send them to the governor of 
Texas." 

Muzquiz started out on this expedition with 
100 men, sixty-eight from the regular army 
and the rest volunteers. 

The precise spot where this little battle 
took place has ever been a matter of contro- 
versy, as the data are too indefinite to enable 
one to bo certain. Local tradition in various 
places is very positive that it was at this, that, 
or the other place. The preponderance of 
opinion is that it was in the vicinity of Spring- 
field or Waco. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



A list of the names of Nolan's men taken 
prisoners is published in the Texas Almanac 
of 1868. These men were tried by the Span- 
ish anthorities as invaders of the conntry. 
The judge ordered their release; but as Gen- 
eral Salcedo, commanding the provinces, ob- 
jected, their case was refeiTed to the king of 
Spain, who ordered one man out of every five 
to be hung, and the remainder to serve in 
prison at hard labor for ten years. As one 
of the ten men convicted died, it was finally 
determined by the local authorities that one 
man from the nine remaining would answer 
the royal requirement. After due ceremony 
the men were required to throw dice, and the 
lot fell upon Ephraim Blackburn. He was 
accordingly hung at Chihuahua, November 
11, 1807. The others were sent to different 
penal settlements in the provinces, where they 
remained until 1818. It is believed that 
Ellis Bean (see sketch elsewhere) returned to 
the United States, and that the others died in 
prison. 

Nolan was a scholar, especially in geogra- 
phy and astronomy, and a gentleman in his 
manners. He made the first map of Texas, 
which he presented to the Baron deCaronde- 
let on returning from his first trip to Texas. 
Had he lived to see his plans carried out, 
Texas, the land he loved, would have been 
proud of him. 

A river in north central Texas tributary to 
the Brazos, is named in Nolan's honor. 

POLITICAL CHANGES. 

The events just referred to had no political 
significance; but the time had now arrived — 
the first decade of the present century — when 
a political move began to inaugurate a dis- 
turbing wave, involving the possibility of a 
revolution at some future time, and this move 



was the sale of Louisiana to the United States 
in 1803, by the first Napoleon. When France, 
in 1762, ceded this territory to Spain, in order 
to prevent it falling into the hands of the 
English, the western boundary line between 
the Spanish and English possessions in North 
America was clearly defined by the treaty 
concluded in the following February, at Paris, 
by the kings of France and Spain of one party, 
and the king of England of the other party. 
But in October, 1800, Spain ceded back the 
territory to France in exchange for Tuscanj', 
with the understanding that its extent should 
be the same as it had been during the former 
possession of it by that nation. 

The boundary line, however, between Lou- 
isiana and Texas had never been definitely 
settled, though Spain had always claimed that 
Red river, or rather its tributary Arroyo 
Hondo, was the western limit of the French 
possessions. This stream was about seven 
miles west of Natchitoches; but for many 
years a conventionalline had been recognized 
by both nations, which ran between the rivers 
Mermenteau and Calcasieu, along the Arroyo 
Hondo, passing between Adaes and Natchi- 
toches and terminating in Red river. This 
line was violated by the French, who en- 
croached toward the Sabine river. 

Upon the cession of Louisiana to the United 
States, the question of boundary line was 
raised. Our Government, even at that early 
date, began to claim all the country east of 
the Rio Grande. Several propositions of 
compromise were made and all rejected, and 
Texas began to be considered disputed ground. 
Meanwhile adventurous Americans continued 
to push their way into this coveted region, 
and Spain continued her old-time inhospitable 
policy. By 1806 she had 1,500 soldiers in 
Texas to withstand the American aggression. 
The famous and infamous scheine of Aaron 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



niiiT at tliis time to set up an independent 
government somewhere in tlie Southwest, 
had also an aggravating tendency in the com- 
plication of civil affairs between the two gov- 
ernments, and served to impel Spain and 
Mexico to adopt more stringent hostile meas- 
ures by way of resistance. After some ex- 
change of correspondence, General James 
Wilkinson, on the part of the United States, 
arrived at the Sabine river with a command 
of soldiers, and succeeded by a short bloodless 
campaign in establishing that river as the tem- 
porary boundary line between the nations, 
and soon returned to New Orleans to i*esume 
operations against the contemplated move- 
ments of Aaron Burr. 

A period of calm followed the last trans- 
action, more thoroughly established by the 
diversion of public attention to war in 
Europe. Agriculture would have made more 
rapid progress in Texas had there not been 
tlie suspicions of unwelcome that naturally 
lingered in the minds of the immigrants. 
An unforeseen evil, however, arose out of the 
late compact. The neutral territory soon 
became the asylum of a large number of des- 
peradoes and marauders, who organized 
themselves into a community under a system 
similar to that of the old buccaneers, and 
they preyed upon all who came in their way. 
Their bravery and audacity were unsur- 
passed, and their fidelity to each other was 
inflexible. Traders were convoyed across the 
territory of these outlaws by military escoi-ts, 
which, however, were frequently attacked. The 
Spanish authorities made every effort to eject 
them, and twice the United States authorities 
drove them off and burned their houses; but 
these measures failed to suppress tliera. 

In 1810 Cordero, the Governor of Texas, 
was promoted to the governorship (.1' tliu 
more populous province of Coahuiia, and in 



his place as Governor of Texas Manuel de 
Salcedo was appointed. In September ot 
that year Hidalgo raised the standard of in- 
dependence, and, during the long bloody 
struggle which followed, the province of 
Texas was made the scene of deeds as horri- 
fying as Hidalgo's massacre of his prisoners 
and Calleja's atrocities at Guanajuato. 

In January, 1811, Juan Bautista Casas, a 
captain of the militia, took forcil)le posses- 
sion of the Texan government by seizing the 
governor and other leading officers, and pro- 
claiming himself governor, at the same time 
publicly advocating the cause of Hidalgo; 
but he soon disgusted many of the revolu- 
tionary party (his own) by his despotic and 
disorderly administration, and Juan Manuel 
Zambrano conceived the idea of restoring 
the old order of things. Concealing his real 
intention, he hoodwinked those of the dis- 
satisfied whom he approached on the matter, 
by giving them to understand that his only 
object was to depose Casas and correct the 
disorders of government. He was, more- 
over, favored in his designs by the opportune 
arrival of the unfortunate Aldama, who, with 
a large amount of bullion, was proceeding to 
the United States as envoy of the Independ- 
ents, there to solicit aid in arms and men. 
Zambrano cunningly caused the report to be 
spread among the lower orders that Aldama 
was an emissary of Napoleon, — a statement 
more readily believed on account of his uni- 
form being similar to that of a French aid- 
de-camp. Nothing aroused the indignation 
of the common people more than the idea of 
their being surrendered to the French. By 
casting the gloomy shadow of that danger 
over tiie minds of his Indians, Hidalgo liad 
lately caused the Grito de Dolores to be 
niiseil and rung througli the land; and now 
this wily priest used llie same guile in Texas 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



advance the roj'alist cause. Thus the 
populace and many in the ranks of the i-evo- 
lutionists in San Antonio, and many inside 
the barracks, were unwittingly on his side. 

During the night of March 1, with only 
five of those comproini?ed to support him, 
Zambrano sallied forth from his house and 
raised the signal cry. Posses-ion was im- 
mediately obtained of the barra^-ks, and be- 
fore morning dawned Casas was a prisoner, 
and Aldama confined under guard in his 
lodging. Zambrano and his party now pro- 
ceeded with caution; nor did they prema, 
turely let their real design be known. A 
governing council of eleven voting members, 
with Zambrano as president, was elected by 
the principal inhabitants of San Antonio 
and vicinity, and measures adopted to s^ecnre 
the province without creating alarm. A 
force of 500 reliable men was placed in 
marching order, to be ready for any emer- 
gency, and commissioners were sent out to 
lolicit aid. Success attended this intrigue, 
and in a short time the viceregal government 
was again firmly established in Texas. One 
writer, in a private letter, mentions that two 
commissioners were sent to the United States 
Government to offer Texas to the Union, but 
the commissioners failed to reach their desti- 
nation. 

During the very next year (1812), liow- 
ever, an expedition organized by a young 
officer in the United States Army, in con- 
junction with a Mexican refugee, almost 
succeeded in annihilating the royalist power 
in Texas. This Mexican refugee, by the way, 
was a great character. It was Bernardo 
Gutierrez de Lara, a wealthy resident of 
Mexico, who had joined himself to the cause 
of the revolutionists, and was commissioned 
by them to visit "Washington to obtain aid 
and sympathy, but his credentials were not 



recognized by our Government. Being a 
fervent patriot, however, he went to New 
Orleans and began to organize an expedition 
for the invasion of Texas, which scheme was 
facilitated by his former commercial relations 
with that city. Augustus Magee, who had 
been stationed on the Natchitoches to break 
up gangs of outlaws on the neutral ground, 
enlisted some of these same outlaws and pro- 
ceeded to New Orleans, where he effected an 
alliance with Gutierrez, giving hina the nomi- 
nal command, so that the Mexicans would 
believe the invasion was headed by one ol 
their own countrymen. 

During the summer the invasion actually 
took place, with great success and little loss 
of blood. By autumn there were 800 men, 
with Magee as colonel, though actually the 
commander-in-chief. Governor Salcedo of 
course resisted them, and laid them siege at 
one place for four months; but they suc- 
ceeded in gaining other victories, and cap- 
turing even San Antonio, the capital, on 
April 1, 1813. A provisional government 
was formed, consisting of a council of thir- 
teen members elected by a popular vote, 
Gutierrez being appointed generalissimo and 
governor. Two of these members were 
Americans. The prisoners, seventeen in 
number, were all condemned to death; and, 
as their public condemnation and execution 
of sentence might be too exasperating to the 
Americans, tliey were secretly butchered at 
night, in the bed of a stream, April 5! The 
matter, however, soon leaked out, and truly 
enough the Americans on the neutral ground 
lost their enthusiasm for the new govern- 
ment, and Gutierrez was arraigned before a 
tribunal and deposed. The Americans, be- 
ing greatly reduced in numbers, abandoned 
themselves to indolence, but were soon 
aroused by the news of the approach of an- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



otlior army, under the command of Colonel 
Ignacio Elizondo, the renegade who had be- 
trayed Hidalgo. Gutierrez was reinstated in 
command for the emergency, and the inva- 
sion repulsed. Gutierrez was again deposed, 
mainly by the influence of the American 
element. Factions, attempts at revolution 
and counter-revolution, and accompanying 
skirmishes, etc., continued to be the order of 
the day, Spaniard-like, or rather Mexican- 
like, until by the spring of 1814 victory was 
establislied l)y the royalists with some degree 
of permanency, and another " lull " or period 
of peace followed; but the condition of Texas 
was deplorable, on account of the devastations 
of the many little armies, and desperadoes,who 
took unusual advantage of the unsettled state 
of affairs in such times, and the general un- 
certainty that always attends such a barbar- 
ous state of public affairs. Many of the 
inhabitants had fled and taken refuge in 
other parts of the world, their crops were 
destroyed, cattle carried off and their houses 
burned. The spirit of insurrection was sup- 
pressed, or perhaps more strictly expressed, 
had " eaten up its own substance," so that for 
years the public had the opportunity to settle 
itself to more peaceable and profitable pur- 
suits. But little, however, was done, or 
would have been done, until a new •' race " 
began again to take the field. 

In addition to those already named, the 
men who most prominently figured in the 
public affairs of Texas during the above 
period were Toledo, Arredondo, Ferry, Tay- 
lor, Bullard, Cayetano Quintero, etc. 

Sympathy for the oppressed in this region 
spread meanwhile throughout the United 
States, and attempts at further revolutionary 
measures were made in various places within 
our domain. Vigilance was exercised by our 



government to prevent the organization of 
armies against Mexico, and to maintain 
neutral ground. 

Conspicuous among these sympathizers 
with the patriots in Mexico was Colonel 
Ferry, who proclaimed in the New Orleans 
papers in 1815 that an expedition was in 
preparation to invade Texas; that 1,000 men 
were ready to engage in the enterprise; and 
that the undertaking was a worthy one, in 
respect to both honor and profit. Fresident 
Madison prohibited Ferry's movement, or 
anything like it; and during the same year 
several men were indicted in the United 
States District Court for violating the neu- 
trality laws. Ferry, h9wever, eluded the 
vigilance of our Government, and succeeded 
in making his way beyond the Sabine with a 
small body of men. Jose Manuel de Herrera, 
who had been appointed minister to the 
United States by Morelos, and was at the 
time residing in New Orleans, conceived the 
idea of establishing, in connection with 
Ferry's movements, a system of privateering 
from Galveston harbor. He established a 
complete system of State government, with 
headquarters at Matagorda, in 1816, and was 
supported with such a large force of revolu- 
tionists as to again intimidate the Mexican 
government. Frospect for a successful rev- 
olution seemed brighter than ever; Aury, 
who was commodore of the fleet, at length 
began to differ from the policy of Ferry, of 
the land forces, and amid other jealousies 
the cause of the revolutionists was again 
much weakened, and i'erry was soon com- 
pelled to flee back toward the United States 
with only about forty men, and, after several 
repulses of the more numerous band of Mex- 
icans, were finally compelled either to sur- 
render or be put to death — which latter 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



25 



alternative they indeed chose, Perry blowing 
out his own brains with a pistol! 

Coniniodore Aury continued to prey upon 
the Spanish trade, Mntli some success, making 
his headquarters for about two months in 
Matagorda bay, and then he went to Florida. 

THE " PIRATE OF THE GULF." 

At this time Jean Lafitte, a noted character 
from France, was established at the little is- 
land of Barrataria, about sixty miles west of 
the delta of the Mississippi, engaged as a 
smuggler and probably as pirate. He was 
joined by a crowd of roughs, and the goods 
tliey seized found ready sale in New Orleans. 
Governor Claiborne, of Louisiana, seeing 
the demoralizing effect of this "trade" upon 
liis favorite city — for many large houses 
there were in collusion with the marauders — 
issued a proclamation ordering these free- 
booters to disperse; but as this had no effect, 
he placed a r ward of $500 on the head of 
Lafitte, which the latter treated with such 
contempt as to offer thirty times the amount 
for the governor's head. Claiborne then 
tried force, and again was unsuccessful. La- 
fitte surrounded the troops sent against him, 
and dismissed them loaded with presents. 

This state of affairs being reported to Pres- 
ident Madison, Commodore Patterson, of the 
United States Navy, was ordered to destroy 
this hornet's nest, and in June, 1814, he ar- 
rived before Barrataria with gunboats and 
the schooner Caroline. The pirates, in seven 
fine armed cruisers and a felucca, manned 
by nearly a thousand men, at first made a 
show of resistance; but, finally abandoning 
their vessels, they made for the land and dis- 
persed among the swamps. Patterson then 
took tJie surrendered vessels and all the spoils 
of Barrataria to New Orleans. 



Ladtte, the " Pirate of the Gulf," was still 
at large, however, and the gradually return- 
ing men again resumed their old nefarious 
traffic. About this time, war existing be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain, 
the latter government approached Lafitte 
with large offers of position and money if he 
would assist in their cause; but he asked 
time to consider, and in this time he entered 
into correspondence with Governor Clai- 
borne, by which it was finally agreed that 
the governor would not further molest him 
if he would espouse the cause of the United 
States; and, sure enough, at the battle of 
New Orleans, he rendered such signal service 
that President Madison pardoned him of his 
former offences against our government. 

During the next two years Lafitte's move- 
ments were not conspicuous; but his fol- 
lowers, to the number of about 1,000, joined 
a politico-piratical government at Galveston 
island, who, for security, swore allegiance to 
the Mexican government. In consequence 
Galveston became naturally the asylum of 
refugees from justice and desperadoes of 
every nationality. Their depredations on the 
gulf were carried on to such an extent tliat 
Spanisli commerce was almost swept from 
the sea, and even the vessels of other nations 
suffered at their hands. The United States 
would have broken up this nest also had it 
not been for the opposition of the Spanish 
minister, Onis. The boundary question had 
not yet been settled, and it was feared that 
if our government dispersed the buccaneers 
from Galveston by armed force it would re- 
tain possession of the island. Thus for years 
the "Pirate of the Gulf" remained un- 
molested. On the site where the city of 
Galveston now stands he erected a fort and 
built himself a house, around which numer- 
ous other edifices sprung up, forming a 



UISTORT OF TEXAS. 



hn&y settlement, whicli he named Campeachy. 

October 9, 1819, this point was declared a 
port of entry by the republic of Texas, wiiich 
had lately been proclaimed as such by the 
leaders of another expedition into the cotm- 
try, and Lafitte was made governor of the 
place. This curious man soon afterward 
han^red a refugee from justice, in satisfaction 
of tiie United States authorities, and soon 
after that again indorsed another man — one 
of his own party — for committing the crime 
of seizing property from a subject of our 
Government; and Cor the latter the Govern- 
ment sent an expedition against him, to 
break up tlie Galveston establishment, fear- 
less of war with the Mexican government. 
Aware of the determination of the Govern- 
ment at Washington, Lafitte destroyed his 
fortifications, paid off his men, and sailed 
away forever from the shores of Texas. He 
ever maintained that he made war only on 
Spanish vessels. According to one account, 
he gave a sketch of himself in the following 
terms: 

At eighteen years of age he was a merchant 
at Santo Domingo. Having become rich, he 
wound up his affairs, bought a ship and 
freighted her with a valuable cargo, including 
a large amount of specie. He set sail for 
Europe, with his wife, was captured when a 
week out at sea, by a Spanish man-of-war, 
and robbed of everything he possessed. The 
Spanish captain had the inhumanity to set 
him and the crew ashore on a barren sand 
key, with provisions for a few days only. 
They were taken off by an American schooner 
and landed at New Orleans, where his wife 
died a few days afterward from fever, con- 
tracted from hardship and exposure. In des- 
peration, he joined some daring fellows, and 
tiiey declared eternal vengeance against Spain. 
"For lifteeu years," said he, "I have carried 



on a war against Spain. So long as I live I 
am at war against Spain, but with no other 
nation. 1 am at peace with all the world ex- 
cept Spain. Although they call me a pirate, 
I am not guilty of attacking any vessel of the 
English or French." 

The above sounds very much like a piece 
of liction, wiiich any pirate might conjure up 
to justify his nefarious career. Latitte is de- 
scribed as a stout, rather gentlemanly person- 
age, about five feet and ten inches in height, 
dressed very simply in a foraging cap and 
blue frock of a most villainous fit; his com- 
plexion, like that of most Creoles, olive; his 
countenance full, mild and ratiier impressive; 
his eyes small and black, which fiiished in 
animated conversation like those of an ugly 
customer. His demeanor was courteous. He 
was educated and gifted with considerable 
talent for conversation. He continued to 
cruise on the Spanish main for several years. 
Occasionally he visited Sisal and the island 
of Margarita, near the mouth of the Orinoco, 
and finally died at Dilam, in Yucatan, and 
was buried there. 

POLITICAL CHANGES CONTINUED. 

After the fall of Naj)oleon, two refugees 
from P" ranee, Generals Lallemand and Ri- 
gault, concluded to try Texa;? as a place of 
residence, although they received no reply 
to their request for a permission to do so from 
the Spanish court. In March, 1818, Lalle- 
mand, with 120 settlers, sailed from New 
Orleans, landed at Galveston bay and selected 
a spot on the Trinity river about twelve miles 
above its mouth, and began to fortify the 
post. These colonists issued a proclamation 
that they had settled there to remain, earn- 
ing their livelihood by the peaceable pursuits 
of agriculture and the chase, and would de- 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



fend themselves by force, if necessary, against 
any invading party; but professional soldiers 
make poor agriculturists. The first season 
their crops were meager on account of the 
drouth, and they maintained themselves for 
a time by the pi'oducts of the chase. While 
tlius weakened, a force was sent against them 
Mexico, which they could not resist, and 
i-.iilemand returned to the United States, 
wiiile the rest of the colonists scattered, a 
great part of thera probably to Barrataria, at 
that time controlled by the notorious Lafitte. 

Old international questions being now re- 
vived as to the ownersiiip of theFloridas and 
the boundaries of the Louisiana Territory, 
many propositions and counter propositions 
were made and refused, with the final resitlt, 
February 22, 1819, in the form of a treaty 
signed by the Spanish minister Onis, and the 
American Secretary of State, by wliich the 
Floridas were ceded to the United States and 
Texas permitted to remain in tlie hands of 
Spain. The boundary line between the 
United States and the Spanish possessions 
was defined as follows: Beginning at the 
mouth of the Sabine river, continue north 
along the western bank of that river to lati- 
tude 32°; thence by a line due north to the 
degree of latitude where it strikes Red river; 
then following the course of that river, west- 
ward to longitude 23° west from "Washing- 
ton; crossing said river, run by a line due 
north to the Arkansas, following the south- 
ern bank of that river to its source in latitude 
42° north, and thence by that parallel to the 
Pacific. 

The king of Spain, however, failed to ratify 
the treaty witliin the six months prescribed, 
and when he did ratify it, October 24, 1820, 
the controversy was renewed, the United 
States being strongly disinclined to recognize 
the late convention. From the first the treaty 



had caused wide-spread dissatisfaction, and a 
strong party maintained that valuable terri- 
tory had been given away by the American 
government for a very inferior one, while a 
fundamental principle of the United States 
was violated in ceding away territory of any 
kind under any circumstances; but after a 
year or two of discussion the United States 
Congress advised the President to ratify the 
treaty, and accordingly, February 28, 1821, 
John Quincy Adams informed the Spanish 
envoy tliat President Monroe had accepted 
the ratification. 

In natural connection with the foregoing, 
the angry feeling, aroused by the treaty, was 
exhibited in a practical manner at Natchez, 
Mississippi, by another attempt to organize 
an expedition for the purpose of revolution- 
izing Texas. James Long was appointed 
leader of the enterprise, and in June he 
started with great enthusiasm for Nacogdo- 
ches, accompanied by about seventy-five men, 
which number was rapidly increased. Soon 
after arriving at that place he could muster 
over 300 men, among them Bernardo Gutier- 
rez and Samuel Davenport. He immedi- 
ately proceeded to establish a civil govern- 
ment, under the control of a supreme council, 
of which he was chosen president. June 23 
this council declared the province of Texas a 
free and independent republic, and it pro- 
ceeded to enact laws for the government of 
the same and providing for revenue by the 
sale of public lands. Various agencies were 
established, at different points, for mercan- 
tile and governmental business. 

For aid. Long left Cook in command at 
Nacogdoches while he hastened on to Gal- 
veston to enlist the sympathy and assistance 
of Lafitte, who at that time was in the heiglit 
of his glory there; but the wily Frenchman 
told ill in that it ever had been useless to re- 



uisTonr OF texas. 



siat Mexico by land without a iniieli larger 
force tliati had ever heeii collected for the 
purpose. On the way to Galveston Long 
heard through Indian channels that a Mexi- 
can force, 70U strong, under Colonel Ignacio 
Perez, was rapidly ou his track, at Cochattee, 
and at once sent orders to Cook immediately 
to concentrate his outlying detachments at 
that place. Of all the expeditions to Texas, 
not one experienced a more speedy collapse 
or swifter ruin than that of Long's. The 
posts or " agencies " spoken of were suddenly 
destroyed and the occupants killed or dis- 
persed. 

Long retired to New Orleans, where he 
male the ae(juaintance of the Mexican pa- 
triots, Milain and Trespalacios. The next 
spi'ing, 1821, still another ''expedition " was 
formed against the Mexican government in 
Texas, wiili tliese men as leaders; but they, 
too, were so )n squelched. The next year, 
1822, Long was killed in a private en- 
counter. 

Of course, at this time the condition was 
deplorable, as the outlook for permanent 
peace was absolutely forbidding. After the 



l'x pulsion of L( 



1819, 



every 



truder 



who had settlei in the country was driven 
off, hi:- buildings destrtiyed and his cattle 
driven away. The populated districts alto- 
gether contained no more than 4,000 civil- 
ized beings. Agriculture was almost entirely 
neglectel, and provisions were so scarce, even 
in San Antonio, as to be a subject of fre- 
(jiient report by Governor Martinez to the 
commandant general at Saltillo. The north- 
e'»!>tern borders became the asylum of crimi- 
nals and the abode of bands of armed despe- 
radoes engaged in smuggling. Lafitte's 
j.iratical establishment had its emissaries 
about the country, who drove Africans 
through the land with impunity to New 



Orleans, wiiere they were sold; and savage 
Indians, like the (/Oinanches, were hovering 
around almost every white settlement. Tiiis 
was the darkest hour that Texas ever saw. 

A panoramic review of the two decades 
just treated is thus presented by 11. II. Can- 
croft, the great Pacific coast historian: 

"If the reader will glance back at the his- 
tory of Texas, ho will lind that no advance 
in the colonization of that fertile country 
was made during the period of Spanish dom- 
ination. The reason of this, apart from the 
exclusion of foreigners, lay mainly in the 
aversion of the Spanish Creoles to agriculture, 
and the dangers to which settlers wore ex- 
posed. Enterprise in ' New Spain ' was chiefly 
directed to the development of mines, while 
the cultivation of the soil was performed for 
the most part by the passive Indians. In 
Texas, an essentially agricultural province, 
the conditions were reversed. There were 
no mines to be developed, nor were there 
peaceable natives who could be made to till 
the groiind. It therefore offered no induce- 
ments to Spanish-Americans to migrate from 
safe and settled districts to a remote region, 
where a few ill-garrisoned presidios could 
offer little or no protection to the cultivator 
against the stealthy attacks of hostile Indians. 
Tims the colonization of Texas was confined ' 
to the establishment of a few settlers in the 
immediate vicinity of these military posts. 
Only two of these, San Antonio de Bejar and 
La Bahia del Espiritu Santo, developed into 
towns of any considerable importance. Later 
attempts of Spiin to colonize the country at 
the beginning of the present century met 
with no success. Tiie undertaking projected 
by the Spanish government and placed under 
the direction of General Grimarest failed of 
accomplishment on account of the breaking 
out of hostilities between Spain and England; 



n I STORY OF TEXAS. 



nor did otlier settlers who were introduced 
into Texas about this time effect any expan- 
sion of tlie community. It remained for 
peaceable immigrants from the United States 
to accomplish a work of pro<,n-ess which Spain 
had proved herself incoinp-tent to perform, 
and which liad been beyond achievement by 
force of arms on the part of adventurers. 

"I have already related how anxious Spain 
was to people Texas immediately after the 
purchase of Louisiana by the United States, 
and so protect herself against encroachments 
by occupancy of the country. Her inten- 
tions, however, were frustrated by the dread- 
ful wars, in which she soon became engaged, 
and the revolutions which broke out in her 
colonies. In the emergencies to which she 
was reduced she relaxed her exclusive policy, 
and official proclamations were published in- 
viting colonists of all clashes and nationalities 
to settle in her American dominions. The 
tieaty of amity of February 22, 1819, having 
confirmed her in the possession of Texas, 
Spain felt herself in a position to remove the 
exclusion of Anglo-Americans as colonists in 
her territory, which hitherto liad been insisted 
on in all colonization schemes. At the same 
time the royalist power seemed to be firmly 
1 established in Mexico, the revolution hav- 
ing been well nigh suppressed and the pacif- 
ication of the country almost cousummatud. 
It was reasonable, therefore, to suppose that 
the Spanish government would give satisfac- 
tory assurances to Anglo-Americans who 
might wish to obtain in a legal manner grants 
of land in Texas." 



THE AUSTINS. 



The first American who availed himself of 
this new opportunity was Moses Austin. This 
man was born in Durham, Connecticut, about 



1764. At the age of twenty he married 
Maria Brown in Philadelphia, and soon after 
ward established a commercial house in Rich 
mond, Virginia, in partnership with his broth- 
er, Stephen, who was at the head of a largo 
importing business in Philadelphia. The two 
brothers a few years later purchased conjointly 
a lead mine in Virginia, and ran it for a time. 
Adventurous speculation brought tiieni re- 
verses, and Moses Austin, a man of persever- 
ance and enterprise, obtained in 1797 a grant 
from Baron de Carondeiet, governor-general 
of Louisiana, conferring upon him a leao-ue 
of land in eas-tern Missouri, where he m<ide 
the first settleinent as the nucleus of Wash- 
ington county, that State, and where he won 
by his upright conduct the a l.uiration of all 
the immigrants. But the very qualities 
which gained for him the affection of ail who 
knew him occasioned another reverse of fur- 
tune. He had become a large stockholder in 
the Bank of St. Louis, and when in 1818 ihat 
institution went to ruin Austin surrendered 
the whole of his property for the benefit of 
his creditors. Although now in his fifty-til'tli 
year, he conceived the bold idea of establish- 
ing an extensive cohmy iu Texas. In this 
he was not moved by the reckless spirit of 
adventure that had characterized former 
attempts of the kind. Ilis intention from 
the first was to proceed legally. Accordingly 
he made the long journey to San Antonio de 
Bejar, arriving in the first part of Decern l,c.-, 
1820, and made his application to the author- 
ities. At first he met only with rebuff and 
disappointment. Although iu 1799 he had 
become a naturalized suitject of Mexico in 
upper Louisiana, he had failed to provide 
himself with a passport before starting on his 
journey, and when he presented himself be- 
fore the governor he was peremptorily ordered 
to leave the province immo Jiately. In bitter- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



nes8 of heart he left tlie governor's house to 
make preparatious for his departure; but on 
crossing the phiza he met Baron de Bastrop, 
an alealJe and a native of Prussia, whose 
acquaintance he had made many years before. 
In his younger days liastrop was a soldier of 
fortune under Frederick tlie Grreat. lie after- 
ward entered the service of the king of Spain, 
wlio sent him on a special mission to Mexico. 
While Louisiana was under the dominion of 
Spain he obtained a grant of thirty miles 
fijuare between the Mississippi and Red 
rivers, 400,000 acres of which he ceded to 
Aaron Burr, on which the latter intended to 
plant a colony as a nucleus for his meditated 
e.xpedition against Mexico. When Louisiana 
was re ceded to France, Bastrop became a 
citizen of San Antonio de Bejar, where he 
was appointed alcalde and afterward land 
commissioner, and in 1827 he represented 
Texas in the legislature of Coahuila and Texas, 
lie died in 1828 or 1829. 

On meeting Austin, as before stated, he in- 
terested himself in his undertaking, and by 
his influence had a second interview with 
Governor Martinez, who, after some delibera- 
tion, forwarded Austin's memorial to Arre- 
dondo, the commandant-general of the eastern 
internal provinces, with a strong recommend- 
ation in its favor from the local authorities of 
the province. 

While his case was pending, he started on 
the long journey back to his Missouri home, 
in January, 1821, and suffered untold hard- 
ships, lie was frequently obliged to cross 
swollen streams by either swimming or raft- 
ing, and to suffer a great deal from hunger. 
Indeed, the exposures of the journey broke 
down his healtb, and he died at his home 
June 10th following, in his fifty-seventh year. 

On dying he left an arrangement with his 
son, Stephen Fuller Austin, then in New Or- 



leans, to prosecute the enterprise he had be- 
gun in Texas. From 1821 to 1824 there 
were no less than four different forms of gov- 
ernment in Texas, and of course but little was 
done by way of settlement. January 17, 
1821, however, Austin's memorial was 
granted, giving him permission to introduce 
300 families into Texas. In energy and per- 
severance the son was equal to his father, and 
he arrived at San Antonio with seventeen 
companions, and received pe.mission from 
the government to ex'plore the country on the 
Colorado river and select an advantageous po- 
sition, lie also examined the country along 
the Brazos river. Being convinced of the 
fertility of the land and healthfulness of the 
climate, he returned to Louisiana and pub- 
lished the particulars of the scheme. Each 
head of a family was to receive 640 acres, 
320 acres in addition for the wife should there 
be one, 100 acres additional for each child, 
and eighty acres in addition for each slave. 
Each single man also would receive a grant 
of 640 acres. The conditions imposed upon 
the settlers were that tiny should be Catho- 
lics, or agree to become so, before entering 
the territory; that they should be provided 
with credentials of good character and habits; 
should take the oath to be obedient in all 
things to the government; to take up arms 
in defense against all enemies; to be faithful 
to the king; and to observe the political con- 
stitution of the Spanish monarchy. On the 
part of the colony itself, each settler whs to 
pay 12A cents per acre for his land to defray 
expenses, except that Austin took it upon 
himself to pay for all the surveying, securing 
of titles, etc. The money was to be paid in 
instalments after receipt of title. A portion 
of the fund was also designed for purposes of 
government, defense against hostile Indian-, 
and to furnish supplies to poor immigrants. 



uaiour Of TfXAJS. 



. THE AUSTIN COLONY, 

The first iin migrants of the Austin colony 
arrivei^l in December, 1821, settling on tlie 
IJrazos river at the I'aliia crossing, mainly in 
what is now Austin county; but many diffi- 
culties and hardships were encountered. 
Shipments of supplies from Now Orleans 
failed to reach them, and they had to subsist 
too much on the products of the chase; and 
this was dangerous on account of the hostile 
Indians. 

During the spring of 1822 Austin went to 
San Antonio to report progress, and there 
learned for the lirst time that under the 
change in political affairs he would have to 
obtain from the Mexican congress a confirm- 
ation of the i^rant conceded to his father by 
the Spanish government, and receive s|iecial 
instructions relative to the distribution of land 
and other details connected with the graiit. 
This was a sore disapointnient. He would 
have to travel 1,200 miles by land on roads 
infusted by banditti and deserters, and he was 
ill prepared for such a journey. Neverthe- 
less, in ragged clothes and a blanket, he dis- 
guised himself as a poor traveler going to 
Aluxico to petition for compensation for serv- 
ices in the revolution, and unflinchingly 
started out on the long and perilous journey. 

While on his way to the city of Mexico, 
with but two persons in company, arriving 
at San Antonio, he (Austin) was told that it 
was dangerous to proceed without an escort, 
for a war party of Coinanches was abroad, 
killing every unprotected person who came 
in their way; that some individuals had been 
murdered by them the day before; and that 
he, with so much baggage, being a valuable 
prize, could not possibly hope to escape. 
Finding, however, no opportunity of obtain- 
ing an escort, and the business of the colony I 



requiring his presence in the metropolis, he 
resolved at all hazards to proceed on his 
journey. 

They traveled the first day unmolested, 
but on the morning of the second day, feeling 
somewhat indisposed, Mr. Austin undertook 
to prepare some coffee. There were no ac- 
commodations on the road, and it was neces^ 
sary to carry provisions on a pack-horse, and 
cook by the wayside. His companions warned 
him that if Indians were near they would be 
attracted by the smoke. He flattered him- 
self, however, that by selecting a sheltere'l 
place and making little smoke, it would be 
impossible for them to discern it. Besides, 
his craving for the coffee was so great, he 
being afflicted with a bad headache, he in- 
sisted that he must have it at all risks. They 
were upon an open plain, and could see many 
miles around. At the moment no living 
creature was in view but themselves. 

The men in company went to seek the 
horses, which had bean hoppled the night be- 
fore and let loose to feed. The colonel re- 
tired to a little ravine to enjoy his coffee. It 
was boiled, and in the act of putting the re- 
freshing beverage to his anxious lips, he heard 
a sound like the trampling of many horses, 
liaising his head, with the coffee yet untasted, 
he beheld in the distance tifty mounted Coni- 
anches, with their spears glittering in the 
morning sun, dashing toward him at full 
speed. As the column advanced it divided, 
according to the practice previously described, 
into two semi-circles, and in an instant he 
was surrounded. Quicker than thought he 
sprang to his loadeJ rifle, but as his hand 
grasped it he felt that resistance by one 
against a host was vain. 

The plunder commenced. Every article 
of the little encampment, with the middle- 
bags, which he stood upon to protect if possi- 



3i 



UISrORT OF TJiXA.'i. 



l)lc, \v;i.s ffreeJily seized. Austin's presence 
uf mind, however, did not forsake liim. lie 
calmly meditate I for a mo:ncnt wliat course 
to pursue. A.-s; in i^' great composure, lie 
wont up to the cliiei', and, addressing him in 
Spanish and the few Indian words he knew, 
dech\red himself to be an American, and de- 
manded whether their nation was at war with 
the Americans. "No," was the reply. "Do 
you like tlie Americans?" "Yes; they are 
our friends." " Where do you got yonr spear- 
heads, your bhmkets," etc., naming all their 
foreign articles one by one. "Get them from 
our friends, tlie Americans." ""Well, do you 
think if you were passing through their 
nation, as I am passing through yours, they 
would rob you as you have robbed me?" 
The chief reflected a little and replied, " No; 
it would not be right." The chief then com- 
manded his men to restore all the articles 
taken. Every article came back with the 
sa'ue dispatch with which it had disappeared, 
except the saddlebags. These, which con- 
tained all his money, were indispensable to 
the further prosecution of his journey. No 
one could tell anything of the saddlebags. 
Almost in despair of ever seeing them again, 
he observel in a thicket, at a little distance, 
a squaw, one of the trumpeter.^, kicking and 
belaboring her horse to make him move off, 
while the sagacious beast would not stir a 
step from the troop. The colonel instantly 
pursued the female robber, and found his 
saddlebags neatly concealed under the saddle- 
blanket and herself. The whole squadron 
then moved off, and were seen no more. 

A little circumstance connected with the 
above affair is worth mentioning. A Spanish 
grammar, which the colonel carried suspended 
at the saddle-bow, that he might study it as 
he rode along, was missing. This book was I 
afterward found among the Indians by some | 



traders, and as it had the owner's name on it 
a report spread abroad that the colonel had 
been killed by the Comanches. This report 
reached the ears of his an.\ious mother and 
sister in Missouri, and it was many months 
before they learned that he had survived the 
dreary pilgrimage. 

Mr. Austin reached the capital in safety, 
April 29, 1822, but on account of constant 
changes in the government and the belief 
that a new law would at length have to be 
adopted, it was not until the next January 
that his claim was recognized. But even 
then, before he left the capital, another 
change in the government was made, and he 
had to wait about three months longer for 
new arrangements. On bis return to Mon- 
terey he had to get further instructions from 
the commandant general and the provincial 
"deputation." He was informed that he 
had full powers for the administration of 
justice in his colony, he, in the military 
aspect, ranking as lieutenant-colonel. He 
could make war on the Indian tribes in his 
vicinity who molested his colony, could in- 
troduce supplies by the harbor of Galveston, 
etc. He was to render an account of his 
acts to the governor of Texas, and be suliject 
to him. Bastrop was empowered to survey 
the lands and give title. The name San 
Felipe de Austin was given to the capital of 
the new colony. 

When Austin arrived at the settlement he 
found it almost abandoned, in consequence of 
his long detention in Mexico, but the news of 
his return and the success of his undertaking 
attracted settlers in such numbers that by 
1824 the stipulated 300 families had arrived, 
and they then began a prosperous career. 
Although, however, Austin was exact in his 
administration of justice and extravagantly 
benevolent to the needy, there were many in 



uisronr op texas. 



the colony disposed to complain and make 
trouble. la the United States and E 
tl 



pe 



ipression began to prevail that Austin's 
early colonists were in great part fuiritives 
from justice; but lie niaint;iined, with every 
show of fact and reason, that his colony was 
as moral as any community in the States. 

The limits of the county were undefined by 
the law, and the immigrants were allowed to 
settle at various distances from the center ac- 
cording to their own free will. In response 
to Austin's petition, the government al- 
lowed him to introduce 500 more families to 
locate upon the unoccupied lands lying be- 
tween the tracts already occupied by his 
colonists. 

Mr. Austin at one time sent a newcomer 
to Texas from San Felipe to the Colorado to 
take the census of the families in that part of 
his colony. The duty being performed, the 
messenger returned, and the following con- 
versation occurred: 

Austin.—" Well, Mr. 

like that part of the country? 

Newcomer.— •' I like the country much 
but I wouldn't live in such a community if 
you would give it all to me." 

Austin. — "Wlrv, didn't they treat 
well?" 

Newco!ner. — " Y 
ter treated." 

Austin. — "Tell me about it." 
Newcomer. — "Well, general, to give you a 
sample of the people living up there. I went 
to a log cabin, where I found only a lady at 
home. I asked her who lived there. She 
said, 'Me and the old man.' 1 told her I had 
come to take the census. She told me to take 
it. I said to her, ' Have you any children?' 
She replied, 'Yes; lots on 'era.' 'Please give 
their names, madam.' ' Well, thar's Isaiah, 
and Bill, and Tom, and Jake, and Ed, and John 



how do you 
inic 

you 
indeed; never was bet- 



and Bud, and , oh, yes! I'd like to forgot 

Joe, he's gone so miuh.' These being duly 
noted, with ages, I asked, 'Have you no 
girls?' ' No, sir,' replied she, emphatically; 
'boys is trouble enough; but arter a while 
they kin take care of themselves; but gals is 
always trouble, and never kin take care of 
themselves.' General, those puople are too 
rough to live with." 

Austin.—" Well, Mr. , those are ex- 
actly the people we want for the pioneers on 
our frontier. They are hardy, honest and 
brave. They are not your kid-glove sort. As 
the settlement becomes denser, they will strike 
farther out upon the borders. I wish we had 
more of them." 

The following anecdote, in regard to mem- 
bers of the colony, illustrates the universal 
tendency of retaliatory measures to increase 
in gravity far beyond reason. In February, 
18-41, a pig belonging to Mr. Bullock, an 
Austin landlord, found his way into the stable 
of M. de Saligny, the French charge, and are 
some of the corn. For this offense a servant 
of the Frenchman slew the little animal, and 
in return for this the irate landlord horse- 
whipped the servant. Thereupon Saligiiy 
complained, and Bullock was arrested and 
bound over to the next term of court. After- 
ward the landlord ordered the envoy off his 
premises. These indignities to French honor 
were not to be passed unnoticed by, and the 
Texas government, failing to give satisfac- 
tion, the French minister abandoned his post. 
A conciliatory letter from President Houston 
subsequently healed the breach and brought 
the testy Frenchman back. Occasions as 
trifling as this have, in the history of man, 
been the initial point of a series of acts which 
terminated in war. 

" The character of ' Leather-stocking," " 



Mrs. Holle 



says 
•is not uncommon in Texas. 



U J STORY OP TEX^IS. 



Many persons employ an individual in the 
business of liunting in all its brandies, and 
thus are eonstantly supplied with provisions 
uf evary description, even to eggs, which are 
furnished by the immense numbers of wild 
fowl. These hunters are very profitable to 
their employers, and much cherished in the 
family, and often become spoiled by famili- 
arity and indulgence. A roughness of mari- 
ners and a rudeness of speech are tolerated 
in them which would not be brooked in other 
servants. They are a sort of privileged char- 
acter. Indians and Mexicans are considered 
the best qualified for this important ofhce. 
But it sometimes happens that a white man 
from the States, who has become somewhat 
decivilized (to coin a word), is substituted. 
The dress of these hunters is usually of deer- 
skin; hence the appropriate name 'Leather- 
stocking.'" 

TUE EMTRESARIO SYSTEM. 

After the Mexican provinces had declared 
themselves free and sovereign, and subjt^ct 
only to federation, a national colonization law 
was adopted August 18, 1824, one jirovisiou 
of which authorized the legislatures of the 
different States to form colonization laws for 
the occupancy of the public domains within 
their respective territories, on terms that 
were not at variance with the federal consti- 
tution. Accordingly, the newly-formed State 
of Coahuila and Texas, having organized its 
government, the legislature, on March 24, 
1825, decreed such a law, one provision of 
whii'h required, in order to people the land 
by the colony system, a certain number of 
families to be introduced within a given time, 
at the expense of the immigrants themselves. 
The particulars of the system were as follows, 
in brief: The empresario first presented a 



memorial to the State Government asking for 
permission to colonize certain waste lands 
which were designated, as well as the number 
of families he proposed to introduce. To 
atibrd ample choice to settlers, the tract 
designated and usually conceded by the gov- 
ernment was greatly in excess of the apjiro- 
priation to be finally made-; biit after the 
establishment of the settlement and the com- 
pletion of the allotments of the colonist.^, ai d 
the assignment of the "premium land" to 
the empresario, all the surplus land ivveitid 
to the State. The distribution of the allot- 
ments was under the control of a commis- 
sioner appointed by the State, but he had 
power to make an assignment without 
the approval of the contractor. If the 
contractor failed to introduce the stipulated 
number of familes within the ttriii of six 
years, he lost his rights and privileges in pro- 
portion to the deficiency, and the contract was 
totally annulled if he had not succeeded in 
settling 100 families. The premium granted 
to a contractor was five square leagues of graz- 
ing land and five labores of tillage land for 
each hundred families; but he could not ac- 
quire a premium on more than 800 families. 
(A square league was a tract of 5,000 varas 
square, and contained 4,428 acres. A labor 
was 1,000 varas square, and contained 177 
acres. Twenty -five labores were equal to one 
sitio, and five sitios composed one hacienda) 
Every family whose sole occupation was 
farming received 177 acres (one labor) of ag- 
ricultural land, and ;f it engaged in stock- 
raising also a grazing tract sufficient to com 
plete a square league was added. Those 
families whose sole occupation was cattle- 
raising received each a square league, less 
one labor (177 acres). An unmarried man 
received one-fourth of the above quantitv. 
The State government alone could increase the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



quantities in proportion to tlie size of a family 
and the industry and activity of the colonists. 
Eleven square leagues was the limit of land 
tliat could be owned l>y the same hands as 
prescribed by the national colonization law. 
For each square k'a;^ue, or sitio, as it was 
denominated, the colonist paid an emption 
sum of $30 to the State, $2.50 for each labor 
not irrigable, and $3.50 for each that was irri- 
gable; but these payments were not deniatiderl 
until after the expiration of six years from 
tlie time of settlement, and then only in three 
instalbnents at long intervals. Contractors 
and the military were e.xempt from this tax. 
Thus the terms offered settlers were very 
liberal, except that they required them to be 
of the Catholic faith and gave preference to 
Mexicans. However, after the promulgation 
of the above laws an increased tide of immi- 
gration set in from the United States, and 
little or no regard was paid to the religious 
character of the law. In a few years* nearly 
the whole of Texas was parceled out to em- 
presarios, though none fulfilled their contracts 
except Austin. Settlers, however, continued 
to come in and improve the land, mainly 
from the United States, with the inevitable 
result, as almost any one might have seen, of 
turning eventually the province of Texas into 
a member of the American Union. The 
population increased from 3,500 in 1821 to 
about 20,000 in 1830. 

EFFECT OF TUE NEW IMMIGRATION ON THE 
GOVERNMENT. 

By this time it began to become apparent 
that the old regime of government to which 
the Spaniards and Mexicans wei-e accustomed, 
was obsolete, or -'behind the times." The 
lew people in Texas were of broaiier <Taui^e 
than the "old fogies" could imagine, and 



would not brook the everlisting series of 
revolutions and counter-revolutions in which 
the Mexicans delighted. But before we pro- 
ceed with the causes of the tinal revolution, 
let us glance at further details in reference to 
the condition of the people in Texas and 
Coahnila. 

Trior to 1824 Texas had no political con- 
nection with Coahuila. The latter was a 
richer and more populous country, and temp- 
tations greater there to a corrupt ruler. Op- 
pression was exercised thereon a much larger 
scale than in Texas. The commandant gen- 
eral ruled as it suiteii him, and while possess- 
ing even superior power to the viceroy, there 
was no check whatever upon his authority, 
except the presence of bis legal adviser, the 
auditor de guerra, who generally did nothing 
more than approve and support his opinions. 
Great distance from the seat of the general 
government rendered local government more 
independent and irresponsible, and corrupt 
rulers an almost unlimiced opportunity to ex- 
ploit tiie interests of the people. Every 
enormity was practiced that enmity or covet- 
ousiiess suggested. Under a less oppressive 
government the province of Coahnila, with 
its fertile soil, its genial climate and exhilar- 
ating atmosphere, would iiave been all that 
man could desire; but the incubus of com- 
mercial and agricultural monopoly pressed 
heavily on the land. The prince merchants 
smothered development. No factories or 
invention stimulated industry. Primitive 
and crude methods continued their old and 
monotonous way along with no hope of change. 
Wine and brandy were about the only ex- 
ports. But the inhabitants of Coahuila were 
almost exclusively pastoral and agricultural. 
Here were to be found simplicity and insensi- 
bility to intrigue, untiring industry and pa- 
tience under severe labor, the endurance of 



IIISTURY OF TEXAS. 



privations witliont inuririiir, and a deep- rooted 
love of liberty. Both the social and j)o!itieal 
morals of this rural population wcro of a 
higher standard than those of the iidiahitants 
of the manufacturing and mining districts of 
Now Spain. 

"\Vo need not follow here the political 
fortunes of Cuahuila, which were unimportant 
compared with those of Texas. 

TUE LABOK 8VSTEM. 

Wliile the jealous fears of the State gov- 
eminent that its liberal policy Iiad overshot 
the mark became more and more confirmed, 
certain legislative acts, which it was expected 
would be corrective of past mistakes and pre- 
ventive of foreshadowed trouble, irritated the 
settlers. The slave laws of 1827 and the 
prohibitory one of 1829 respecting foreign 
merchants, caused great offense, ]^y decree 
of Septetnber 15, 1827, the constituent con- 
gress manifested its intention to acquire the 
gradual emancipation of slaves already in- 
troduced. Town councils were ordered to 
keep a list of all slaves in their ret-pectivo 
municipalities, designating name, age, sex, 
etc. Slaves whose owners had no apparent 
heirs were to become fi-ee immediately on the 
decease of their masters; and on each clringe 
of ownership, even in the case of heirs im- 
mediately succeeding, one-tenth of the num- 
ber of slaves inherited was to be manumitted, 
the individuals being determined by lot. By 
another decree it was provided that any slave 
who wished to chmge his master could do 
so, provided the new owner indemnified the 
lormer one for the cost of the slave according 
to the bill of sale. 

Although the colonists kept themselves 
aloof and were indifferent to Mexican legis- 
lation so long as their own immediate inter- 
ests were not attacked, their anger rose when 



a direct blow was struck at their prosperity. 
Without slave-labor the colonization of Te.\as 
would have been retarded many years, as 
nearly all the colonies were established by 
men of ineans from the old South, and knew 
no other way of managing business tlian by 
slave labor. The immigrants would have 
been limited exclusively to the class of labor- 
ing farmers who, by their own hands, would 
have reclaimed some small portions only of 
uncultivated wastes. No capitalist of that 
day, going to Texas, would have engaged in 
a venture which would reduce him and his 
family to the condition of laborers. But the 
labor system of Mexico, long established, was 
not affected by this legislation in regard to 
African slaves. It was indeed far less ex- 
pensive than that of African slavery. The 
peon, or Mexican laborer, was in perpetual 
servitude, practically, although he did not 
bear the name of slave. lie bound himself 
to his master by a written contract on enter- 
ing his service, and immediately became his 
debtor for money advanced, sometimes to the 
anu)uut of a year's wages. The law did not 
permit an advance of more money than that. 
Ilarely did the account with his employer 
lihow a balance in his favor. If he gave 
offense, committed a fault or failed in the 
fuUillmentof his duties, coutiuement, .shackles 
or the lash could be meted out to him; and 
should he desert his master's service he could 
be reclaimed through the alcalde, who had 
authority to compel him to return and punish 
him; in .short, he was never out of debt, and 
theref.ire ever a bondman, with but little 
more liberty than a slave. His wages varied 
from one to three reales per day, providing 
for himself; and as his working days were 
reduced by the numerous church holidays 
observed in Mexico to about 200, the average 
cost of a peon was about $50 a year. 



U I STORY OF TEXAS. 



Under lliis system it was not difficult for 
the Anglo-Americans to evade the law pro- 
hibiting the further importation of slaves; 
and under the appellation of indentured ser- 
vants tliey continued to introduce them into 
Texas. The negroes were apprenticed for a 
term of ninety-nine years. Arguments were 
brought to bear upon the Me.xican govern- 
ment, inducing it to make an exception in 
favor of Texas, under the law providing for 
tlie immediate manumission of slaves. 

KELIOIOUS AND POLITICAL INTOLIOUANCE. 

In legislation, as might liave been expected, 
there was a curious mixture of wise mi'asures 
with unwise, the latter growing out of the 
old prejudices, and but a dim foresight of 
modern requirements. The restrictions on 
the sovereignty of the people laid down in 
the constitution, the intolerance of any re- 
ligion but the Roman Catiiolic, and the ex- 
cessive power vested in the chief of the de- 
partment of Texas, were incompatible with 
free republican institutions, lu strong con- 
trast with the liberality manifested in the 
State colonization law was the persecution to 
which resident Spaniards were sul)jected. By 
a law, passed June 23, 1827, tiiey were ex- 
cluded from all civil and ecclesiastical ofKces 
until Spain should acknowledge the inde- 
pendence of Mexico; and, in November of the 
same year, all Spaniards, except those domi- 
ciled in the State thirty years, were banished- 
travelers of that nationality could not remain 
more than three days in any town, except in 
case of sickness or other recognized impedi- 
ment; those who remained' were required to 
present themselves monthly to the local au- 
thorities, and were furbidden to carry arms 
except those customarily worn for personal 
"a strict surveillance was kept 



defense; 



over their conduct. During the invasion of 
Spanish forces in 1829, Coahuila and Texas 
displayed its patriotism by exacting a heavy 
forced loan from the resident Spaniards, while 
the property still remaining in the State of 
those who had fled to other countries was 
confiscated. Unmarried Spaniards and wid- 
owers without children were called upon for 
one-third of their capital; those who were 
married and without children, and widowers 
with only one child, for one-fifth; and those 
of both classes with more than one child, for 
one eighth. 



in Coahuila and Texas was at an extremely 
low ebb. Only in the town of Saltillo was 
there a fixed appropriation for the main- 
tenance of a common schoolmaster, and that 
was a scanty one. The education of the chil- 
dren of servants to write was prevented, on 
the fear that on growing up they would want 
higher position than that of servitude. In 
1820, the Congress endeavored to remedy 
this evil by enacting a law to establish schools 
of mutual instruction on the Lancasterian 
system, but the law did not establish the 
schools. In these schools were to be taught 
reading, writing, arithmetic, the dogmas of 
the Catholic religion and Ackerman's cat- 
echisms of arts and sciences, the teachers' 
salary being fixed at $800 a year. The next 
year another law was adopted, to establish 
primary schools on a similar plan, with a sim- 
ilar result. The people were indifferent to 
educational progress. Among the settlements 
of Austin's colony a few private schools were 
established, and, in 1829, the first Pii^:„stant 
Sunday-school in Texas was opened, at ban 
Felipe de Austin, by T. J. Pilgrim, of the 
Baptist Church. It was soon interrupted, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



however, wlicMi fears were excited by a litiga- 
tion that the public would recognize it as a 
violation of the colonization law. 



In regard to religion, the Texas colonists 
at tliis early date had neither the opportunity 
nor inclination to practice it. A traveler 
there in 1831 says: "The people of this 
country seem to have forgotten that there is 
such a coniinandinent as ' Remember the Sab- 
bath day to keep it holy.' This day is gen- 
erally spent in visiting, driving stock and 
breaking mustangs." Having furnished the 
required certificate of his Catholic faith, the 
Anglo-American eased his conscience by re- 
fraining from any practical expression of it. 

In other respects than these already men- 
tioned, as causing dissatisfaction between the 
State and the colonists, the government 
showed itself otherwise favorably disposed to- 
ward them. Ilitlierto they were left unmo- 
lested in the management of their .internal 
affairs. In 1827 and 1828 parties were au- 
thorized to sink artesian wells, develop coal 
mines, navigate the Rio Grande by steam, etc. 

THE FINAL REVOLUTION. 

The first indication of the approaching 
crisis which resulted in the revolution for in- 
dependence, was in 1826, when the Anglo- 
American element of the population began to 
resist oppression. The entering wedge is 
thus very carefully described in Bancroft's 
history. 

*' Ilaydeu Edwards, in 1825, after much 
trouble succeeded in obtaining from the Coa- 
huila and Texas government a contract to 
settle 800 families on lands surrounding 
Nacogdoches. lieturning to the United 



States ho spared no pnins in endeavoring to 
fulfill his contract, at tiie same time inducing 
his brother, Major Ijeiijamin W. Edwards, to 
go to Texas and aid him in estal)lishing his 
colony. Foote says that the latter visited 
Austin and had a long conversation with hiin 
on the subject of Texas colonization; that 
these two agreed that 'the firm establishment 
in this favored country of the institutions of 
civil and religious freedom, and the redemp- 
tion of a region from foreign rule which 
rightfully belonged to the United States, and 
of which tliey had been notoriously bereaved 
by fraudulent negotiations, was desirable and 
practicable; but that they also agreed that the 
colonies would have yet to suffer a great deal 
before they would be strong enough to throw 
off the yoke.' It is difficult, however, to be- 
lieve that Austin expressed any idea that 
fraud had been practiced on the United 
States. 

" In October, 1825, Ilayden Edwards re- 
turned to Texas and took up his residence at 
Nacogdoches. He soon discovered that he 
had ditficulties to contend with that had 
never troubled Austin. Portions of the lands 
conceded to him were already occupied by 
Mexican settlers, some of whom had been 
driven from their homes after the destruction 
of Long's expedition, and had recently re- 
turned. Nacogdoches had again about 100 
inhabitants, and certain of the villainous class, 
formerly of tlie 'neutral grounds,' had taken 
up lantls. These latter, without regarding 
Edwards witii any particular aversion, were 
wholly averse to subordination; while the 
Mexicans, jealous of his authority and angry 
at an American being placed over them, 
showed marked symptoms of unfriendliness. 
There were, moreover, among them many 
turbulent and bad characters, and not a few 
fugitives from justice. The result was that, 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



as Edwards' immigrants an-ived, the colony 
was quickly divided into two hostile factions. 
Edwards did what he could to preserve order 
and maintain his authority, but several meas- 
ures adopted by him were far froni politic. 
The second article of his contract provided 
that all possessions found in Nacogdoches 
and its vicinity, supported by the correspond- 
ing titles, should be respected ; and that in 
case any of the ancient possessors should 
claim preservation of their rights, it was the 
empresario's duty to comply therewith. This 
afforded a wide loop-hole through which to 
thrust in claims to the most valuable lands, 
and old title-deeds were diligently searched 
for or manufactured. 

« In order to ascertain the extent of these 
claims, Edwards, in November, 1825, called 
upon all persons holding such land titles to 
produce them, -in order that their legality 
might be decided upon according to law. In 
this there was no harm ; but he gave further 
notice that the lands of those who failed to 
present their titles would be sold, and that 
claimants whose title were just would have 
to pay for any improvements that had been 
made on the lands by the present occupants. 
This caused indignation to the Mexicans and 
gave great offense to the authorities, who 
could but regard his notitication in respect to 
the sale of lands as an assumption of power 
tliat had never been given him. 

" By the sixth article of the contract Ed- 
wards was authorized to raise the national 
militia within his colony, and was appointed 
its chief until further disposition should be 
made. Accordingly he gave notice for the 
election of militia officers to take place on 
December 15 of the same year. At the same 
time he proposed that the people should 
elect an alcalde. With the election of this 
the more serious troubles began, i 



Each party had il, /mdidate for the office. 
Chaplin, Edwardi (on-in-law, was put for- 
ward by the American colonists, and Samuel 
Norris, devoted to Mexican interests, by their 
opponents. The election decided in favor of 
the former, who took poss^ission of the 
archives and entered upon the duties of the 
ofhce. But Sepiilveda, the out-going alcalde, 
and his party disputed many of the votes as 
having been cast by settlers outside the limits 
of Edwards' grant, though under the alcalde's 
jurisdiction. Accordingly they represented 
the matter to Saucedo, the political chief at 
San Antonio. Already offended with Ed- 
wards, by reason of a report sent in by the 
latter giving an account of his official acts, 
and which was not deemed sufficiently re- 
spectful, Saucedo decided in favor of Norris, 
and instructed Sepulveda to install him by 
force of arms if any opposition was offered. 
No resistance was made, however, and on the 
exhibition of Norris' commission Chaplin 
surrendered up the archives of the office to 
him. 

"And now commenced a system of petty 
tyranny and invidious distinctions which ex- 
asperated the colonists. Americans, who 
had wrought improvements on their lands, 
were ousted from them to give place to Mexi- 
cans, the favorites of Sepulveda and the 
alcalde. A band of ' regulators' was formed, 
under the command of James Gaines, the 
brother-in-law of Norris; and, backed by 
these ruffians and the official support of 
Saucedo, the Mexican party domineered as 
they liked. Moreover, accusations against 
Edwards were made to the political chief, 
who did not conceal his hostility to the em- 
presario." 

Ilayden Edwards and his brother continued 
their endeavors to save their fortunes and 
people, but the Cherokee Indians, who liad 



40 



DISTORT OF TEXAS. 



Decoine their allies, . iloned them, the 
Alexicun government o. iiioro violent, and 
even Austin opposed a ly effort at revolution 
at that time, and the Edwardses in a few 
weeks altogether failed. 

Austin's colony continued to prosper. 
Austin liimself, making himself a favorite of 
t.he government, was even promoted in his 
political powers. Other colonies also pros- 
pered to some extent. Ai'ter the annulment 
of Edwards' contract, his territory was di- 
vided between David G. Burnett and Jo^=eph 
Vehlein, and iin migrants continued to flow 
into tliat portion of Texas. Dewitt, although 
his first settlers were tem])orarily driven ofl* 
by luiiians, had laid out the town of Gonzat- 
lez in 1825, naming it afier Rafael Gonzalez, 
a temporary governor of the State, and dur- 
ing 1827-'28 he succeeded in introducing 
considerable numbers of colonists. In De 
Leon's grant the town of Victoria was 
founded, and La [Jahia del Espiritu Santo 
had dovi loped into a town of such apprecia- 
ble dinit'nsions that in 1829 it was raised to 
the rank of a villa, and the high-sounding 
title of Goliad given to it. Filisola, in an 
endeavor to wrench an anagram out of Hi- 
dalgo's name, spelled the name GoUiiad. On 
the Brazos a flourishing settlement called 
Brazoria had also sprung up. 

However, the experience which the Mexi- 
can government had with the Fredonians 
(Kilwards' colonists) cancel them to be more 
watchfid of the movements of American im- 
migiaiits. Under the liberal and non-ag- 
gressive policy of Guerrero the colonists 
were left pretty much to themselves, and he 
even aided them in the abolition of slavery. 
But when he was overthrown, in December, 
1829, and Bustamante seized the helm of 
government, the sleeping tiger of Mexican 
suspicion and belligerency arose and showed 



his teeth. And at tliis time it required but 
little foresight to see that the increasing 
American element within the domain of 
Texas would ere long attempt to " slip the 
leash;" for even the government of the 
United States, and more especially the ex- 
pressions of many leading men within the 
Union, were indicative of a general move on 
our ])art to take a hand in the separation of 
Texas from Mexico; but before the tinal storm 
a preliminary gust made its appeai-ance in 
the form of Texan independence as a sover 
eign republic. As Bancroft says: 

"It was therefore natural that Mexico 
should entertain fears as to the future obedi- 
ence of the Texan colonists, and it was equally 
natural that the latter would not tamely sub- 
mit to the imposition of fetters similar to 
those which the fathers of most of them had 
helped to break. Yet in its shortsightedness 
the government, under the despotic adminis- 
tration of Bustamante, thought to obviate a 
probable but not unavoidable contingency by 
adopting the very measures which were most 
calculated to provoke a spirit of antagonism." 

Lucas Alaman, the minister of relations 
under the new government, has the credit 
(discredit) of inspiring the Mexican legisla- 
ture to make the fatal mistake of attempting 
to curb the designs of the United States by 
the exercise of oppressive measures against 
the Texan colonists. On February 8, 1830, 
he laid a memorial before Congress, in which 
with just reason he calls attention to the 
danger that Texas was exposed to of being 
absorbed by the northern republic, and to 
the carelessness which the government of the 
State of Coahiiila and Texas had shown in its 
neglect to see that the colonization laws wei'e 
properly carried out. He said that the orders 
providing that no more than the number of 
families designated in a contract should settle 



BISTOHT OF TEXAS. 



on the corresponding grant, and that colonies 
near the boundary line should be composed 
of settlers, not natives, of the United States, 
had been without effect; and he expatiated 
on the fact tliat a large number of intruders 
had taken possession of lands, especially near 
the frontier, without any pretension of satis- 
fying the formalities of the colonization laws. 
To preserve Texas to Mexico, he insisted that 
the Mexican population in Texas should be 
increased by making that country a penal 
settlement, the criminals transported thither 
to be employed in the cultivation of tlie soil; 
that foreign colonists differing from Ameri- 
can interests, habits and language should be 
introduced; that a coasting trade be estab- 
lished between Texas and other parts of the 
republic, which would tend to nationalize the 
department; that the colonization law of 
August, 1824, be suspended as far as con- 
cerns Texas, and the settlement of that de- 
partment be placed under the direction of 
the general government; and that a commis- 
sioner be appointed to examine and report 
upon the condition of affairs in the Texan 
colonies, etc. 

The congress sympathized with Alaman's 
views so far as to prohibit the citizens of 
nations bordering on Mexico from colonizing 
any of her States or territories immediately 
adjacent to them; to suspend forthwith all 
colonization contracts not yet fulfilled, and 
such as were in conflict with this law; to 
allow no foreigner, under any pretext what- 
ever, to enter the northern frontier unless 
provided with a passport from the Mexican 
consular agent at the place of his previous 
residence; and to make no further change 
with reference to slave laws. 

Along with the immediate execution of 
this law, passed with tlie special and exclu- 
sive object of preventing the further immi- 



gration of people from the United States, 
was the annulment of the exemption of the 
United States settlers already in Texas from 
taxes, which had been promised for the first 
six years of their residence there. But it 
must be confessed that smuggling had been 
practiced to some extent by some of the 
colonists under that provision for exemption. 
Also, along with the execution of this odious 
law the government sent a large military 
force into Texas, under the command of 
Manuel Mier y Teran, commandant general 
of the eastern provinces, and he was also 
authorized to establish inland and maritime 
custom-houses. A military despotism was 
naturally inaugurated at an early period. 
The only colonies recognized were those of 
Austin, Dewitt and Martin de Leon; all 
other concessions were suspended until their 
contracts could be examined and their fulfill- 
ment verified. Titles were denied to a great 
number of settlers already domiciled, and in- 
coming immigrants from the United States 
were ordered to quit the country immediately 
upon their arrival. A number of military 
posts were established, manned by convicts 
and other bad characters. A series of out- 
rages was directly begun. Military juris- 
diction was substituted for that of the local 
authorities in many places; settlers were dis- 
possessed of their lands and property, many 
of them were imprisoned, and no redress 
could be obtained for thefts and robberies 
committed by the troops. 

During the year 1831 the local authorities 
and also the frequently changing administra- 
tion were at odds with each other, one party 
almost constantly colliding with another, and 
these in so rapid succession that the true 
interests of the masses were lost sight of. 
Outrages increased as the military officers 
were angered by resistance or lack of respect, 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



until even the settlers in tlio Austin colony 
began to arise in arms. A spirit of rebellion 
began to spread like a prairie fire before a 
wind. 

One John Austin, not a relative of Stephen 
F., was an alcalde at Brazoria and a brave and 
influential citizen. On June 10, 1832, he 
joined the insurgents, and with about a hun- 
dred men demanded the release of certain 
prisoners at Anahnac, was refused, and some 
shots were tired. Bradburn, the Mexican offi 
cer, agreed to release the men if Austin with 
his force would retire six miles away. Austin 
did this, but Bradburn broke faith, opened 
lire upon the insurgents remaining in Ana- 
hnac and drove them from the place. 

In January, this year (1832), Santa Anna 
at Vera Cruz pronounced against the govern- 
ment of Bustamante, and the usual war 
followed, a la Mexican. The colonists, being 
enraged by the latter's administration, a 
number of tliem met at Turtle bayou and drew 
up a list of their grievances, June 13, and 
passed resolutions adopting Santa Anna's 
plan and pledged their support to the consti- 
tution and the leaders who were then fighting 
in defense of civil liberty. 

The first skirmish, June 13, 1832, resulted 
in the insurgents taking the fort at Yelasco 
from the brave Ugartechea. Meanwhile, John 
Austin's men around Anahuac successfully 
cut off supplies and communication. Pied- 
ras, commanding at Nacogdociies, hastened 
hitherward to aid the Mexicans, but before 
arriving fell into the hands of the insurgents, 
and was coverted to their cause. By his as- 
sistance Travis and other prisoners were re- 
leased. Piedras appointed another man to 
succeed Bradburn at Anahuac and started back 
to Nacogdoches; hut as soon as he turned 
his back the garrison at Anahuac mutinied 
in favor of Santa Anna. Bradburn was per- 



suaded by some of the otficers to rc-assume 
command, but he immediately found so many 
of the men committed to Santa Anna that he 
quit in disgust and went to New Orleans, ac- 
companied by only one man, asgiiide. On his 
journey he escape 1 molestation by saying that 
he was going to the United States to seek 
for aid in driving the Mexicans out of Texas. 

Considering Santa Anna's future care^jr, it 
is interesting to notice the praise given that 
treacherous Mexican by S. F. Austin at tiiis 
time. Said he, in an address delivered on the 
day of jubilee, July 25, 1832: 

'■'■Fellow Citizens, and Soldiers of the San- 
ta AanaVoluitteer Company: I have not the 
words duly to express my grateful feelings 
and unfeigned thanks for the kind welcome 
with whicii you have lionore 1 n)y return to this 
colony. In all my acts, as far as they hjive 
been connected with tlu alvancetnentof Texas, 
I have been governel by the most sincere de- 
sire to promote its pro-ip9rity and tiie perman- 
ent happiness of its citizens. My leading motto 
has been and is. Fidelity to the constitutiun 
of our adopted country. Tlie same lias been 
and is the governing principle of the inhabit- 
ants of this colony. I thank my fellow citi- 
zens for their approbation; it is the iiighest 
reward that cm be offered to me for my 
humble services as their public agent. 

"I accord with you in the opinion that the 
present is an impjrtmt epojh in the political 
march of our aJoptoJ and beloved country. 
With institutions founded on the broad basis 
of representative democracy, tlie general 
government of Mexico has, for the last two 
years, been administered, in many jiarticulars, 
on principles which more properly belong to 
a military despotism than to a free republic. 
A great and glorious regeneration is takincr 
place; the free dem'wraey of the nation, the 
people, have asserted their rights under the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



banner of that distinguished patriot and 
leader, General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
Anna. The cause of constitutional demo- 
cratic liberty is about to triumph throughout 
^.he whole of this vast republic. 

"Borne down, in this remote section of the 
nation, by milifary oppression, and by the 
most shameful violations of the rights of the 
State of Coahuila and Texas, you believed 
that all the guarantees of the constituti( n 
and laws were disregarded and trample 1 upon. 
Patience itself was exhausted, md you had 
recourse to arms, thus espousing tiiat cause 
of the constitution and of the people which 
is 80 bravely advocated by General Santa 
Anna. In doing this, you have not for one 
moment lost sight of your duty as Mexican 
citizens, but have defended the true dignity 
of the national flag, which had been insulted 
by the violators of the constitution. In the 
course you have taken you will be sustained 
by Colonel Mejia, who has come to Texas 
with fleet and forces under the order of Gen- 
eral Santa Anna, to protect the rights of the 
nation and of the State; and you will receive 
the support and approbation of General Santa 
Anna himself, of General Montezuma and 
of all liberal and enlightened Mexicans. In 
such a cause you have nothing to fear. It is 
Just, and I will give it my hearty co-operation 
so far as ray feeble services can avail." 

In the Southern United States the opinion 
began to prevail that the colonists in Texas 
were attempting to separate from Mexico 
and annex themselves to the Union. On this 
account, Montezuma, commanding at Tam- 
pico, and having declared in favor of Santa 
Anna, sent a force into Texas to reduce the 
insurgents. His colonel, Mejia, on entering 
Texas, first had an amicable conference witli 
the leader of the Bustamante party, so as t,< 
prevent interruption, and proceeded to the 



mouth of the Brazos, taking with him Stephen 
F. Austin, who was on his return from the 
State legislature. Consulting John Austin, 
the latter professed perfect loyalty and said 
that the insurgents had no intention to sepa- 
rate from Mexico; they were only rebelling 
against certain tyrannical acts of some of the 
ofiicers. Mejia went on to Galveston, where 
he was similarly received, and he returned to 
Tampico. He actually advocated the cause 
of the insurgents, and the seed he had sown 
in Texas, in so doing, bore rapidly. Piedras, 
at Nacogdoches, being opposed to Santa 
Anna, was ousted by the Mexicans. By tiie 
end of August not a Mexican soldier remained 
in the Texan colonies, the victory over the 
Bradburn party was so complete. A troop 
of about seventy men was stationed at San 
Antonio, scarcely a sufficient number to keep 
the Indians in check in that vicinity. Peaci; 
was restored. This victory of the Texan 
colonists would have been far more costly, if 
not indeed impossible of attainment, had 
there been no revolution going on beyond the 
Rio Grande. 

SEPARATION OF TEXAS FROM COAHUILA. 

On the formation of these two districts 
into one State, there was a proviso in the de- 
cree that when Texas possessed the necessary 
elements for a separate State, notice should 
be given Congress for its resolution on the 
matter. The Texans now (1832-'34) began 
to consider that the time for the separation 
had come, for their rapidly growing interests 
were not sufficiently recognized by the gen- 
eral government. Their representation in 
Congress was proportionally in the minority, 
and they were neglected in the more eager 
efforts to conserve the interests of Coahuila. 
Tlie geographical position of the latter ex- 
cluded it from maritime trade, and its com- 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



merce was altogether internal, while Texas 
possessed great natural advantages for the 
developuient of an extensive commercial busi- 
ness with foreign countries. Also, in climate 
and industrial pursuits, the contrast was 
equally marked, and the productions were 
dissimilar. Pastoral and mining occupations 
prevailed in (Joahuila, while Texas was essen- 
tially an agricultural country, and cotton, 
sugar and the cereals were cultivated with 
most flattering prospects. Texas also labored 
under the disadvantage of being mucli more 
remote from the higher courts, which gave 
tlie wealtliier classes an undue advantage in 
litigation; and even in criminal cases justice 
was not so prompt or exact. 

Directly after the Mexican troops were all 
withdrawn from Texas in 1832, the colonists 
began to take measures to address the na- 
tional government on the subject of their as- 
pirations, namely, a greater recognition of 
their material interests and of more local 
government. In October of this year a pre- 
liminary convention of delegates from differ- 
ent municipalities was held at San Felipe, 
and some discussion took place concerning 
the formation of a State constitution; but as 
sutHciont notice had not been given and the 
attendance was slim, the convention adjourned 
without taking action. Their discussion, 
however, brought the matter seriously before 
the public, and when the second convention 
asseuibled, April 1, 1833, it was prepared to 
accomplish the work assigned to it. At 
this convention were Stephen F. Austin, 
Branch T. Archer, David G. Burnett, Sam 
Houston, J. B. Miller and William II. Whar- 
ton, the last mentioned being the president 
of that body. A committee was appointed 
to draft a form of State constitution, and an- 
ntlier committee was appointed to draw up a 
memorial petitioning the general government 



to grant a separation of Texas from Coahuila. 
Sam Houston was appointed chairman of the 
first, and David G. Burnett of tiie second. 

The constitution drafted was tlioroiiglily 
republican in form, modeled on that of tiie 
United States. After mucli discussion it 
was concluded that banking should not bo 
provided for by that constitution, and that 
the document should maintain absolute si- 
lence with reference to religious liberty, such 
was the blighting power of Catholic influ- 
ence. 

The commissioners appointed to convey 
the petition for separation to the city of 
Mexico were Stephen F. Austin, William II. 
Wharton and J. B. Miller; but Austin was 
the only member who actually went there; 
and on arrival he found that city the scene 
of virulent party faction and political confu- 
sion. Affairs in Mexico had been undergo- 
ing the customary vicissitudes and revul- 
sions. No more stability of principle was 
observable in Santa Anna than in Busta- 
mante. Both used the ci>nstitution of 1824 
to push themselves into power, and then both 
cast it to the winds. By the end of 1832 
these two generals, after much bloodslied, 
came to terms, and agreed to unite in sup- 
port of the said constitution. 

March 30, 1833, Santa Anna was declared 
duly elected president of the Republic of 
Mexico, and Gomez Farias, vice-president; 
and from this time on Santa Anna's course 
was remarkable for subtle intrigue for selflsh 
purposes. He never appeared, however, as 
the principal actor, but always used other 
parties as cat's-paws for his own advance- 
ment. Dictatorial power was his highest 
ambition. Farias was the known clianipion 
of reform, and Santa Anna absented hiniselt 
from the capital to intrigue with bishops and 
religious orders, leaving his colleague at the 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



seat of power to iiianrTurate his new meas- 
ures, which he (Santa Anna) knew would 
foment discord and redound to the discomtit- 
ure of the instigator and ultimately to his 
own advancement. 

lu less than three weeks after his inaugur- 
ation as president, Santa Anna surrendered 
the office in order to march with a military 
force against an insurgent army near Tlal- 
pam, under Duran. The petty complications 
that were soon brought upon the scene are 
too tedious to relate here, and it was during 
this state of affairs that Austin visited the 
capital, as mentioned above. The latter im- 
mediately laid his petition before Cungress, 
but its attention was not seriously directed to 
it on account of the turbulent matters belore 
them. Austin grew restless, and in October 
began to hasten matters. Urging immediate 
action before Farias, and saying that if some 
answer was not soon given the Texans would 
take their affairs into their own hands, the 
vice-president took offense, considerino- that 
Austin's expression was a threat. Austin, 
seeing the prospective delay, wrote to the 
city council of San Antonio, recommending 
that it obtain the concurrence of all other 
corporations in Texas in a scheme for separ- 
ation from Coahuila, with the hope that, un- 
der the provision of the general law of May 
7, 1824, a local government could be success- 
fully organized, even though the general gov- 
ernment should refuse its consent. 

The result of Austin's visit, after the war 
had been closed, was a respectful and honest 
effort to improve the legal facilities of the 
Texans, but it was believed by the convention 
assembled for the purpose that the time had 
not yet arrived for the erection of Texas into 
an independent State. But Atistiu, on his 
return trip to San Antonio, was arrested at 
Saltillo, by order of Farias, on account of the 



letter he had written to the San Autuiiio 
council, and on account of the hasty laiKriKi.re 
used at the interview at the same time. lie 
was sent back to Mexico, and was in prison 
eight months, awaiting trial, with no oppor- 
tunity, much of this time, of communicating 
with the outside world. He was not finally 
liberated until the expiration of nineteen 
months. Much has been said pro et i^oatra 
by Austin's friends and enemies coiicertiing 
his actions at this period; but the Texans 
generally believe him to have been sincere 
and competent, and probably as Judicious as 
any other man they could have commissioned 
for that errand. Santa Anna seemed to be a 
friend of Austin and the Texans, but those 
knowing his character entertained doubts as 
to his sincerity. 

The legislature of January, 1834, passed 
various measures beneficial to Texas. The 
municipalities of Matagorda and San Augus- 
tin were created; Texas was divided into 
three departments, the new one of Brazos, 
with San Felipe as its capital, being organ- 
ized; the English language was permitted to 
be used in public affairs, and an additional 
representative at the State congress allowed; 
the privilege of purchasing vacant lands was 
granted to foreigners; laws were passed for 
the protection of the persons and property of 
all settlers whatever might be their reliirJou, 
and freedom from molestation for political 
and religious opinions was guaranteed pro- 
vided public tranquillity was not disturbed; a 
supreme court for Texas provided for, and a 
system of trial by jury. 

These liberal measures had great effect in 
promoting temporary quiet in Texas, but 
subsequent events rendered them nugatorv to 
prevent the revolt of the colonists. The hesi- 
tating and vacillating action of government 
kept the people in a state of suopt-uou, and 



HIHTOUY OF TEX AH. 



tliis indeed was about all t lie iinie!i;il)le Santa 
Anna desired. It was a fact, however, that 
Texas at that time had not the requisite popu- 
lation (80,000), according to law, to justify 
its erection into a sovereign State; but their 
treatment by the general government was 
such as to make them restless. 

At the beginning of the revolutionary pe- 
riod the colonists were in quite a prosperous 
condition. They had found in their new 
hemes just what they had sought. A steady 
increase was going on in the population; 
tlieir cattle and horses were multiplying; 
cotton, corn, sugar and all that they needed 
in Ihe way of produce were easily cultivated, 
and in large quantities. They were con- 
tented and happy, but the political sky was 
beginning to be overcast with dark and por- 
tentous clouds. Santa Anna, who had taken 
tiie reins of government as a Republican, was 
getting into full accord with the aristocratic 
and church party, and was preparing to over- 
tlirow the Republic. lie was ambitious, un- 
principled, cruel and treacherous. He be- 
trayed the party which had elevated him to 
tlie highest position in Mexico. He still 
lield Austin in confinement, who was igno- 
rant of the charges against him. There 
could be no justifiable accusation against the 
Texan leader. A few concessions were made 
to Texas, in order to cajole the settlers. An 
additional delegate was allowed that State in 
the general legislature. 

In the fall elections of 1834, the Centralist 
party, headed by Santa Anna, was victorious 
everywhere except in Texas, Zacatecas and 
Coahuila. In revenge for the action of Za- 
catecas, that State was declared to be in 
rebellion, and the number of militia was re- 
duced to only one in every 500 persons, the 
balance being disarmed. Many acts of usur- 
pation were perpetrated upon the citizens of 



thu three sections which had not endorsed 
Santa Anna at the late election, and finally, 
that general, at the head of about 5,000 men, 
started for Zacatecas to reduce that Republi- 
can State to submission. Tiie governor of 
Zacatecas, Francisco Garcia, was a Republi- 
can of high standing, but lacking military 
experience and ability. lie had under him 
fully as many soldiers as Santa Anna. He 
evacuated the city and made a stand on 
Guadalupe plains, and after a bloody l)attle 
he was disastrously defeated, losing 2,000 
killed or wounded, and the rest taken pris- 
oners. This was a terrible blow to the Re- 
publican cause, and in addition Santa Anna 
was clothed with unlimited power. He soon 
used this power by dissolving all State leg- 
islatures. The people of Texas were thus 
left without a civil government. True, the 
political chiefs and alcaldes exercised their 
functions, but the laws were all of Spanish 
origin and distasteful to the Americans. Be- 
ing mostly farmers, the Texans were averse 
to any warlike measures, if they could honor- 
ably be avoided. Some were for submission 
to Santa Anna, but the slumbering lion in 
the nature of these hardy border men fore- 
boded a terrible storm when the lion should 
be aroused by too much prodding from the 
keeper. Santa Anna, in the meantime, was 
preparing, under cover of collecting revenue 
in Texas, for the military occupation of the 
province. He landed 500 men at Lavaca 
bay, and forwarded them ynder General 
Ugartecliea to San Antonio. Tlie custom- 
house at Anahuac was taken in charge and 
enormons dues were demanded. So excessive 
were they that W. B. Travis raised a com- 
pany and captured Captain Tenorio and the 
soldiers at the custom house. They were 
shortly after released, as the act of Tra\is 
was thought by his friends to be too hasty. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



When Tenorio reported these proccLHlin;Ts 
to hib superior officer, he was sent on a still 
more uncalled-for errand. 

A Mexican Republican, Lorenzo do Zavala, 
had taken refuge in Texas, and Santa Anna, 
fearing his influence, ordered his arrest; but 
no one would undertake the task. Another 
order was sent from headquarters to arrest 
R. M. Williamson, W. J3. Travis, Samuel M. 
Williams, Moseley Baker, F. W. Johnson 
and John H. Moore, and a subsequent order 
included the names of J. M. Carravahal and 
Juan Zambrano. The two last, being Mexi- 
can citizens, were carried off; but the job 
of arresting the first six persons was con- 
sidered so dangerous that no officer had the 
temerity to attempt it. In addition to these 
Mexican outrages on the Texans, the Indians 
were becoming troublesome. Mercliants and 
traders were intercepted and killed, and their 
goods carried off. But tliese Indian outrao-es 
served one important purpose; tlicy gave the 
Texans an excuse for forming companies, 
procuring arms and drilling ostensibly for 
operations against the savages, but really to 
resist the encroachments of the despotic Mex- 
ican government. The companies were called 
"committees of safety," and their business 
was to disseminate information, secure arms, 
ammunition, etc. A central committee was 
also formed, which met at San Felipe, and an 
administrative council was organized. The 
council sent Messrs. Barrett and Gritton to 
San Antonio on a mission of peace to Gen- 
eral Ugartechea, but nothing was accom- 
plished. Stephen F. Austin, in the mean- 
time, was returning, when he was made 
chairman of the council at San Felipe. He 
expressed regret at the action of his friends, 
and stated that he had hoped to find every- 
thing peaceful. 



Santa Anna still professed to have the kind- 
est feelings toward the Texans, and he autiior- 
ized Austin to tell his people that he was 
their friend, and that he desired tiieir pros- 
perity; that lie would do all he could to pro- 
mote it, and that in the new constitution he 
would use his influence to have conditions 
therein to give Texas a special organization, 
suited to their education and habits. But 
Santa Anna could l)e nothing but treacherous, 
as the treatment of the people in that portion 
of the State occupied by his troops but ill ac- 
cord with his professions of good will. Citi- 
zens were arrested, money forced from those 
who fell into the hands of the despot's min- 
ions, and communities strippeJ of their arm-, 
the soldiers compelling families to support; 
them, the attempt to disarm all citizens being 
a principal feature of the plan of subjugation. 
Captain Castenado was sent to Gonzales to 
seize a small cannon which had been given to 
the corporation for protection agai.ist Indians. 
The citizens were unwilling to part with their 
gun, and prepared to resist the demand of 
Castenado, who had 150 soldiers to back him. 
A company was organized, which charged tlie 
Mexicans and put them to flight in disorder. 
The news of this conflict roused a warlike 
spirit in the Texans. A company was raitel 
to capture the Mexican garrison at Goliad. 
Captain George Collingsworth led the party, 
and almost without tiring a gun the exultant 
Texans made prisoners of tiie whole force, 
about twenty-five, including Colonel Sandoval, 
besides obtaining 300 stand of arms and mil- 
itary stores to the amount of $10,000. The 
Mexican fort at Lipantitlan was also captured 
shortly after. 

Not only had Austin returned, but the 
noted Benjamin U. Milam had escape 1 from 
Monterey and returned and joined the patriot 
forces. Austin, who was a born commander. 



UISTOUT OF TEX AH. 



was put in iinmc.liate coiuiiuind of the Texan 
forces on liis arrival at Gonzales, which was 
on tlie lltii of Oetober. 

The consultation met October IG, 1835, 
but tiiere being only thirty one nienibers 
pro-ent an adjournment was made until Nov 
ember 1. November 5 a preamble and set of 
resolutions were adopted, in which the dec- 
laration was made that althougli they repu- 
diated Santa Anna and bis despotic govern- 
ment, they yet clung to the Constitution of 
Mexico of 1824. On November 12 an ordi- 
nance was passed for the creation of a provis- 
ional government, with an executive council, 
to be composed of one member from eacli 
municipality. Henry Smith was made Gov- 
ernor, and James W. Robinson Lieutenant- 
Governor. Sara Houston, who, it will be 
noticed, had figured some little in Texas his- 
tory since 1832, was selected to command the 
army to be raised. 

General Cos, with 500 soldiers, landed at 
I'ass Cavallo,in September, 1835, and marched 
immediately to San Antonio, when he super- 
seded General Ugartechea. Austin, after 
reaching Gonzales, and effecting a reorganiza- 
tion of the volunteers, started for San An- 
tonio. He reached the Mission La Espada, 
nine miles below the city, on the 20th. On 
the 27th, after resting his men, he detached 
the companies of Fannin and Bowie, ninety- 
two men, to ascend the river and if practic- 
able select a more suitable camping ground. 
Fannin spent that night in a bend of the San 
Antonio river, near the Conception mission. 
The point was well chosen, but the Mexicans 
looked upon it as simply a trap to secure their 
ga'ue from, wliich was all they had to do. 
It was a natural fortification, but General Cos 
thought he had a sure thing of it; so he 
marched out in the morning and ma Ic a'l at- 
tack. The Mexicans surrounded their sup- 



posed prey, and the battle began. The Tex- 
ans with their deadly rifles plucked off all the 
gunners from the enemy's battery, as they 
came within range. A charge was made, or 
attempted, three separate times, but they 
were hurled back in confusion by tlie Texans, 
who remained masters of the field. Sixteen 
dead bodies were found near the abandoned 
cannon, which had been discharged but five 
times; so true was the aim of the riflemen 
that the Mexican gunners were shot before 
they could Are, in most cases. Tiiis was the 
first battle of the Revolution, and the loss of 
the Texans was one man — Richard Andrews. 
The Mexican loss was about sixty, as every 
one of the patriots who fired took aim and 
usually brought down his man. Austin, in 
October, moved up about half a mile, on the 
Alamo ditch, near the old mill, and next day 
to within one mile east of the city. He had 
nearly 1,000 men, but they were ill provided 
with arms and ammunition of war, and with- 
out cannon. He was poorly prepared to at- 
tack a larger force than his own in a strongly 
fortified city. He, however, sent to Gonzales 
for the cannon at that place. Then came a 
number of skirmishes witk the enemy and 
tlie capture of 300 horses by Howie. The ex- 
ecutive or general council, in view of the lack 
of funds wherewith to provide the supplies, 
etc., so much needed at that time, sent Messrs. 
Austin, Archer and Wharton as Commission- 
ers to the United States, in order to ne- 
gotiate a loan of $1,000,000 in bonds of 
^1,000 each, and the commander-in-chief was 
authorized to accept the services of 5,000 vol- 
unteers and 1,200 regulars. Provision was 
also made for a navy. 

BA'ITLK OF SAN ANTONIO. 

The army encamped before San Antonio 
was under General Edward Burleson Many 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of the iiieu Iiad gone lioiiie, allliuiigh others 
were arriving daily; stiil, only about half 
tlie original force re.n.tineJ. There had 
lieen about 1,400 men in the camps at one 
time; 600 was the mi m her on tlie 1st of De- 
cember, while Cos had a much larger force in 
the city, and was expecting 500 more. These 
additional troups arrived in time to take part 
in the defense of the city. The defenses had 
been put in order and the old fortress of tiie 
Alamo on the east side of the river had been 
repaired and fortified with cannon. The 
main plaza had been fortified and the streets 
barricaded, while the adobe houses in tiie 
narrow streets afforded shelter for tlie Mexi- 
can soldiers. Many of Burleson's ofiicers, in 
consideration of these facts, were in favor of 
abandoning the siege. On the 2d of Decem- 
ber it was decided to make the attack. The 
force was paraded and a strong address was 
made by Colonel William H. Jack. A call 
was then made volunteers, and 450 men, in- 
cluding the New Orleans Grays, responded, 
the latter under the command of Major R..C. 
Norris. It was decided to make the attack 
next morning, although many considered the 
project as a hopeless one. But three citizens 
arrived in camp from the city and gave such 
encouraging news that the next morning 
Colonel Milam suggested to Burleson to make 
the attempt while the enthusiasm was at its 
lieight. He agreed, and Miiaiu stepped in 
front of Burleson's tent and gave a loud and 
ringing huzsah, which, together with his 
magnetism, aroused the whole camp. He 
said he was going into San Antonio, and 
wanted volunteers to follow iiim. A ready 
response was made, and the little band, form- 
ing into two sections and accompanied by two 
field pieces, entered the town by different 
directions. A description of this famous 
battle has so often been given that its details 



are almost like household words to all Texans. 
The result was sufficient almost to place it in 
the category of one of the " decisive battles 
of the wi.rld," for the result of a battle is 
what makes it great. Hundreds of battles 
have been fought where thousands on each 
side have been slain, and yet the result has 
been 7iil. This siege and capture of the 
strongly protected city of San Antonio de 
Bexar was all important to Texas. It gave 
the Mexicans to understand that not in num- 
bers alone consists the strength of an army. 
Here was a force of undisciplined frontiers- 
men, poorly armed and equipped, only a few 
hundred in number, attacking a well organ- 
ized army of regular soldiirs, advancing into 
their very midst and forcing them to sur- 
render. The difference in apparent strength 
of the two forces and the result would appear 
ridiculous were it not so serious a matter. 
The spectacle of a general such as Cos seemed 
to be, surrendering to a few Texans, was a 
scene to be remembered by those who took 
part in the siege. But it is the old story ot 
the Anglo-Saxon against the field. He is 
rarely ever the under dog in the fight at the 
finish. 

But, during the time the fighting men 
were doing such splendid work, the poli- 
ticians were quarreling; nor are we lacking 
in a more " modern instance " or two, on both 
sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Governor 
Smith vetoed some matters that the council 
had voted, and the council promptly deposed 
him and placed Lieutenant-Governor Robin- 
son in the executive chair. Smith held the 
archives and claimed to be governor still, and 
there were consequently two governors at 
once; but that state of affairs is not uncom- 
mon in these days. Much other legislative 
matter of some interest at the time was trans- 
acted, but it is not now of supreme import- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



aiicc. Tlie main liisturic facts is what tliu 
compiler wishes to eiiipliasize in these pages. 
Several decUirations of indepeiKleneo were 
adopted in differeiit sections of the embryo 
State, hut an election was Iield for dele<fate8 
to a convention wliich met on the 1st of 
A[arch, 1836, and on tlie second day a com- 
mittee was appointed to draft a declaration 
of independence, which was done, and it was 
unanimously passed, Sam Houston offeriufr 
the resolution that the report of the commit- 
tee be adopted, llichard Ellis, for whom 
Ellis county was named, was president of the 
convention. A constitution was also framed 
which was adopted March 17, and a govern- 
ment ad interim inaugurated: David G. 
Eurnett, President; Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice- 
president, and Sam Houston, Commauder-in- 
Chief of the army in the field. 

Zacatecas, and the district over which Gov- 
ernor Garcia still had nominal sway, the re- 
maining portion of old Mexico wherein the 
llepublicans held out the longest, at last fell. 
Santa Anna having gained a complete vic- 
tory over the forces of the governor. This 
swept away the last vestige of the Republican 
party in Mexico. Yet Texas was not only 
holding her own, but gaining strength witii 
every day; so Santa Anna determined to sub- 
jugate this State. He proposed to send two 
columns into the piovince, General Urrea be- 
ing ordered to Maianioras to take one divi- 
sion along the coast to Goliad and Victoria, 
while the president himself, with the main 
division, would take the province by way of 
I'lL'sidio, thence to San Antonio and San Fe- 
lipe. 

TUE AI.AMO. 

In Januarj', 1836, Santa Anna reached 
Saltillo, and Guerrero by the 15th of Febru- 
ary. From the latter place he wrote to 



Sefior Tornel, Minister of War, 



giving 



that 



official an outline of his plans in reference to 
Texas, which were " to drive from the prov- 
ince all who had taken part in the revolu- 
tion, together with all the foreigners who 
lived near the sea-coast, or the borders of the 
United States; to remove far into the interior 
those who had not taken part in the revolu- 
tion; to vacate all lands and grants of lands 
owned by non-residents; to remove from 
Texas all who had come to the province and 
were not entered as colonists under Mexican 
rules; to divide among the officers and sol- 
diers of the army the best lands, provided 
they would occupy them; to permit no 
Anglo-American to settle in Texas; to sell 
the remaining vacant lands at $1 per acre, 
allowing those speaking the French language 
to purchase 5,000,000 acres, those speaking 
English the same, and those speaking 
Spanish without limit; to satisfy the claims 
of civilized Indians; to make the Texans 
pay the expense of the war; and to liberate 
and to declare free the negroes introduced 
into the colony." And further, to cut off 
from Texas the hope of aid from the United 
States, the Minister of War, Tornel, issued a 
general order to all commanders to treat all 
foreigners (volunteers from the United States) 
as outlaws, to sliow no quarter, and slay 
them when taken as prisoners, — in short, to 
take no prisoners alive. Colonel Travis, with 
145 men, who was in the vicinity of San An- 
tonio, on the approach of the invading army, 
retired to the fortress of the Alanio, on the 
east side of the river. 

And just here a description of this famous 
fortre-s, the Alamo, and its armament, will be 
in place; and although it has often been de- 
scribed, yet the memories surrounding it, 
glorious though sad, cannot be kept too fiesh 
in the minds of all who love supreme hero- 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



ism, — tl.e Spartan Loruisin as sliown by 
Travis and liis littlo hand. 'The main 
chapel is 75x62 I'eet, walls of solid masonry, 
four feet thick and twenty-two and a half 
feut high, roofless at the time of the siege. 
It fronts to the west toward tlie city, one- 
iialf mile distant. From the northwest cor- 
ner a wall extended fifty feet to the convent 
building. The convent was a two-story 
building, with a flat roof, 186x18 feet. 
From the nortlieast coiner of the chapel a 
wall extended 186 feet north, thence 102 feet 
west to tlie convent, inclosing the convent 
yard. From the southwest corner of the 
chapel a strongly built stockade extended 75 
feet to a building called the prison. The 
prison was one-story, 115 x 17 feet, and 
joined a part of the south wall of the main 
Alamo plaza, of which the convent formed a 
part of the east wall; and some low buildings, 
used as a barracks, formed a part of the west 
wall. The main plaza, inclosed with walls, 
was 154x54 yards. The different enclos- 
ures occupied between two and three acres, 
— ample accomodations for 1,000 men. The 
outer walls were two and a half feet thick 
and eight feet high, though as they were 
planned against the Indians the fortress was 
destitute of salient and dominant points in 
case of a bombardment. A ditch, used for 
irrigation, passed immediately in the rear of 
the church; another touched the northwest 
angle of the main square. The armament 
was as follows: three heavy guns, planted 
upon the walls of the church, — one pointing 
north, toward the old mill; one west, toward 
the city; and one south, toward the village of 
Lavalleta. Two guns protected the stockade 
between the church, and the prison; two pro- 
tected the prison, and an eighteen-pounder 
was planted at the southwest angle of the 
main square; a twelve-pound cannon pro- 



tected the center of the west wall, and an 
eight pounder was planted on the northwest 
angle; two guns were planted on the north 
wall of the plaza, — in all, fourteen iu posi- 
tion. Over the church floated the flag of the 
provisional government of Texas, the Mexi- 
can tri-color, with the numerals 1824, in 
place of the eagle in the white stripe." 

The siege began on the 23d of February, 
and so stubbornly did Travis and his ineu re- 
sist the furious onslaughts of the Mexicans 
that not until Sunday, March 6, did the fall 
of the Alamo occur, an account of which, 
briefly told, will here be given: The Mexi- 
cans advanced to the attack at about four 
o'clock in the morning, but the Texans were 
ready, and poured upon the advancing col- 
umns a shower of grape and musket a:id rifle 
balls. Santa Anna was watching the opera- 
tions from behind a building about 500 yards 
south of the church. Twice the assailants 
reeled and fell back in dismay. Kallied again 
by the brave Costrellon (who fell at San Ja 
cinto), according to Filisola, the columns of 
the western and eastern attacks meeting with 
some difliculty in reaching the tops of the 
small houses forming the wall of the fort, 
did, by a simultaneous movement to the right 
and to the left, swing northward until the 
three colums fornaed one dense mass, which 
under the guidance of their oflicers Anally 
succeeded in effecting an entrance into the 
enclosed yard. About the same time the 
column on the south made a breach in the 
wall and captured one of the guns. This 
gun, the eighteen-pounder, was immediately 
turned upon the convent, to which some of 
the Mexicans had retreated. The cannonade 
on the center of the west wall was still manned 
by the Texans, and did fearful execution 
upon the Mexicans who had ventured into 
the yard. 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



But the feeble garrison could not loiiji; hold 
out aj^aiiist such overwheliniug uuiuhcrs. 
Travis fell early in the action, shot with a rifle 
ball in the head. After being shot he had 
sufficient strength to kill a Mexican who at- 
tempted to spear him. The bodies of most 
uf the Texans were found in the buildings, 
wlieie hand-to-hand figlits took place. The 
body of Crockett, however, was in the yard, 
with a number of dead Mexicans lying near 
him. Bowie was slain in his bed, and it is 
said that he killed three Me.\icans with his 
pistols before they reached him after break- 
ing in the door. The church was the last 
place entered by the foe. It had been agreed 
that when resistance seemed useless, and 
suspecting their fate, any surviving Texan 
should blow up the magazine. Major Evans, 
it is said, was performing this sad duty when 
he was killed in time to prevent the explo- 
sion. Several Texans appealed to their in- 
human captors for quarters, but they were 
cut down without mercy. The butchery was 
complete; not a Texan soldier was spared! 
Two ladies and a negro servant wore the only 
occupants who remained to tell the tale of the 
Alamo. Lieutenant Dickinson attempted to 
escape with a child on his back, but their 
bodies fell, riddled with bullets. 180 bodies 
of the Texans were collected together and 
partially buried. The Mexicans lost twice 
that number. 

THE ALAMO MONUMENT. 

At the entrance to the State house at Aus- 
tin, aline moininient has been erected in 
memory of the extraordinary heroism of the 
Texans who fell in the battle and massacre of 
March 6, 1836. On the four sides of the 
pedestal are the names of Travis, Crockett, 
Bowie and Bouham. On the north front of 



the sliaft is the fullowing inscription: To the 
God of the Fearless and Free is Dedicated 
this Altar, made from the ruins of the Alamo; 
on the west front, DIood of Heroes Hath 
Stained me: Let the Stones of the Alamo 
Speak, that their Immolation be not forgot- 
ten; on the south front. Be They Enrolled 
with Leonidas in the Host of the Mighty 
Dead; and on the east. TheimopyiiB had her 
Messenger of Defeat; but the Alamo had 
None. 



The following 


names are inscribed upon 


the north and south fronts: 


M. Antry, 


W. Cummings, 


R. Allen, 


R. Crossan, 


M. Andress, 


Cockran, 


Ay res, 


G. W. Cottle, 


Andei-son, 


J. Dust, 


W. Blazeby, 


J. Diilard, 


J. B. Bowman, 


A. Dickinson, 


Baker, 


C. Despalier, 


S. C. Blair, 


L. Davell, 


Blair, 


J. C. Day, 


Brown, 


J. Dickens, 


Bowin, 


Devault. 


Balentine, 


W. lAarduff, 


J. J. Baugh, 


J. Eviirig, 


Burnell, 


T. It. Evans, 


Butler, 


D. Fluyd, 


J. Baker, 


J. Flanders, 


Burns, 


W. Fishbaugh, 


Bailey, 


Forsyth, 


J. Beard, 


G. Fuga, 


Bailess, 


J. C. Goodrich, 


Bourn, 


C. Grimes, 


R. Cunningham, 


J. George, 


J. Clark, 


J. Gaston, 


J. Cane, 


J. C. Garrett, 


Cloud, 


Gwyn, 


S. Crawford, 


J. F. Garwin, 


Gary, 


Gillmore, 



n I STORY OF TBXAS. 



Pelone, 


Sewall, 


Wm. Lightfoot, Wm. G. Nelson, 


C. Parker, 


A. Smith, 


J. Loiily, C. Ostiner, 


N. Pollard, 


Simpson, 


J. M. Thruston, L. J. Wilson, 


G. Paggan, 


R. Star, 


Valentine, Warner, 


S. Kobinson, 


Starn, 


Wil,ialn^on, D. Wilson, 


Reddenson, 


N. Sutherland, 


Walsh, Washington, 


N. Rough, 


W. Summers, 


W. Wells, C. Wright, 


Rusk, 


J. Summerline, 


R. White, J. Washington, 


Robbins, 


Thompson, 
Tomlinson, 


T. Waters, Warnall, 


W. Smith, 


J. White, D. Wilson, 


Sears, 


E. Taylor, 


J. Wilson, A. Wolf. 


C. Smith, 
Stockton, 


G. Taylor, I Bros,, 
J. Taylor, 
W. Taylor, 


It is greatly to be regretted that a com- 


Stewart, 


plete and correct list of the names of those 
wlio fell at the Alamo, with some biographi- 
cal account of each, is not at hand. Scanning 
the above list of imperfect names will often 


A. Smith, 
J. C. Smith, 
Ilutchason, 


Thornton, 

Thomas, 

Lanio, 






remind the reader that 


S. Holloway, 


W. Lightfoot, 




Harrison, 


G. W. Lynn, 


"Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 


Ilieskell, 


Lewis, 


The dark, unfatbomed caves of ocean bear; 


J. Hayes, 


W. Mills, 


Full many a flower is born to blusb unseen 




And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 


Horrell, 


Micheson, 




Harris, 


E. T. Mitchell, 


OOLIAD MASSACEB. 


Hawkins, 


E. Melton, 




J. Holland, 


McGregor, 


Santa Anna, in the meantime, had ordered 


W. Hersie, 


T. Miller, 


Urrea to proceed along the Texan coast, and 


Ingram, 


J. Mc(Joy, 


that general reached San Patricio on the 28th 


John, 


E. Morton, 


of Febinary, entirely unknown to Texans. 


J. Jones, 


R. Mussulman, 


Some narrow escapes were made by Colonel 


L. Johnson, 


Millsop, 


F. W. Johnson and others, but a party under 


C. B. Jamison, 


R. B. Moore, 


Major Morris and Dr. Grant were captured 


"W. Johnson, 


W. Marshall, 


and they fell victims to the Mexican murder 


T. Jackson, 


Moore, 


ers, — for they were nothing less. Colonel 


D. Jackson, 


R. McKenny, 


Fannin had been ordered to prepare for a 


Jackson, 


McCaferty, 


descent on Matamoras, but hearing of the ad- 


G. Kemble, 


J. McGee, 


vance of Urrea, he re-entered Goliad, where 


A. Kent, 


G. W. Main, 


he had been in command some time. Hav- 


W. King, 


M. Querry, 


ing been requested to send some reinforce- 


Kenney, 


G. Nelson, 


ments to Captain King, his force was thereby 


J. Kenny, 


Nelson, 


depleted by 112 men. King and his men, 


Lewis, 


J. Noland, 


after a skirmish or two, by some means got 


W. Linn, 


Nelson, 


separated from another portion of his forc<j. 



BISTORT OF TBXA.S 



!iiid were c.ijitiircd and killed. Fannin, in 
(loliad, on the Kith of March, wab rein- 
forced hy tlie Twenty-eighth Cavalry, lie 
then pn^iared for a retreat; but just at 
nightfall a large force of the enemy was dis- 
covered in the neighborhood, when he re- 
mounted his cannon and prepared for defense. 
The following account of the disastrous battle 
of Colita, which followed, is copied from an 
able historian of Te.xas: "The morning of 
the 17th was foggy, and as no enemy ap- 
peared to be in sight Fannin concluded to 
make good his retreat. After reaching a 
])oint aijout eight miles away from Goliad, 
they halted to permit the oxen to graze. 
They then resumed their mai'ch, and were 
within two miles of Colita creek when a 
company of Mexican cavalry was discovered 
in front of them, issuing from a point of 
timi)er. Urrea had taken advantage of the 
fog to get around and in front of Fannin's 
Ibrce. Ilorton's cavalry had gone in advance 
to make arrangements for crossing the 
Htream, and could not get back to their com- 
panions. Two charges of Urrea's cavalry 
were gallantly repulsed by Fannin's artillery, 
which did great damage to the Mexicans. 
The tight was kept up till nightfall, when 
the enemy retired out of range and the Tex- 
ans prepared for a renewal of the fight in the 
Mioriiing. Their condition was indeed crit- 
ical. Fourteen of their number had been 
killed, and sixty others, including Fannin, 
were wounded. Urrea received during the 
night heavy reinforcements. With no ade- 
(^uate protectioti, in an ojien prairie, without 
Hater, surrounded by an enemy live times 
ilieir number, what could they do but sur- 
veiider as prisoners of war? A white Hag was 
•aised and the following terms of surrender 
a^^reed upon: That the Texans sliould be 
treated as prisoners of war accoiding to the 



usages of civilized nations; that private prop- 
erty shoulil be respected and restored, but 
tiide arms of the oIKcers should bo given up: 
the men should be sent to Copano, and thence 
in eight days to the United States, or as soon 
as vessels could be procured to take them; 
the otticers should i)e paroled and returned to 
the United States in like manner. 

After surrendering in good faith and rely- 
ing upon the honor, in this case at least, of 
the Mexican general, the prisoners were look- 
ing forward to a speedy release, and on Falm 
Sunday, the 27th, they were expecting to be 
forwarded to their homes. But alas! vain 
hope! the treacherous scoundrel to whom 
they surrendered had broken his military 
word and was about to place his name in the 
same category as the Caligulas and Neros 
and other fiends in human shape. Without 
warning and uuder the pretense of starting 
them homeward, the privates were marched 
out in four companies, strongly guarded, 
from the old mission at Goliad, where they 
had been sent, and where the men of Ward's 
force were also confined, and who, too, met 
the same fate as Fannin's men. They were 
taken in diffei-ent directions, and within 
sound of the officers, whose fate had also 
be n decided upon, they were brutally slaugh- 
tered! A few, by feigning death and lying' 
still till dark, escaped. The officei-s and the 
wounded, who were still in the fort, were then 
taken out, and all of them met the same fate 
as the [)rivates, Fannin being the last to suf- 
fer death. That Santa Anna, at the close of 
the victt)rious revolution, should have been 
permiltel tu escape the fate of those bra\e 
patriots, has been a hard pill for most Tex- 
ans to swallow. Ten years later, when he 
wiis in command of the Mexican army op- 
p,ir,ing (iencriil Scott, and when he was 
ag.iiii cipiurod, it was difficult for the Amer- 




)am^ 



I (^/^m/d^/an. 



EISTOIiT OF TEXAS. 



ican soldiers to keep their liai.Js off the 
bloodthirsty brute, and he had to be strongly 
guarded to save hiiu from tiie vengeance of 
many a grizzled Texan. Not content with 
these butcheries, Santa Anna, thinldng tliat 
the conquest of Texas was complete, gave or- 
ders to his subordinates to shoot all prison- 
ers, he himself making preparations to retire 
to the capital. But wheu he heard that a 
considerable army under Houston was still 
in the field, he, at the solicitation of Almonte 
and Filisola, concluded to remain and com- 
plete his work. 

SAN JACINTO. 

General Houston had been re-elected com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, and had gone 
to Gonzales, with the intention of re-organiz- 
ing the forces, in which he had great diffi- 
culty, for the fate of Travis and Fannin and 
their men caused a great panic when the 
news became known. Besides, thirty-two of 
the citizen soldiers of Gonzales, who had en- 
tered the Alamo the night before the battle, 
were slain, leaving a dozen or more families 
of that town without a head. A number of 
desertions also occurred, and the alarm was, 
indeed, widespread. Then came some move- 
ments on the part of General Houston that 
caused great criticism of his actions. There 
was not a very considerable cordiality between 
the commander and the newly inaugurated 
president, and in an order to the foi-mer from 
the latter these words were added : " The 
enemy are laughing you to scorn. You must 
tight them. You must retreat no further- 
The country expects you to fight. The salva- 
tion of the country depends on your doing 
80." The Confederate as well as the Feiloral 
generals during the late war, had their critics 
at their respective seats of government, yet ' 



the names of Houston, Lee and Grant live on; 
but wheie are they, who were they, who sought 
to teach those great soldiers? The battle of 
San Jacinto was the response of the great 
Texan to his oHicial, not to say olUcious 
superior. And the best report of that decisive 
battle is contained in the official report of the 
commander, who, by that one blow to Mexico, 
secured the itidependence of Texas, the an- 
nexation of our great State to the greatest 
nation on earth, and finally led to the acqui- 
sition of the vast interior region stretching 
from the Bio Grande to the Pacific ocean: 
" Headquartkrs of the Armv, ) 
"San Jacinto, April 25, 183G. J 
" To His Excellency, D. G. Burnett, 
J'/esideni of the Reptihlic of Texas: 

^'' Sir: — I regret extremely that my situa- 
tion since the battle of the 21st has been such 
as to prevent my rendering you my official 
report of the same previous to this time. 

" I have the honor to inform you that on 
the evening of the 18th instant, after a forced 
march of fifty-five miles, which was effected 
in two days and a half, the army arrived op- 
posite Harrisburg. That evening a courier 
of the enemy was taken, from whom I learned 
that General Santa Anna, with one division 
of his choice troops, had marched in the di- 
rection of Lynch's Ferry, on the San Jacinto, 
burning Harrisburg as he passed down. The 
army was ordered to be in readiness to march 
early on the next morning. The main body 
effected a crossing over Buffalo bayou, below 
Harrisburg, on the morning of the 19th, hav- 
ing left the baggage, the sick, and a sufficient 
camp guard in tlie rear. We continued the 
march throughout the night, making but one 
halt on the prairie for a short time, and with- 
out refreshment. At daylight we resumed 
the line of march, and in a short distancj our 
scouts encountered those of the enemy, and 



in STOUT OF TEXAS. 



we received iiiforin.'itioii that General Santa 
Anna was at Now Wasliino-ton, and would 
tliat day take up the line of mareh fur Ana- 
linac, crossing at Lynch's Ferry. The Texan 
army halted within a half mile of the ferry, 
in some timber, and were engaged in slangh- 
tering beeves, when the army of Santa Anna 
was discovered to be in battle array, having 
been encamped at Clopper's Point, eight 
miles below. 

"Disposition was immediately made of 
our forces, and preparations for his recep- 
tion. He took a position with his infantry 
and artillery in the center, occupying an isl- 
and of timber, his cavalry covei'ing the left 
Ihink. The artillery, consisting of one double- 
loitiHed medium brass twelve-pounder, then 
opened on our encampment. Tlie infantry in 
column advanced with the design of charging 
our lines, but were repulsed with a discnarge 
of grape and canister from our artillery, con- 
sisting of two six-pounders. The enemy had 
occupied a piece of timber within rifle shot 
of the left wing of our army, from which an 
..ccasional interchange of small arms took 
place between the troops, until the enemy 
witiidrew to a position on the bank of the 
Sati .laeinto, about three-quarters of a mile 
from our encampment, and commenced forti. 
tication. A short time before sunset our 
mounted men, about eighty-tive in number, 
under the special command of Colonel Sher- 
man, m.irched out for the purpose of recoii- 
noitering the enemy. Whilst advancing they 
received a volley from the left of the enemy's 
infantry, and after a short renconter with 
ilieii- e.iviiiry, in which ours acted e.xtremely 
ueil, and performed some feats of daring 
chivalry, they retired in good order, having 
had two men severely wounded and several 
horses killed. In the meantime the infantry 
under the command of Liuutenant-Colonel 



Millard, and Colonel Ijurleson's regiment, 
with the artillery, had marched out for the 
purpose of covering the retreat of the cav- 
alry, if necessary. 

"All these fell back in good order to our 
encampment about sunset, and remained with- 
out any ostensible action until the 21st, at 
half-past three o'clock, taking the first refresh- 
ments which they had enjoyed for two days. 
The enemy in the meantime extended the 
right ilank of their infantry so as to occupy the 
extreme point of a skirt of timber on the bank 
of the San Jacinto, and secured their left by 
a fortification about five feet high, constructed 
of packs and baggage, leaving an opening in 
the center of their breastwork, in which their 
artillery was placed, their cavalry on their 
left wing. About nine o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 21st, the enemy were reinforced by 
500 choice troops, under the command of 
General Cos, increasing their effective force 
to upward of 1,500 men, wliilst our aggre- 
gate force for the field numbered 783. At 
balf-past three o'clock in the evening I or- 
dered the officers of the Texan army to parade 
their respective commands, having in the 
meantime ordtred the bridge on the only road 
communicating with Brazos, distant eight 
miles from our encampment, to be destroyed, 
thus cutting off any possibility of escape. 
Our troops paraded with alacrity and spirit, 
and were anxious for tlie contest. Their con- 
scious disparity in number seemed only to 
increase their enthusiasm and confidence, and 
heightened their anxiety for the conflict. Our 
situation afforded me an opportunity of mak- 
ing the arrangements for the attack, without 
exposing our designs to the enemy. 

The flrst regiment, commanded by Colonel 
Burleson, was assigned the center. The sec- 
ipiid ie.^iinent, under the command of Colonel 
Siierman, formed the left wing of the army. 



HI8T0B7 OF TEXAS. 



The artillery, under special command of 
Colonel George "W. Hockley, Inspector-Gen- 
eral, was placed on the right of the first regi- 
ment; and four companies of infantry, under 
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry 
Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. 
Our cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded 
by Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar (whose gallant 
and daring conduct on the previous day had 
attracted the admiration of his comrades, and 
called him to the station), placed on our ex- 
treme right, completed our line. Our cavalry 
was despatched to the front of the enemy's 
left, for the purpose of attracting their notice, 
whilst an extensive island of timber afforded 
us an opportunity of concentrating our forces 
and displaying from that point, agreeably to 
the previous design of the troops. Every 
evolution was performed with alacrity, the 
whole advancing rapidly in line, and through 
an open prairie, without any protection what- 
ever for our men. The artillery advanced and 
took station within 200 yards of the enemy's 
breastwork, and commenced an effective fire 
with grape and canister. 

"Colonel Sherman, with his regiment, hav- 
ing commenced the action upon our left wing, 
the whole line, at the center and on the right, 
advancing in double-quick time, rung the war 
cry,' Remember the Alamo!' received the ene- 
my's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot 
before a piece was discharged from our lines. 
Our lines advanced without a halt until they 
were in possession of the woodland and the 
enemy's breastwork, the right wing of Burle- 
son's and the left of Millard's taking posses- 
sion of the breastwork, our artillery havincr 
gallantly charged up within seventy yards of 
the enemy's cannon, when it was taken by our 
troops. The conflict lasted about eighteen 
minutes from the time of close action until 
we were in possession of the enemy's encamp- 



ment, taking one piece of cannon (loaded), 
four stand of colors, all their camp equipage, 
stores and baggage. Our cavalry had charged 
and routed that of the enemy upon the right, 
and given pursuit to the fugitives, which did 
not cease until they arrived at the bridge 
which I have mentioned before. Captain 
Karnes, always among the foremost in danger, 
commanded the pursuers. The conflict in 
the breastwork lasted but a few moments; 
many of the troops encountered hand to hand, 
and, not having the advantage of bayonets on 
our side, our riflemen used their pieces as war 
clubs, breaking many of them off at the breecli. 
The rout commenced at half-past four, and 
the pursuit by the main army continued until 
twilight. A guard was then left in charge of 
the enemy's encampment, and our army re- 
turned with their killed and wounded. In the 
battle our loss was two killed and twenty-three 
wounded, six of whom mortally. The enemy's 
loss was 630 killed, among whom were one 
general ofiicer, four colonels, two lieutenant- 
colonels, five captains, twelve lieutenants: 
wounded, 208, of whom five were colonels, 
three lieutenant-colonels, two second lieuten- 
ant-colonels, seven captains, one cadet; pris- 
oners, 730; President-General Santa Anna, 
General Cos, four colonels (aids to General 
Santa Anna), and the colonel of the Guerrero 
battalion, are included in the number. General 
Santa Anna was not taken until the 22d, and 
General Cos on yesterday, very few having 
escaped. About 600 muskets, 300 sabres and 
200 pistols have been collected since the ac- 
tion; several hundred mules and horses were 
taken, and nearly $12,000 in specie. For sev- 
eral days previous to the action our troops 
were engaged in forced marches, exposed to 
excessive rains, and the additional inconveni- 
ence of extremely bad roads, ill supplied with 
rations and clothing; yet, amid every ditfi- 



UISTORY OF TEXAS. 



culty, tliey Loro up with cliecrfulness and forti- 
tude and performed their marches witli spirit 
and alacrity. There was no nuinnuring. 

"Previous to and during the action my 
staff evinced every disposition to be useful, 
and were actively engaged in their duties. 
In the conilict I am assured they demeaned 
tiiemselves in such a manner as proved them 
worthy members of the army of San Jacinto. 
Colonel T. J. Rusk, Secretary of War, was 
' on the tield. For weeks his services had 
been highly beneficial to the army, in battle 
he was on the left wing, where Colonel Sher- 
man's command first encountered and drove 
the enemy; he bore himself gallantly, and 
continued his efforts and activity, remaining 
with the pursuers until resistance ceased. 

'•I have the honor of transmitting here- 
with a list of all the officers and men who 
were en^aoed in the action, which I respect- 
fully request may be published, as an act of 
justice to the individuals. For the command- 
ing general to attempt discrimination as to 
the conduct of those who commanded in the 
action, or those who were commanded, would 
be impossible. Our success in the action is 
conclusive proof of their daring intrepidity 
and courage; every otheer and man proved 
himself worthy of the cause in which he bat- 
tled, while the triumph received a luster from 
the humanity which characterized their con- 
duct after victory, and richly entitles them to 
the admiration and gratitude of their general. 
Nor should we withhold the tribute of our 
grateful thanks from that Being who rules 
the destinies of nations, and has in the time 
of greatest need enabled ns to arrest a power- 
ful invader while devastating our country. 

" I have the honor to be, with high con- 
sideration, your obedient servant, 

"Sam Houston, 
" Coiiiviaiider-iii- Chief." 



Tlie condition in wliich Santa Anna wai^ 
when captured was in accordance with the 
actions of all bloodthirsty cowards when en- 
trapped by tiiose tliey have wronged. He 
had torn from his body his gaudy unifoi'm 
and donned the garb of a common country- 
man, but he had forgotten to take from his 
shirt-sleeves a pair of cuff-buttons, whicii 
aroused the keen suspicions of James II. Syl 
vester, a printer, the man who found the 
sneaking despot hidden in the grass. The 
capture, as told by a writer who liad knowl- 
edge of the facts, are these: "Some of Burle- 
son's men were out hunting for the fugitive, 
when one of them saw a deer on tlic praino 
looking intently at some object in the tall 
grass. The man approached the fpot and 
found lying upon the giass a Mexican in 
common garb, l)ut, upon discovering a gold 
button on his sleeve, took iiim back to his 
companions, who comlucted him to camp, 
havinc no idea of his rank. Santa Anna 
offered his captors a gold watch to li^t 
him off. As the company passed into the 
camp, the Mexican prisoners e.\claimed, 
' El Presidente!' Inquiry was made of Gen- 
eral Almonte, who announced that the one 
just brougiit in was no less a personage than 
Santa Anna himself! He was conducted to 
Houston's camp, and his own officers alluwta 
to remain with him, and his personal hag- 
gao-e restored. Besides Sylvester, who foui^d 
him and brought him to his companions, the 
captors were Joel W. Robinson, A. H. Miles 
and David Cole." 

How that little force of 783 Texans, badly 
equipped, poorly clothed, and half starved, 
could march out and crush to atoms, as it 
were, in less than half an hour (eighteen 
minutes, says Houston in hisreport), an army 
of 1,500 men, splendidly accoutered, ably 
generaled, and comfortably clothed and fed, 



^■Q>=~\ gH.TO 




BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



is nothing short of marvelous; and with a loss 
of but two killed in battle and twenty-nine 
wounded to the victors, against 630 killed 
and 208 wounded of the enemy, to say noth- 
ing of the prisoners; for all, or nearly all, 
who were not killed or wounded, were cap- 
tured, hardly a man escaping! But oh! the 
Texans had the fate of those two brave mar- 
tyrs, Travis and Fannin, in their minds, and 
when the battle cry of " l^eraember the 
Alamo!" rang out as they rushed to battle, 
every man was a Hercules. Ten thousand 
men could not have daunted their invincible 
courage. They knew that defeat meant death 
to every one of them, and it were better to 
die in harness than to be led out like sheep to 
the slaughter. They shot and struck to kill. 
Death had no terror for those patriot?, and 
woe betide the brutal Santa Anna had he been 
caught in the action! He was so sure of vic- 
tory that it is said that he contemplated with 
pleasure the close of the tight that he might 
show his power. Every man, Houston and 
all, of those San Jacinto heroes, would have 
been immediately shot if they would have 
been so unfortunate as not to be killed in 
battle. Knowing this, how those Texans 
could luive refiained from killing this man 
has always puzzled the friends of liberty. As 
it was, it was the best. Ko stain rests upon 
the escutcheon of the Lone Star State. 

After much controversy, especially in re- 
gard to the disposition of the captive Presi- 
dent of Mexico, a treaty was entered into by 
President Burnett and most of his cabinet and 
Santa Anna; but the clause providing for the 
release of the latter was bitterly objected to, 
and at one time the matter bid fair to be the 
cause of serious troubles and internal com- 
plications. 

During these exciting times a number of 
captures of vessels on the coast near Cupano 



were made, especially by Captain Burton, who 
commanded a company of mounted rangers. 
Cavalry does not seem to be the best arm of 
the service in naval warfare, but this bold 
captain used very Ingenious stratagems to in- 
duce passing vessels to stop at Copano, when 
his men would step aboard and take posses- 
sion in the name of the Republic of Texas. 

THE INDEPENDENCE CONVENTION. 

Not to interrupt the crimson thi-ead of the 
war history, we have run past a remarkable 
event, which must now be related. 

By authority of a resolution adopted De- 
cember 10, 1835, by the provisional govern- 
ment of Texas, which existed from November, 

1835, to March, 1836, delegates, clotlied-with 
plenary powers, were elected February 1, 

1836, to meet in convention at Washington, 
on the Brazos, March 1. The provisional 
government was composed of Henry Smith, 
governor; James W. Robinson, vice governor; 
andacouncil. At the period of the meeting of 
the convention, the council had quarreled with 
and deposed the governor, and Mr. Robinson 
was acting governor. 

The convention assembled at the date above 
mentioned. The official journal opens thus: 
" Convention of all the People of Texas, 
through their Delegates Elect. " George C. 
Childress of the municipality (county) of Mi- 
lam, moved that James Collingsworth, of 
Brazoria, be called to the chair, which motion 
prevailed; and Willis A. Farris was appointed 
secretary pro tein. 

After the roll of members was completed, 
the convention proceeded to the election of 
president, when Richard Ellis of Red river 
(then Pecan Point) was elected unanimously. 
H. S. Kimble was chosen permanent secre- 
tary. 



GO 



HIHTORY OF TEXAS. 



On the afternoon of the first day George C. 
Cliildress offered the following resolution: 
That the president appoint a committee of 
five to draft a declaration of independence, 
which was adopted, after an offered substi- 
tute had been rejected. The president ap- 
pointed on this committee, George C. Child- 
ress, of Milam, James Gaines of Sabine, 
Edward Conrad, of Eefugio, Collin Mc Kin- 
ney, of Red river, and Bailey Hardeman, of 
Matagorda. 

Oil the second day, March 2, a committee 
of one from each municipality was appointed 
to draft a constitution for the (contemplated) 
Republic of Texas, comprising Martin Palmer 
(chairman), Robert Potter, Charles B. Stew- 
art, Edwin "Waller, Jesse Grimes, Eobert M. 
Coleman, John Fisher, John "W. Bunton, 
James Gaines, Lorenzo de Zavala, Stephen 
II. Everitt, Bailey Hardeman, Elijah Stapp, 
William C. Crawford, Claiborne West, James 
Power, Jose Antonio Navarro, Collin Mc- 
Kinney, William Menefee, William Motley 
and Michael B. Menard. 

On the same day, March 2, Mr. Childress, 
chairman of the committee, reported the draft 
of a declaration of independence; Mr. Collings- 
worth was called to the chair, while Mr. 
Houston introduced the following resolution: 
That the declaration of independence reported 
by the committee be adopted, and that the 
same be engrossed and signed by the delegates 
of this convention. The question being put, 
the resolution was unanimously adopted. 

DECLAEATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Wiien a government has ceased to protect 
the lives, liberty and property of the people 
from whom its legitimate powers are derived, 
pnd for the advancement of whose interests 
it was instituted; and, so far from being a 
guarantee for their inestimable and inalienable 



rights, becomes an instrument in the hands 
of evil rulers for their oppression; wlicn ttie 
federal republican constitution of their conn- 
try, which they have sworn to support, no 
longer has a substantial existence, and the 
whole nature of their guvernment has been 
forcibly changed, without their consent, from 
a restricted federative republic composed of 
sovereign States to a consolidated central 
military despotism, in which every interest 
is disregarded but that of the army and the 
priesthood, both the etei-nal enemy of civil 
liberty, the ever ready minions of power and 
the usual instruments of tyrants; M'hen, hmg 
after the spirit of the constitution has departed, 
moderation is so far lost by those in power 
that even the semblance of freedom is re- 
moved, and theforms themselves of the consti- 
tution discontinued; and, so far from the 
petitions and remonstrances being disre- 
garded, the agents who bear them are thrown 
into dungeons, and mercenaries sent forth to 
enforce a new government upon the point of 
the bayonet; when, in consequence of such 
acts of malfeasance and abduction on the part 
of the government, anarchy prevails and civil 
society is dissolve 1 into its original elements, 
in such a crisis the first law of nature, the 
right of self-preservation, the inherent and 
inalienable light of the penp'e to appeal to the 
first principles and take their political affairs 
into their own hands, in extreme cases, en- 
joins it as a right toward themselves and a 
sacred ol)ligMtion to their prosperity, to abol- 
ish such government and create another in 
its stead, calculate 1 to rescue them from im- 
pending dangers, and to secure their welfare 
and ha|lpine^s. 

Nations, as well as individuals, are amen- 
able for their acts to the public opinion of 
mankind. A statement of a part of our griev- 
ances is therefore submitted to an inijiartial 
world in justification of the hazardous but 
unavoidable step now taken, of severing our 
political connection with the Mexican people 
and assuming an independent attitude among 
the nations of the earth. 

The Mexican government, by its coloniza- 
tion laws, having invited and induced the 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



Anglo-American population of Texas to 
colonize its wilderness, under the pledged 
faith of a written constitution, they should 
continue to enjoy that constitutiotial liberty 
and republican government, to which they had 
been habituated in the land of their birth, 
the United States of America. In this ex- 
pectation they have been cruelly disap- 
pointed, inasniiieh as the Mexican nation has 
acquiesced in the late changes made in the 
government by General Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna, who, having overturned the cou- 
stitutiun of his country, now ofl'ers us the 
cruel alternative either to abandon our homes, 
acquired by so many privation*, or submit to 
the most intolerable of all tyranny, tiie com- 
bined despotism of the sword and the priest- 
hood. 

It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of 
Coahuila, by which our interests have been 
continually depressed, tiirough a ^'oalous and 
partial course of legislation, carried on at a 
far distant seat of government, by a hostile 
majority, in an unknown tongue; and this, 
too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in 
humblest terms for the establishment of a 
separate State government, and have, in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of the national 
constitution, presented to the general congress 
a republican constitution, which was without 
a just cause contemptuously rejected. 

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long 
time, one of our citizens for no other cause 
but a zealous endeavor to procure the accept- 
ance of our constitution and the establish- 
ment of a State government. 

It has failed and refused to secure on a firm 
basis the right of trial by jury, the palla- 
dium of civil liberty and the only safe guar- 
antee for the life, liberty and property of the 
citizen. 

It lias failed to establish any public system 
of education, although possessed of almost 
boundless resources (the public domains), and 
although it is an axiom in political science 
that unless a people are educated and enlight- 
ened, it is idle to expect the continuance of 
civil liberty or the capacity for self-govern- 
ment. 



It has suflored the military commandants 
stationed among us to exercise arbitrary acts 
of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling 
upon the most sacred rights of the citizen 
and rendering the military superior to the 
civil power. 

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the State 
Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged 
our representatives to fly for their lives from 
the seat of government, thus depriving us of 
the fundamental political right of represent- 
ation. 

It has demanded the surrender of a number 
of our citizens, and ordered military detach- 
ments to seize and carry them into the interior 
for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities 
and in defiance of the law and the constitu- 
tion. 

It has made piratical attacks on our com- 
merce by commissioning foreign desperadoes 
and authorizing them to seize their vessels, 
and convey the property of our citizens to far 
distant parts for confiscation. 

It denies us the right of worshiping the 
Almighty according to the dictates of our own 
conscience, by the support of a national reli- 
gion calculated to promote the tempuial inter- 
ests of its human functionaries rather than 
the glory of the true and living God. 

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, 
which are essential to our defense, the right- 
ful property of freemen, and formidable only 
to tyrannical governnients. 

It has invaded our country both by sea and 
by land, with the intent to lay waste our 
territory and drive us from our homes, ami 
has now a large and mercenary army advanc- 
ing to carry on against us a war of extermin- 
ation. 

It has through its emissaries incited the 
merciless savage, with the tomahawk and 
scalping knife, to massacre the inabitants of 
our defenseless frontiers. 

It has been, during the whole time of our 
connection with it, the contemptible sport 
and victim of successive military revolutions, 
and has continually exhibited every character- 
istic of a weak, corrupt and tyrannical goveru- 
ment. 



niSTORF OF TEXAS. 



Tlicfo and other grievances were patiently 
home by the pco])ie of Texas until tliey 
reached that point at which forbearance 
ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms 
iii defense of the national constitution. We 
appealed to our Mexican brethren for assist- 
ance; our appeal has lieen made in vain; 
thouu;h months have elapsed no sympathetic 
response has yet been made from the interior. 
We are therefore forced to the melancholy 
conclusion that the Mexican people have 
acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, 
and the substitution therefor of a military 
government; that they are unfit to be free 
and incapable of self-government. 

The necessity of self-preservation, there- 
fore, now decrees our eternal political separ- 
ation. 

We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary 
powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn con- 
vention assembled, appealing to a candid world 
for tiie necessities of our condition, do hereby 
resolve and declare that our political connec- 
tion with the Mexican nation has forever 
elided, and that the people of Texas do now 
constitute a free, sovereign and independent 
republic, and are fully invested with all the 
rights and attributes Avhich pi-operly belong 
to independent nations; and, conscious of the 
rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and 
confidently commit the issue to the Supreme 
Arbiter of the destinies of nations. 

Ill witness whcr^yf we have hereunto sub- 
scribed our names. 

RiniAED Ellis, 
President and Delegate from Red^ River. 

H. S. Kimble, 

Secretary. 

Following is a table of the names, age, 
place of birth and former residence of the 
signers of the above Declaration of Inde- 
pendence: 



Name. Age. 

Richard Ellis. 54 

C. B. Stewart. 30 

.lames Colliugsworth. 30 
Kilwin Waller. 35 



Born i 
Virgin 



nigrfttod from. 

Alabama. 

South Carolina. Louisiana. 

Tennessee. Tennessee. 

Virginia. Missouri. 



Asa Briirham. 
.1. S. D. Eyroin. 
Fras. lUiis. 
J. Anto. Navarro. 
J. B. Badgett. 
\Y. D. Lacy. 
William Menefee. 
.rolin Fisher. 
M. ColdH-ell. 
\\. Motley. 
L. de Zavala. 
George W. Smyth. 
S. H. Everitt. 
E. Siapp. 
Clae. West. 
W. n. Scales. 
M. B. Menard. 

A. B. Hardin. 
J. W. BuDton. 
Thomas G. Gazeley. 
R. M. Coleman. 

S. 0. Robertson. 
George C. CWUlress. 

B. Hardiman. 
R. Potter. 
Thomas .J. Rusk. 
Charles S. Taylor. 
John S. Roberts. 
R. Hamilton. 

C. McKinney. 

A. H. Lattimer. 
James Power. 
Sam Houston. 
David Thomas. 
E. Conrad. 
Martin Parmer. 
E. O. Legrand. 
S W. Blount. 
James Gaines. 
W. Clark, Jr. 

S. O. Pennington. 
W. C. Crawford. 
John Turner. 

B. B. Goodrich. 
G. W. Baruett. 
J. G. Swisher. 
Jesse Grimes. 

S. Rhoads Fisher. 
Samuel A. Maverick. 
John White Bower 
James B. Woods. 
Andrew Briscoe. 
John W. Moore. 
Thomas BarnetL 



Miissacbusetts. Louisiana 
Georgia. Florida. 

Texas. 

Texas. 

North Carolina. Arkansas 
Kentucky. Tennessee. 
Tennessee. Alabama 



Virginia. 
Kentucky. 
Virginia. 
Yucatan. 
North Carolina. 



Virginia 
Missouri. 
Kentucky. 
Mexico. 
Alabama. 



New York. 
Missouri. 
Louisiana. 
Kentucky 
Hlinoia 
Tennessee. 
Tennessee. 
Louisiana 
Kentucky. 



New York. 

Virginia. 

Tennessee. 

Virginia. 
Canada. 

Georgia. 

Tennessee. 

New York. 

Kentucky. 
North Carolina. Tennessee. 

Tennessee. Tennessee. 

Tennessee. Tennessee- 
N. Carolina. N. Carolina. 
S. Carolina. Georgia. 

England. New York 

Virginia. Louisiana 

Scotland. 
New Jersey. 
Tennessee. 

Ireland. 

Virginia. 
Tennessee. 
Pennsylvania. 

Virginia. 



N. Carolina. 

Georgia. 

Virginia. 
N. Carolina, 

Kentucky. 
N. Carolina. 
N. Carolina. 

Virginia. 
S. Carolina. 
Tennessee. 
N. Carolina. 
Pennsylvania 
S. Carolina. 

Georgia. 

Kentucky. 



N. Carolina. 

Kentucky. 

Tennessee. 

Louisiana. 

Tennessee 

Tennessee. 

Penn. 

Missouri 

Alabama. 

Georgia. 

Louisiana. 

Georgia. 

Arkansas. 

Alabama. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Mississippi. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Penn. 

S. Carolina. 

Arkansas. 

Kentucky. 



UltiTOUr OF TEXAS. 



Besides the above, the following were del- 
egates who failed to reach the convention in 
time to sign tiie Declaration of Independence: 
John J. Linn, from Victoria, born in Ireland 
in 1802, and came to Texas in 1830; James 
Kerr, from Jackson, born in Kentucky in 
1790, and came to Texas in 1825; and Juan 
Antonio Padilla, a Mexican from Victyria. 
Also a few of those whose names are given 
in the table were not present at the signing. 

On March 16 the convention adopted the 
executive ordinance by which was constituted 
the government ad interim of the Kepublic 
of Texas. 

The constitution of the Republic of Texas 
was adopted at a late hour on the night of 
the 17th, but was neither engrossed nor en- 
rolled for the signature of the members prior 
to the adjournment next day. The secretary 
was instructed to enroll it for presentation. 
He took it to Nashville, Tennessee, where it 
was published in one of the papers, from 
which it was republished in a Cincinnati 
paper, and from the latter copied into the 
Texas Telegraph of August, that year, 1830, 
this being its first publication in Texas. JS'o 
enrolled copy having been preserved, this 
printed copy was recognized and adopted as 
authentic, and became the "Constitution." 

During the sitting of the convention Gen- 
eral Sam Houston took leave of the body in 
order to take command of the army, then con- 
centrating at Gonzalez. 

At eight o'clock on the evening of the 18th 
of March, the convention assembled for the 
last time, and elected David G. Burnett Pres- 
ident at^ interim of the Kepublic, and Lorenzo 
de Zavala, a patriot Mexican exile, vice-Pres- 
ident. Tliey also elected the members of the 
cabinet, namely: Samuel P.Carson, Secretary 
of State; Bailey Hardeman, Secretary of the 
Treasury; Thomas J. Eusk, Secretary of 



War; Robert Potter, Secretary of the Navy; 
and David Thomas, Attorney-General. 

At eleven o'clock the convention adjourned 
sine die. 

THE FLAG OF THE LONE STAR. ; 

It was once generally lii^lieved in Georgia, 
that the Lone Star Aug was the workmanship 
of a Miss Trontman,of Crawford county, that 
State, who afterward married a Mr. Pope of 
Alabama; and that she presented the same to 
a Georgia battalion commanded by Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel AVard. It was of plain white silk, 
bearing an azure star of five points on either 
side. On one side was the in-cription Liberty 
or Death, and on the other side the appropri- 
ate Latin motto, Ubi Lihertas Ilnbitat, ibi 
Nostra Fatria est. 

This flag was unfurled at Velasco January 
8, 1836, and proudly floated on the breeze 
from the same liberty pole with the first flag 
of independence, which had just been brought 
from Goliad by the valiant Captain William 
Brown, who subsequently did such daring 
service in the Texas navy. On the meeting 
of the first Congress, the flag of the Lone 
Star was adopted as the national flag of tlje 
young republic. 

But another authority denies the Georgia!) 
belief, and insists that the first Lone Starflag 
ever unfurled in Texas was presented by Mrs. 
Sarah E. Dawson to a company of volunteers 
raised in Harrisburg, Texas, in 1835, and 
commanded by Captain Andrew Robinson. 
The tiag was a tri-colorof red, white and blue, 
the star being white, five-pointed and fot in a 
ground of red, 

FOREIGN RELATIONS. 

The people of the Unitud States now f>lt 
more free to assist, both niorwlly and materi- 
ally, the young and struggling Republic o! 



niblORr OF TEXAJS. 



Texas. Tliis increased sympatliy iminediatoly 
licgati to find expression in public ntteranco8, 
ami naturally the Toxans, by way of synipa- 
tlit'tic response, began to talk np annexation 
to our Union. In view of this general syni- 
patliy, President Burnett, May 30, 1830, ap- 
pointed James Collingsworth and Peter W. 
(irayson as commissioners to proceed to 
WHshington and ask the friendly aid of our 
Government in procuring from Mexico the 
recognition of indei)endence, and to endeavor 
to obtain a like reeognitirr. from the United 
States Govarnment itself, and also to state that 
annexation to this Government would be ac- 
ceptaljle. The commissioners accordingly 
presented these matters at Washington, but 
as Congress liad just adjourned, no action was 
taken. President Jackson sent Henry M. 
Mortit to Texas to inform himself and report 
as to the military, political and civil condition 
of the people there. He accordingly made 
his report, stating that Texas had a popula- 
tion of 58,500 souls, and expressing surprise 
that that country had carried on a successful 
war so long, against so great odds, at so little 
expense. He estimated that the probable 
total amount of her outstanding debts did not 
exceed $1,250,000. 

Gorostiza, the Mexican minister at "Wash- 
ington, representing a displeased government, 
maintained tiiat the United States had vio- 
lated neutrality during the preceding struggle, 
naming the instance of United States soldiers 
lighting on Texas ground, etc.; but this was 
explained by the United States officers on the 
gionnd that they were only fighting hostile 
Indians, who had invaded our territory, ex- 
cepting that Genei'al Gaines at one time oc- 
cupied Nacogdoches, and at another took Fort 
I'arker, on the head-waters of the Navasotii. 

The admissions at the conclusion of the 
above statement were enough for Gorostiza. 



He repeated his representations, and, notsatis- 
fied with the assurance of our Government, 
— that the measures adopted were of a tem- 
porary and purely defensive character, — de- 
clared his mission at an end, October 15, and 
left for homo. Thus ended diplomatic rela- 
tions between the two countries. 

I'y July the Texan army had increased to 
2,300 men, and the commissioners — Austin, 
Archer and Wharton — returned from Wash- 
ington, reporting that tliey had aroused much 
sympathy in the United States. On the 23d 
of this month, assured of tranquillity for a 
time by internal dissensions in Mexico, Presi- 
dent Burnett issued a proclamation for the 
election of president, vice-president and sen- 
ators and representatives in Congress, on the 
first Monday in October. The election offi- 
cers were also requested to obtain from each 
voter his sentiment as to constitutional 
amendments and annexation to the United 
States. 

For the presidency three candidates were 
nominated, — Stephen F. Austin, Sam Hous- 
ton and Henry Smith, late governor. Hous- 
ton at first declined, but as the other two can- 
didates represented factions, it was finally 
decided that he, being neutral as to them, 
should be retained as a candidate; and be was 
elected by a large majority. Mirabeau B. 
Lamar was elected vice-pi-esident. The con- 
stitution already drafted was adopted almost 
unanimously, as also the proposition of annex- 
ation. 

BAELT LEGISLATION. 

The first Texan Congress met at Columbia 
October 3, and the following day President 
Burnett delivered his message, a long docu- 
ment, describing particularly the deficiency 
of their army and navy, ihe judicial system, 
etc. After endeavoring to his utmost to con- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ciliate tlio Indians, Houston left Nacogdoches 
for Columbia, arriving October 9; but ac- 
cording to the constitution he could not 
coninicnce the duties of his oiHce until the 
second Monday in December. However, as 
both President Enrnett and Vice-President 
Zavala were both equally willing to retire 
from office, and sent in their resignations. 
Congress considered it judicious to inaugurate 
the new president immediately. 

In his inaugural address Houston insisted 
upon harmony between the legislative and 
executive departments of the government, as 
the situation was peculiarly a delicate one; 
recommended that the friendship of the In- 
dians he obtained by treaty and a strict main- 
tenance of good faith with tliem; urged ab 
stinence from all acts of aggression, and the 
establishment of commerce with the different 
tribes; contrasted the barbarous mode of war- 
fare practiced by the enemy with the human- 
ity and forbearance displayed by the Texans 
in the hour of victory, citing the fact that the 
moral effect of such conduct had done more 
toward the liberation of Texas than the defeat 
of the army of veterans, and dwelt upon the 
question of annexation to the United States, 
— a consummation unanimously wished for 
by the Texan people, who were cheered by 
the hope that they would be welcomed into the 
great family of freemen. General Lamar, as 
president of the Senate, delivered an address 
breathing ;he same spirit and deprecating 
party antagonism. 

According to the spirit of the above 
speeches, President Houston appointed as 
members of his cabinet eminent men from 
the principal parties. Stephen F. Austin 
was made secretary of State; Henry Smith, 
secretary of tlie treasury; Thomas J. Husk, 
of war; S. Rhodes Fislier, of the navy; liob- 
ert Burr, postmaster general, and J. Pinckney 



Henderson, attorney general. General Felir 
Houston was given command of the army. 

On November 16 Congress empowered the 
president to appoint a minister to the United 
States, to negotiate with this government 
for the recognition of the independence of 
Texas and her annexation to this republic. 
The president accordingly appointed William 
H. Wharton to that position. 

A writer relates an interesting anecdote in 
this connection. It seems that Wharton, by 
being tendered this appointment, felt that 
the president was endeavoring to send him 
into honorable exile, to get him out of some 
one's else way. Houston did not hear of this 
till some months afterward, when three com- 
missioners were to be appointed to purchase 
a navy. John A. Wharton, brother of Will- 
iam H., was one of the candidates, and, to 
the surprise of many, was not appointed. 
Meeting the latter after his return from the 
United States, the president could not refrain 
from delivering a home thrust, saying, "I 
did not appoint John A. Wharton one of the 
three naval commissioners, because I did not 
wish to drive any more of the Wharton faujily 
into exile!" 

This Congress also ordered the issue of 
bonds to the extent of $5,000,000, to bear in- 
terest at ten per cent, and be redeemable in 
thirty years. Two commissioners were ap- 
pointed to negotiate these bonds, $1,000 
each, either in the United States or Europe, 
and holders were to be allowed the privilege 
of purchasing public lands of the Kepublic 
at the lowest government price, payable in 
bonds. 

This Congress continued in session until 
the close of December, passing many bene- 
ficial laws and performing many embarrassing 
duties. Provisions were made for the in- 
crease of the navy, by the purchase of a twenty- 



66 



UlbTORY OF TEXAS. 



four gun sloop of war, two armed steam ves- 
sels and two eleven-gun schooners. liiilrs 
and articles were establislied for the govern- 
ment of the army and navy, the army to he 
reorganized by the president; measnres were 
adopted for the protection of tlie frontier and 
for tlie national defense by tlie organization 
of militia; courts were also established, and 
their powers defined; revenue provided for 
by import duties; salaries of the government 
oHicers established, and a general post office 
atid land office created. A national seal and 
standard for tlie Repnblic were adopted. Tiie 
seal consisted of a single star, with tlie letters 
IvEPUBLio OF Texas in a circular line on the 
seal, which also was circular. The national 
flag was to have an azure ground, with a large 
golden star central. 

This first congress also chartered a gigantic 
ctjmpany, called the Texas Ilailroad, Naviga- 
tion & Banking Company, with a capital 
stock of $5,000,000, etc.; but this met with 
considerable opposition, and the company, 
not being able to raise the million dollars re- 
quired for their bank, went down. 

The boundary line of the young repuKlic 
was thus defined by this congress: From the 
mouth of the Sabine to the mouth of the liio 
Grande, thence up the principal stream of 
the latter to its source, thence due north to 
the forty-second degree of latitude, and thence 
along the boundary line as defined in the 
treaty between the United States and Spain, 
to the beginning. But this line included the 
gieater and best portion of New Mexico, to 
which Texas had no right, and she had after- 
ward to recede from it. 

At the opening of the new year the pe- 
cuniary situation of Texas was very gloomy. 
Although the country was temporarily re- 
lii'ved fiuni invasion, it was still tlireatened 
by tlie old enemy. In respect to agriculture 



it Iiad somewhat recovered from the Avi'le- 
spread desolation brought upon it by the 
wars and unfriendly legislation of the old 
government, but still much land remained 
aliandoncd, and the people were all poor. 
The army was in good condition, but not the 
navy. Outside encouragement, however, be- 
gan to be manifest. It was morally certain 
not otdy that the struggling republic would 
soon be recognized as a nation by the United 
States, but that also from this country there 
would pour forth a stronger emigration to 
the new-born land. Of course, no public 
measure can be adopted witliout its bearing 
hard on some parties, but these hardships are 
seldom as great as feared. Some Northern- 
ers objected to the annexation of Texas to the 
old Union because it was spreading slave 
territory; others, because their trade would 
be inteifered with by a new application of the 
tariir laws, etc. President Jackson himself 
was personally in favor of recognizing Texan 
independence, but as president he made the 
following statement: *' Prudence therefore 
seems to dictate that we should still stand 
aloof and maintain our present attitude, if 
not until Mexico itself or one of the great 
foreign powers shall recognize the independ- 
ence of the new government, at least until 
the lapse of time or the course of human 
events shall have jirovud, beyond cavil or 
dispute, the ability of the people of that 
country to maintain their separate sovereignty 
and to uphold the government constituted by 
them." The senate of the United States, on 
March 1, 1837, passed a resolution recogniz- 
ing the independence of Texas, but negotia- 
tions for annexation were not listened to by 
tlie government. But soon afterward the Texan 
minister was recognized at Washington, and 
Alcec Labranche was appointed by the presi 
dent as charge d'affaires to the new repnblic, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



67 



and the house of representatives made an ap- 
propriation for a diplomatic agent to the 
same. 

William H. Wliarton, on his return from 
Washington on the ship Independence, was 
captured by the Mexicans, conveyed to Mata- 
moras, with others, and cast into prison. His 
brother, John H. Wharton, having obtained 
permission and a flag, proceeded thither with 
thirty Mexican prisoners, hoping to effect his 
release; but on arrival he was seized and 
thrown into a dungeon. William II. Whar- 
ton, with the aid of Captain Thompson, of 
the Mexican navy, escaped and reached home; 
and John H. also escaped after an imprison- 
ment of six days. Thompson, who had agreed 
to desert the enemy's service, had previously 
left Matamoras, his departure being hastened 
by information given against him to the au- 
thorities. 

May 1, 1837, the congress reassembled at 
the town of Honston, and the president on 
the 5th read his message, wiierein he referred 
to the recognition of the independence of 
Texas by the United States with an eminent 
degree of satisfaction, and said that the re- 
public was now unwilling to invoke the me- 
diation of other powers; but with regard to 
the financial position of the government it 
could hardly have assumed a much worse 
state. On account of the unfavorable con- 
dition of the money market in the United 
States, no portion of the 15,000,000 loan had 
been realized, and the land scrip (for which 
the sale of 500,000 acres had been author- 
ized) had produced nothing, owing to the 
questionable action of the agents at New Or- 
leans, who would render no account of their 
transactions to the executive, and dishonored 
drafts drawn upon them by the latter. 

Sectionizing the public domain met with a 
difficulty, the old settlers preferring their old 



"leagues" and 'labores." At this time tlie 
Caddo Indians on the northeastern frontier 
were under treaty with the United States. 
They had been very troublesome, showing a 
disposition to unite and amalgamate with the 
wilder tribes. 

The most important qiiestion which occu- 
pied the attention of the congress of 1837 
was that of the land bill. During this and 
the called session in the fall the matter was 
repeatedly brought up, and several acts 
amendatory to the original one were passed. 
Besides the problem of surveying the public 
land into sections, there were many other 
knotty difficulties as to the disposition of the 
lands, to titles, grants, etc. Since the closing 
of the land offices in November, 1836, ques- 
tions concerning imperfect titles had in- 
creased in the commissioners' offices, and the 
grants to empresarios and titles depending 
thereon had to be considered. To distingnisJi 
legitimate claims and guard against fraud 
was a most difficult matter, and to frame a 
bill that .vould defeat the ingenuity of land 
stealers without violating the rights of citi- 
zens of Texas, justly acquired under the oM 
Mexican legislation, and even under old 
Texan legislation itself, was almost an im- 
possibility. Moreover, land bounties had 
been granted to the volunteers who had so 
valiantly stepped forward to aid Texas in her 
direst need, and land scrip had been sold in 
the United States. To protect the soldier 
and colonist in the priority of choice of loca- 
tion, against unprincipled speculators who 
supported their prior claims by perjury, was 
no easy matter. Head-rights of individuals 
were purchased by numbers of persons who 
never intended to make Texas their home. 
Names of natives, to whom exceptional 
j-yrivileges as to the area of grants were ex- 
tended, were used to substantiate claims, and 



HI STORY OF TEXAJS. 



in default of this recouree fictitious names 
were eapplied, and head-ric^iits ol>taine<l 
under them. No legislature has ever had 
the task of unraveling a more coniplicate<l 
entanglement of just with unjust claims, or 
has been called upon to devise a law that 
could discriminate between rights almost 
u|uipoise<l iu the scale of justice. After 
some temporary legislation a general land 
law was at length adopted, with the following 
provisions: For each county a surveyor was 
to l>e appointed, and a board of commis- 
sioners whose duty it was to investigate 
claims for head-rights, and grant certificates 
upon proof of right being established. Per- 
sons advancing claims under the old colon- 
ization laws were required to take oath that 
they were resident iu Texas at the time of the 
declaration of independence, that. they had 
nut left the country during the campaign of 
the spring of 1836, and prove by two or 
more creditable witnesses that they were 
actually citizens of Te.xas at the date of that 
declaration. Iu this provision widows and 
orphans were excepted. Conflicting claims 
were to be tried liefore the nearest justice of 
the peace and six disinterested jurors. Em- 
presario contracts having ceaseil with Mexi- 
can domination, all vacant lands within such 
grants were declared the properly of the Re- 
public. On the whole this law was a very 
good one, though somewhat imperfect. 

Among the acts of this congress, one was 
for the sale of Galveston and other islands in 
lots of ten to forty acres, and the result was 
an impetus to the growth of Galveston, soon 
making it the most important seaport in 
Texas. 

During the last session of this ongre^s, 
this year (lS37j much attention was paid to 
the incorporation of towns and to the boun- 
daries of old counties and the creation of new 



counties. The towns of Shelbyville, Bra- 
zoria, Richmond, Sm Felipe de Austin, La- 
grange, San A'ltonio, Victoria, Gonzalez, 
Matagorda, Mina, Houston, Washington. 
Crockett, Refugio. Columbia, Clarksville, 
Lexington, Milam, Goliad, San Patricio and 
Joieshorough were all incorporated during 
this session; and the new counties of Mont- 
gumery, Fayette, Fannin, Robertson and 
Fort Bender were treated. Some of the 
above mentioned towns, however, had been 
incorporated once before. 

As to the general condition of Texas at 
this time, and the outlook, it may be said 
that there was a promise of permanency and 
success; the crops had been unexpectedly 
gooi^l; immigrants were flocking into the 
cjuntry, and the revenue from tariff duties 
proportionately increased; lands were rising 
in price; commerce was assuming a prosper- 
ous condition; nothing was to be feared from 
Mexico for the present, as that nation was in 
a difficulty with bra'ice; and the western 
frontier was enjoying a rest from war, al- 
though Indians kept up their usual depreda- 
tions. (See a subsequent section, to be fuund 
by tiie index.) 

From the reports of the State officers, it is 
seen that 10,890 certificates of land title had 
been issued by the different county boards 
up to November 1, 1838, representing 26, 
242.19'J acres; that up to October 15, 2,990,- 
000 acres hal been distributed to soldiers as 
land bounties; that the issues of land scrip 
amounted to 2,193,000 acres, of which scrip 
to the amount of 870,000 acres had beju re- 
turned by the agents, and a portion, repre- 
senting 60,800 acres, had been funded. But 
financially, the outlook was bad. The public 
debt had been increased, and tlie credit of the 
Ropublic was nearly exhausted. Consider- 
able legislation was enacted with reference to 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the public finances, with the prospect that 
immigration anJ the increased interest taken 
in Texan securities by persons in tlie United 
States, the wav out of their ditficulties would 
be found in due time. 

By the constitution the term of office of 
the president was limited to two years, with- 
out his being eligible for re-election; suc- 
ceeding presidents were to hnhl their oiiice 
for three years. Consequently Iloiiston's 
term expired on the first Monday in Dtce:n- 
ber, 1838. The election was held in Sep- 
tember, the candidates being Mirabean B. 
Lamar, Peter W. Grayson, James Col- 
lingsworth and Robert Wilson; but before 
the election Grayson and Collingsworth both 
committed suicide! Lamar was chosen pres- 
ident almost unanimously, and David G. 
Burnett, vice-president. 

In his inaugural address Lamar opposed 
annexation to the United States very decid- 
edly, claiming that such an act would be " the 
grave of all her hopes of happiness and great 
nees." In his message, which was a loner 
one, he urged the speedy adoption of a sys- 
tem of public education, the promotion of a 
general diffusion of knowledge and industry 
by the appropriation of lands for educational 
purposes and the establishment of a univer- 
sity; and he also recommended reform in the 
municipal code. He advocated severe meas- 
ures against the hostile Indians, considering 
that they had broken their treaties, and that 
the whites were therefore under no further 
obligation to observe them. AVith reoard to 
the savages, " extinction or expulsion " was 
his policy. For the protection of the fron- 
tier lie proposed the establishment of a line 
of military posts, and, as a general protec- 
tion against Mexico, the organization of a 
militia and the encouragement of volunteer 
associations. While he was a free-tracler in 



the abstract, in view of the financial distress 
of the Eepublic, he recommended a continu- 
ance of the tariff system then in vogue for a 
short time longer, in order to maintain the 
good credit of the country. 

But with all that Texas could do, her debt 
frightfully increased. One historian says 
that during the three years of Lamar's ad- 
ministration the public debt increased from 
§1,887,52(5 to $7,300,000, and that the se- 
curities decreased from 65 and 85 to 15 and 
20 cents; but, according to ex-President 
Ilouston's subsequent report, matters were 
not quite so bad as that. Great allowance 
had to be made for the peculiarity of the sit- 
uation. 



A REBELLION. 



During the latter part of 1838 the Nacog- 
doches rebellion occurred, when a consider- 
able number of Mexican settlers assembled 
on the banks of the Angelina, with 800 In- 
dians, under the leadership of Nathaniel 
Norris, Vicente Cordova, and others. Their 
numbers soon increased. President Hous- 
ton, who was then at Nacogdoches, received 
a communication from these leaders, dis- 
claiming alle^rjance to Texas. The malcon- 
tents then directed their march to the Chero- 
kee nation. President Houston sent out 
General Rusk, with the main body of the 
army, to the headquarters of Bowles, the 
Cherokee chief, while Major Angustin, with 
150 men, followed the trail of the malcon- 
tents. Rusk presently discovered that the 
Mexican leaders had gone to the head waters 
of the Trinity river, his followers had dis- 
persed and many of them returned to their 
homes without any blood being shed. Tlie 
precise object of this attempt at revolution 
has never been fully explained. Cordova 



niSTORT OF TEXAS. 



had been in corrcspoiidcnce with tlie enemy 
iit Matiimoras, and apptars to have held a 
cninniission from Filisola to raise the Ind'ans 
as auxiliaries to the Mexican army. Early 
in 1839, Filisola was succeeded by General 
Canalizo, who, February 27, issued instruc- 
tions to tlie captains and chiefs of the friendly 
nations, inciting then to wage incessant war 
against Texas, and laying down a plan of 
campaign for their guidance. He said that 
Mexico was engaged in a war with France, 
and could not at the time resume operations 
aiJ-ainst the revolted province; but the 
friendly tribes had it in their power to pre- 
vent the enemy from taking advantage of 
fortunate circumstances. They were, how- 
ever, cautlont'd not to advance too near the 
frontier of the United States, but should oc- 
cupy the lines of ISan Antonio de Bejar 
about the Guadalupe, and from the heads of 
the San Marcos to its mouth. This po- 
sition would have the advantage of keeping 
the enemy in front and a friendly nation in 
the rear, besides cutting off the enemy's 
commerce with the interior of Mexico, and 
furnishing abundant spoil. They were "not 
to cease " to harass the enemy for a single 
day, to burn their habitations, lay waste their 
lields and prevent them from assembling in 
great numbers, by rapid and well concerted 
efforts. In case they should succeed in unit- 
ing in a considerable numlier, they were to 
be harassed day and night, and operations to 
he directed with the greatest vigor against 
liistant points. Mmuei Flores was appointed 
(OinmisRioner to the Indians, to operate with 
tiiem as allies, and also to enlist the services 
of C'ordova. 

liut the best-laid scheme of this man went 
" agley ;" for as Flores was parsing through 
Texas with about twenty-five Mexicans and 
Indians, he was taken by a Texan force nnder 



Jamas O. Tlice and killed. Flores' men had 
committed several murders; and in the en- 
gagement, which occurred about fifteen miles 
from Austin, the men were put to flight. 
The corrcsjion ience with reference to the en- 
listment of the Indians and Cordova thus fell 
into the hands of the Texans and the plot 
was made known. 

THE INDIANS. 

The Texan government then resolved to 
remove the Cherokces, uj)on whose rich and 
beautiful lands the whites were constantly 
encroaching. Accordingly, Colonel Durle- 
son, from the Colorado, Colonel Landrum, 
with his regiment from eastern Texas, and 
General Husk, with the Nacogdoches regi- 
ment, were ordered to invade the territory. 
The whole force, about 500 men, was placed 
under the command of General Douglass. 
Negotiations for the peaceable removal of 
the tribe to Arkansas having failed, on July 
15, Dontflass advanced against the Indian 
camp, on arriving at which he found that the 
Indians had retreated higher up the river. 
lie found them, about 800 strong, and a run- 
ning ticfht with them for several days drove 
them from tlieir lands. Their crops were 
also destroyed, with the idea that they were 
being raised in order to co-operate with the 
Mexic.ms. A few of the expelled owners, 
however, diil not leave the country, but re- 
mained along the Colorado and continued to 
harass the settlers. 

But the most hostile and troublesome In- 
dians were the Comanches. In February, 
18-10, showing a disposition to enter into a 
treaty of peace, twelve of their principal 
chiefs met, March 19, the Texan commission- 
ers at Bejar, where General 11. D. McLeod 
was in command. It was known that the 
Comanches had thirteen white captives iu 




J 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



their power, and the release of those was de- 
luaiKlt'd. The Indians broiiglit t'orwjird only 
one, a little girl. After a brief discussion, 
in which the Indians exhibited delianee, an 
order was sent to Captain Howard, to bring 
liis companj' into the council room; and as 
soon as the men liad taken their position the 
cliiefs were informed that they would be de- 
tained as prisoners until the captives were 
surrendered. A terrible conflict ensued; tlie 
twelve chiefs, armed, were all killed in the 
council room, while the warriors in the yard 
ontside maintained a desperate flglit. All 
were finally slain, thirty-two in number, 
while seven women and children were made 
prisoners. 

Naturally the Comanches in general were 
resolved, on revenge for what they considered 
treachery, and in return for the destruction 
of so many of their chiefs. With a band of 
600 they raided Linnville and the vicinity of 
Victoria, which latter place they made two 
efforts to capture, and oari'ied off to their 
homes immense numbers of live stock and 
large amounts of other property. During 
Augujit (1840) the whites had several skir- 
mishes with them, under command of General 
Felix Houston, and drove them away, with 
considerable loss. Furthermore, on October 
5th following, Col. John H. Moore, with 
ninety Texans and twelve Lipan Indians, was 
sent up the Colorado in pnrsuitof the escaped 
Comanches, and on reaching them he des- 
troyed their village and killed many of the 
escaping Indians. The rout was complete, 
and Lamar's system of extermination or ex- 
tinction was for once thoroughly carried out. 

SANTA FE EXPEDITION. 

A comparatively long interval of peace 
with Mexico was occasioned by internal strifes 
in the latter country. The northern " Fed- 



eralists" failed to establish their "Republic 
of the llio Grande," a scheme wholly ignored 
by the Texans. The latter, however, as Ins 
already lieen remarked, claimed all the terri- 
tory east of the Rio Grande to its source, 
which was indeed much farther into the in- 
terior than they were warranted in going. 
Accordingly, in 1841, they sent out an expe- 
dition toward Santa Fe, in order more per- 
fectly to establish their possession to that 
section of the country. This scheme was a 
wild one, from the fact that the population 
of Santa Fe was thoroughly Mexican, and 
separated from the Texas settlements by an 
Indian country fully 600 miles in width. 
Indeed it was not sanctioned by the Texan 
congress, and the scheme was wholly Lamar's. 
He procl. limed in advance to the authorities 
at Santa Fe the object of the expedition. If 
they in that section were unwilling to submit 
to Texas, said he, then he wished to establish 
friendly commercial relations with New Mex- 
ico. He instructed his commander not to 
sulijugate the country if the people were un- 
willing to submit; the military organization 
of the expedition was only for protection 
against the savages. The expedition, con- 
sisting of 270 soldiers, left Austin June 20, 
1841, and met with many disasters, and, after 
some loss of men, was captured before it 
reached Santa Fe, and most of the men sent 
to the City of Mexico, where they were kept 
in prison for a time. Among them was the 
commissioner, J. A. Navarro, who, after 
languishing in prison for fourteen months, 
finally escaped at Vera Cruz, in January, 1845. 

LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL 

January, 14, 1839, Congress appointed 
five commissioners to select a site for the 
capital of the republic. The commissioners 
were Albert C. Horton, Lewis P. Cook, Isaac 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



W. Burton, William l[enifee and J. Camp- 
l>ell, wlio made choice ol' the location where 
Austin now stands. ALliough at that date 
the new town, which was immediately laid 
out, was situated on the extreme frontier of 
the settlements, tlie commissioners showed 
their wisdom in their selection. Thoy aimed 
at establisliing a permanent capital, which 
would occupy a central position when Texas 
had become a thickly populated country; and 
though the government would be near the 
Indians, Austin as tiio seat would draw set- 
tlers more rapidly westward. 

During the month of November, 1840, tlie 
congress assembled there, surrounded by the 
wilderness. The seat of government lor the 
Republic of Texas, like that of most other 
new governmetits, was subject to frequent 
change. The following is the order, with the 
dates: 

1. San Felipe, November, 1835. 

2. Washington, March, 1830. 

3. Ilarrisburg, same month. 

4. (lalveston, April 16, 1830. 

5. Velasco, May, 1836. 

6. Columbia, October, 1836. 

7. Houston, May, 1837. 

8. Austin, October, 1839. 

9. Houston, in 1842 a short time. 

10. Washington, November, 1842. 

11. Austin, 1845 to tlie |)iesent time. 
The new State cafiUol has a length of 560 

feet 6 inciies, inclusive of porticos; widtii, 
288 feet 10 inches at widest point; height, 
311 feet from grade line to top of statute on 
dome. It contains 258 rooms, ami is second 
only in si/.e to the capitol at Washington, 
and is the seventh largest buihling in the 
world. 

The St:ife executive offices are locattd on 
tlie first thjor, as follows: Governor, sec- 
retary 1)1 State, comptroller, treasurer, supo.- 



int.iiidcnt of public instruction, adjutant- 
general, attorney general, commissiL>ner of 
agriculture, insurance, stiitistics and history, 
snperintendoiit of public buildings and 
grounds and State grologist; also the police 
department and oflices of the electrician and 
janitor. 

The senate chamber and hall of house of 
representatives. State library and reading- 
rooms, reception and consultation rooms of 
the governor, president of the senate, speaker 
of the honse and the legislative committee 
rooms are located on the second floor. 

The supreme court, court of a])peals, law 
libiMry, galleries of the house of reprcrenta- 
tives and senate chamber, and reporters' gal- 
leries, and marshal's, clerks' and other offices 
of the judicial department are located on the 
tiiird floor. 

The fourth floor consists of twenty three 
unassigned rooms. 

All the conveniences necessary to a com- 
plete modern structure have been incorpor- 
ate i in the building. 

The following brief description of the 
capitol is copied from the ''Official Guide to 
the Texas Capitol," by Charles N. McLaugh- 
lin: 

" The building is located on a command- 
ing elevation, near the center of the city of 
Austin, in the square originally selected for 
the capitol of the Republic of Texas. It is 
shaped like a Greek cross, with projecting 
center and Hanks, having a rotunda and 
dome at the intersection of the main corri- 
dors. The exterior walls are built of Texas 
red granite, from the inexhaustible quarries 
of Bnrnet county. This granite is pro- 
nounced by experts to be equal to any iu the 
world, both in beauty and imperishability. 
The stately ideas of ancient builders have 
been blended with the useful of the modern, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and the whole conception and aim seems to 
have been to meet tlie practical demands of a 
progressive and cultured people. "Wherever 
it was practicable Texas material has been 
nsed in the building, and the fact tliat nearly 
ail the material used is native, is an illustra- 
tion of the wonderful and varied resources of 
Texas. Besides the granite a vast amount 
of other material, including stone, lime, wood, 
brick, etc., and many otiinr articles, were 
secured in Texas, so that it may he said tlie 
State house is built for Texas land, out of 
Texas material." 

KEOOGNITION BY FOREIGN POWERS. 

During the first presidency of Mr. Hous- 
ton, General J. P. Henderson was sent to 
London and Paris to obtain an acknowl- 
edgment from those countries of Texan inde- 
pendence; and from the first the British 
government was favorably disposed, on ac- 
count of Texas being an agricultural country 
and the people inclined to free trade, thus 
opening new channels for English commerce. 
France, indeed, recognized the independence 
of Texas in 1839, but this friendly relation 
was soon interrupted by a ridiculous affair 
until some time in 1842. Holland and Bel- 
gium recognized it in 1840, and England in 
1841. But all the efforts made to obtain a 
like recognition from Mexico failed. In this 
connection the following passage from Ban- 
croft's history will be appropriate: 

"In 1839 the Texan government, enter- 
taining some expectation that Mexico would 
be inclined to listen to proposals for 
peace, sent Bernard E. Bee as diplomatic 
agent to that government. Bee arrived at 
Vera Cruz in May, where he remained ten 
days, pending the decision of the government 
with regard to his reception. He was court- 



eously treated by General Victoria, Governor 
of Vera Cruz, during his stay in that city. 
Tite Mexican authorities finally decided not 
to receive him, ami he embarked for Havana. 
Texas, however, had a secret agent in the 
Mexican capital, who, in 1840, under the 
auspices of Packenhara, the English minister 
in that city, succeeded in submittiiig to the 
government the basis of a treaty of peace. 
Packenham, moreover, offered to act as me- 
diator. The treaty and the offer were alike 
rejected by Mexico. In 1841 the British 
government, without waiting for the ex- 
change of ratifications of the mediation con- 
vention, officially instructed Packenhara to 
bring before the Mexican authorities the 
proffer of Great Britain to mediate between 
that power and Texas; and Mr. Burnley, 
provided with a letter of introduction to him 
from Lord Paimerston, proceeded to Mexico 
as negotiator on the part of Texas. James 
Webb also was sent from Texas as commis- 
sioner to open and conduct the negotiations, 
but he was not received, and immediately 
returned. Mexico paid no more heed to the 
British nation than she had done to her 
diplomatic agent. She unhesitatingly de- 
clined any such mediation, refused to enter- 
tain the question of peace unless Texas re 
signed her claim to independent sovereignty, 
and prepared for war." 

PRESIDENTS LAMAr's AND HOUSTON'S ADMINIS- 
TRATIONS. 

The presidential election of September, 
1841, resulted in the choice of Sam Houston 
agai") 'jy a ^ote of 7,915 votes against 3,61(3 
for David G. Burnett. Edward Burle.=on 
was elected vice-president, against Mennican 
Hunt, with a much smaller majority. 

When congress met in November, Lamar 



HI8T0BT OF TEXAS. 



opened his message witli congratulations upon 
the prosperity of tlie country, but advised 
hostilities with Mexico, stating that he had' 
already sent the .Texan navy to co-operate 
witii the government of Yucatan, whicli had 
lately declared her independence of Mexico. 
Lamar's administration was a bad one. He 
was too military and sanguine. During his 
administration the question of annexation to 
the United States lay quiescent. The Gov- 
ernment at Washington consistently main- 
tained that so long as Texas was at war with 
Mexico and the United States at peace with 
her, annexation would be a breach of treaty 
with her and involve our Government in war 
with her; and, on account of public criticism 
and the labors of his office, he obtained per- 
mission for absence from his office during 
the last year of the term, while the govern- 
ment was administered by the vice-president, 
David G. Burnett. 

President Houston, on the opening of his 
second term, did not hesitate to announce 
tiiat his administration would be guided by 
a policy directly opposite to that of his pred- 
ecessor, advocating a kinder and more patient 
course with regard both to Mexico and the 
Indians. Financially, he made a number of 
recommendations to improve the treasury 
and the credit of the Kepublic. As long as 
Texas was able to borrow she had been bor- 
rowing, and as long as her paper was of any 
value at all she issued it and lived on the 
proceeds, no matter how ruinous the rate. 
On the recommendation of President Hous- 
ton congress adopted a policy of retrench- 
ment, abolishing many unimportant offices 
and cutting down the salaries of the govern- 
ment oflicers to less than half. A system of 
economy was likewise practiced in all the 
departments of the government. During the 
adnMnistration of Lamar tlie treasurer paid 



out $4,855,215, while during a like term, 
Houston's second, only ^493, 175, the prin- 
cipal difference being caused by the infla- 
tion of low credit. 



MEXICAN WAE. 



As an argument for annexation to the 
United States, it was stated that Mexico had 
for six years failed to reconquer Texas or 
even sent an army within her borders, and 
that the war therefore might be considered 
ended, altliougli no formal recognition of the 
independence of Texas had been made by the 
mother country. Her prolonged inactivity 
might be considered an acknowledgment that 
reconquest was impossible. 

Mexico, however, in order to make good 
her claim, prepared at the close of 1841 to 
invade Texas. On January 9, 1842, General 
Arista issued a proclamation from his head- 
quarters at Monterey that the Mexican nation 
would never consent to the separation of the 
territory, and that it was owing only to the 
civil wars in Mexico that no effort had re- 
cently been made to subjugate Te.\as. He 
declared that iiis country was determined to 
recover her rights through the only means 
left her, namely, persuasion or war; that hos- 
tilities would be directed against only those 
who sustained and fought to maintain the 
Texan nationality; and he called upon the 
people to reflect and consider their own in- 
terests, and return to tiieir allegiance. 

On March 5, General Rafael Yasquez ap 
peared before San Antonio de Bejar at thfc 
head of 500 men. The Texan force there, 
being small, evacuated when the surrender 
of tlie town was demanded. Vasquez en- 
tered the place, hoisted tlie ]\[exican flag and 
depai'ted. About the same time small forces 
of Mexicans occupied Refugio and Goliad, 



HI STORY OF TEXAS. 



and also soon retired. Aroused, the Texans 
bristled up for auotlier engagement, and 
Houston, on tlie 10th of Mai'ch, issued a 
proclamation calling upon all citizens sub- 
ject to military duty to hold themselves in 
readiness to repair to the scene of action in 
the event of a formidable inv.ision. On the 
21st he addressed a letter to Santa Anna, 
again in power, which was published far and 
wide. In it were criticisms incited by inju- 
dicious correspondence between him (Santa 
Anna) and Bernard E. Eee and General 
Hamilton. Santa Anna declared that Mex- 
i'co would not cease her efforts until sLe had 
planted her standard upon the Sabine. Hous- 
ton replied promptly and boldly, that Texas 
would never yield, writing a very eloquent 
letter to the old treacherous Mexican. He 
declared blockaded all the Mexican ports on 
the eastern coast from Tabasco, including 
the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Brazos 
Santiago. The Texan navy at this time con- 
sisted of four vessels, the other vessels that 
had been purchased by authority of the con- 
gress having been wrecked. Tliese vessels 
wei'e transferred to the United States the 
next year, upon annexation. 

By the way, it may be observed that when 
Vasquez occupied San Antonio much alarm 
was felt for the safety of Austin and the gov- 
ernment archives. The president removed 
his cabinet to Houston, where congress held 
its special session of June 27, 1842, and this 
aggravated the indignation of the people of 
Austin. A vigilance committee was formed, 
the records were packed in boxes and a guard 
placed over them. Besides, a force was sent 
out to guard the roads, to see that no wagon 
passed with the archives. December 10, 
1842, Houston instructed Captain Thomas I. 
Smith to raise a company secretly and bring 
the most necessary books and documents to 



"Washington, where congress was to convene 
in regular session that month. Smith avoided 
the regular patrols by a circuitous route, en- 
tered Austin December 30, at night, and suc- 
ceeded in loading three wagons with records. 
This act was a surprise to the inhabitants of 
Au.-tin. Smith hastened back, after having 
been fired upon without effect by Captain 
Mark B. Lewis, who, having rallied a volun- 
teer company and procured a cannon from 
the arsenal, tired at the intruders. Smith en- 
campe.l at Kinney's fort on Brushy creek, 
and on the following morning discovered 
that Lewis, with his cannon pointed, had 
taken a position in front. After some par- 
ley, Smith agreed to take the wagons back 
to Austin. This affair has been called the 
Archive war. No further attempt was made 
to remove the records. The Austin people 
retained them until 1845, when, on occasion 
of the annexation convention being sum- 
moned to meet in July, they delivered them 
over to the administration of Anson Jones, 
on condition that the convention should 
assemble at Austin. 

THE WAE OF TUE "MODERATORS" AND "KEG- 
CLATOKS." 

This breeze took place during the second 
administration of President Houston, in 
1842. Early in this century the " neutral 
ground" became the asylum of adventurers 
and desperate men. Land commissioners, 
especially in Shelby county, found a profit- 
able business in issuing "headright" certifi- 
cates. During this year one Cliarles W. 
Jackson, a fugitive from justice, arrived in 
Shelbv county from Louisiana, and offered 
himself as a candidate for the Texan con- 
gress. Being defeated, he undertook to ex- 
pose the land frauds, declaring that his de 



UISTORT OF TEXAS. 



feat was owing to the opposition of the party 
connected with tliem. He notified the gen- 
eral land office of the illegal proceedings had 
there, and a man named Joseph Goodbread 
intimated that his life was in danger if he 
did not desist. Jackson shot him dead on the 
spot. He was called to trial, the court was 
tlironged by armed men, and the judge failed 
to appear. The Louisianian then organized 
ills party, under the name of "Regulators." 
Their operations were somewhat irregular, 
and doubtless many honest men lost their 
lands, etc., by their work. The " Modera- 
tors" were therefore organized in opposi- 
tion, and a kind of warfare was carried on for 
three years, when the two factions drew up 
in actual battle array in front of each other; 
but the President had General Smith, with a 
force of about 500 men, put a stop to the 
threatening strife. However, many a mur- 
der was afterward committed in quarrels 
growing out of the issues. 

THE GREAT WAR CLOUD AGAIN. 

In 1842 the Te.xan congress resolved on 
war with Me.\ico, but President Houston ve- 
toed the bill authorizing the undertaking, as 
it was then beyond their means. Violent 
men were angered by the president's action. 
Directly, in July, General Davis on the 
Nueces was attacked by Canales with 700 
men, 500 of whom were cavalry; but with 
only 192 men he repulsed them. Two 
months later General WoU took possession 
of Antonio, after some resistance on the part 
of the Anglo-Texans. After some discussion 
the Texans, fifty-two in number, surrendered 
on condition that they should be treated as 
prisoners of war. 

When it became known in Gonzales that 
Bejar was again occupied by the Mexicans, 



a force of about 220 men, under Col mel 
Matthew Caldwell, assembled in the Salado 
bottom, about six miles east of town, and 
they sent Captain John C. Hayes forward to 
draw out the enemy, and was successful. 
Woll came up with the renuiinder of his 
forces, and maintained a light for an hour. 
Meantime a company of fifty-three Texans, 
from Fayette county, under the command of 
Nicholas Dawson, hastened to tlie assistance 
of Caldwell; but the enemy proved too 
strong, putting most of the Texans to death, 
only two making their escape; lifteen were 
taken prisoneis, and started on foot toward 
the city of Mexico. 

Then, Sjpteml*er 16, Houston called for 
volunteers to cross the Rio Grande. About 
1,200 men were soon collected in the vicinity 
of Bejar, but poorly equipped and provisioned, 
and there was also considerable discontent as 
to choice of officers, many preferring General 
Burleson to Somerville, whom Houston lutd 
appointed. The latter indeed proved to be a 
poor general, and soon returned to Bejar, 
while the most of his men, about 550 in num- 
ber, determined to do something to redeem 
the expedition from disgrace, choosing Colonel 
William S. Fisher as their commander. Put 
after a tight of a day or so in the vicinity of 
Mier, they had to surrender to the Mexican 
General Ampudia and Colonel Canales. The 
Texan prisoners, about 260 in number, suc- 
ceeded at the hacienda del Salado in making 
their escape, witli some loss of life, and after 
seizing some ammunition, gnus, etc., started 
on their way home, but made the mistake of 
changing their route to that through the 
mountainous region, which proved disastrous, 
and, weakened by hunger and exposure, they 
were easily re-captured. Seventeen of these 
were massacred at Salado by order of Santa 
Ainal One of these, James L. Shepherd by 



U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 



name, was at the first shot struck in the face 
by the liall, but not seriov.sly wounded, and 
ho fell forward and feigned deaUi. At night 
he crawled to the mountains, but compelled 
by hunger, after wandering for several weeks, 
surrendered himself and was taken to Sal- 
tillo, recognized and shot in the public square! 
Much important matter is condensed in the 
following paragraphs, from H. H. Bancroft, 
quoted before: 

"On the subject of the release of these 
prisoners, much correspondence was carried 
on between the governments of Texas and 
those of tlie United States and Great Britain, 
through their representatives. The expedi- 
tion under Fisher was conducted without the 
sanction of the Texan government, and in di- 
rect defiance of General Somerville's order to 
march home. By the United States and 
Great Britain it was regarded as a maraud- 
ing incursion, and those powers remonstrated 
with Texas when it sought tlieir interposition 
in behalf of the prisoners. The defense of 
the Texan government, however, was based 
on reasonable grounds. Admitting, said the 
executive, that they went without orders and 
were thereby placed beyond the protection of 
the rules of war, yet the Mexican officers, by 
proposing terms of capitulation to the men 
relieved them from the responsibility which 
they had incurred. 

" The opposition papers of the time charged 
the president with endeavoring to prejudice 
Santa Anna against the prisoners by admittino- 
that the movement across the Rio Grande had 
been made on their own responsibility. On 
January 10, 1846, General Green published 
an address to the people of Texas, in which 
he holds Houston responsible for the decima- 
tion of the prisoners, on tlie ground that he 
begged the mercy of the Mexican government 
for them, ' though they had entered Mexico 



contrary to law and authority.' Green, in 
his journal, expressed himself very bitterly 
against Houston, and brought forward charges 
against him which the latter considered so 
serious that he denounced them as calumnies 
before the United States Senate, in 1854, 
when he was a member of that body. Hous 
ton dealt as severely with Green, and consid- 
ered that his book should receive the attention 
of the chairman of the couimittee of the 
library of Congress, and be condemned. Hous- 
ton's speech elicited a reply from Grein, 
who, in scathing terms, assailed his opponent." 

In all probability Houston, in the first 
place, unwittingly admitted that the Mier ex- 
pedition was unauthorized, not thinking that 
any serious consequences could come from it, 
but that the statement would indeed elicit 
greater consideration for the honor of the 
Texan government. At the same time the 
Texan soldiery were too zealous, and rushed 
forward with too small numbers and too little 
equipment for so formidable an undertaking 
as a war with Mexico. On this subject, we 
think that neither Houston nor the soldiery 
were criminal, but made mistakes. 

What were left of the Texan prisoners, 107 
in number, were finally liberated by Santa 
Anna, September 16, 1844, in commemora- 
tion of Mexico's national day. 

In 1842, another unsuccessful expedition 
was made by 180 Texans, under Colonel 
Jacob Snively, and authorized by the presi- 
dent, against a Mexican caravan cro.-sing 
territory far to the north claimed by Texas. 

During the year 1843, and the most part 
of 1844, Texas enjoyed an armistice from 
Mexican hostilities, pending consultation with 
the great powers, concerning a final settle- 
ment of ditticulties, and the slavery question, 
to a slight degree, entered into the centre 
versy. England was willing to mediate alone. 



UlSTOliY OF TUX AH. 



ratlier than with the aid of tlio United Status 
and Fiance, and her motives wore supposed 
to be sollish. 

TKXAS ANNEXED TO TUE UNITED STATICS. 

Tiie Texas presidential election of Septem- 
her, 184-i, resulted in a victory for the anti- 
antiexutionists, being a choice of Anson Jones 
lor president, who was known to be opposed 
to annexation. Kenneth L. Anderson was 
chosen vice-president. Edward Burleson was 
the defeated candidate for the presidency. 
Houston, in his farewell message, gave a very 
cheerful view of political affairs. But, being 
yet weak, Texas was in fact only a shuttle- 
cock for the stronger powers. Houston, by 
ids pacitic policy, had brought the Indians to 
terms of peace, and by his economical ad- 
ministration had improved the financial con- 
dition of the republic, while in agricultural 
and commercial respects Texas began to 
thrive. In his inaugural address President 
Jones said that his policy would be the main- 
tenance of the public credit; the reduction of 
the expenses of government; the abolishment 
of paper issues; the revision of the tariff law; 
tlie establishment of public schools; the 
speedy attainment of peace with Mexico, and 
just and friendly relations with the Indians; 
the introduction of the penitentiary system; 
and the encouragement of internal improve- 
ment. Not a word did he say with reference 
to annexation. 

But annexation loomed up so rapidly that 
Jones' administration was destined to be 
short. February 28, 1845, only three nmnths 
after his inauguration, the United States 
Congress passed a joint resolution in favor 
of incorporating Texas into the Union. May 
5th, President Jonco proclaimed an election of 
delegates to a convention to consider the adop- 



tion of the proposition of the United States, 
and, meeting at Austin, July 4, they recom- 
mended annexation, and submitted to a pop- 
ular vote the proposition of the United States 
Congress, along with a proposed State con- 
stitution, which, on October 13, were ratified 
by a vote almost unanimous! February 19, 
1846, Pi'esident Jones surrendered the ex- 
ecutive authority to the newly elected Gov- 
ernor, J. Pinckney Henderson, wiio was in- 
augurated February IG, 184G. Thus the lone 
star of Texas became one of a glorious con- 
stellation. 

TO AEMS. 

Of course, this act of annexation meant 
war with Mexico on a larger scale than ever. 
In Texas, at this time, there were probably 
about 75,000 inhabitants, about 4,000 of 
whom were Mexicans. Tiie nationality of 
the new State was very composite. As to the 
criminal element, there was no more of that 
than in any frontier settlements, which gen- 
erally have a class of ruffians that disappear 
on the approach of more settled civilization. 

When the resolution of Congress in favor 
of annexation was published, March 7, 1845, 
General Almonte, the Mexican minister at 
Washington, demanded his passports. War 
with Mexico, indeed, the Government had 
been pre[)aring for, and General Zachary 
Taylor was ordered to move from the Sabine 
with a strong force to Corpus Christi, at the 
mouth of the Nueces, at the end of June, 
1845. In the meantime the Mexicans, too, 
had been preparing for the contest, establish- 
ing their first base at Matamoras. We have 
not space here to give a full account of the 
"Mexican war," but let us be content with a 
tabular view of the principal battles, etc., 
which, in general, is more satisfactory for 
reference than an extended account: 



Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 



At the battle on the Rio Grande, above 
Matamoras, April 26, 1846, Captain Thorn- 
ton, with sixty-three men, was captured by 
General Ampudia, after a loss of sixteen 
lives. 

Palo Alto, May 8, General Taylor and 
Major Ringgold, with 2,300 men, were en- 
gaged with Arista, who had about 6,000. 
American loss, 4 killed and 40 wounded; 
Mexican, 100 killed and wounded. 

Re.«aca de la Palina, May 9, General Taylor 
and Captain May, with 2,000, were engaged 
with General La Vega, who had aViont 5,000. 
American loss, 120 killed and wounded; 
Mexican, 500 killed and wounded. 

Monterey, September 21 to 24, Generals 
Worth, Quitman and Taylor, with a force of 
6,600, opposed Genera] Ampudia, with 10,000. 
American loss, 120 killed and 368 wounded; 
Mexican, the city of Monterey itself. 

Bracito, east of the Rio Grande, December 
25, Doniphan, with 500 men, was engaged 
with Ponce de Leon, who had 1,200. 

Buena Vista, February 23, 1847, General 
Taylor, with 4,750 men, was engaged with 
General Santa Anna, who had 17,000. Tay- 
lor's loss, 746 killed, wounded and missing; 
Mexican, 1,500 killed and wounded. 

Sacramento, DoTiiphan, with 900 men, 
secured the surrender of Chihuahua, defended 
by Trias with 4,000 men. 

Vera Cruz, March 12 to 27, General Win- 
field Scott and Commodore Connor, with 
12,000 men, engaged with General Morales, 
who had 6,000, and secured the surrender of 
the city, with only a loss of 19 killed and 
wounded. 

Cerro Gordo, April 18, Generals Scott 
and Twiggs, with 8,500, were engaged with 
Santa Anna, who had 15,000. American 
loss, 500 killed and wounded; Mexican, 3,000 
prisoners and 43 guns. 



Contreras, August 20, General Scott, with 
4,000 men, engaged by Valencia, with 7,000. 
American loss, light; Mexican, the batteries. 

Churubusco, August 20, General Scott, 
with 8,000 men, against Santa Anna with 
25,000; 700 killed and wounded on each side. 

Molino del Rey, September 8, General 
Worth, with 7,500, against Alvarez with 
14,000. American loss, 787 killed and 
wounded; Mexican, 230 killed and wounded. 

Chapultepec, September 13, General Scott, 
with 7,200, against Santa Anna and Bravo, 
with 25,000. American loss, 863 killed and 
wounded; Mexican, citadel and outworks. 

Mexico city, September 14, General Scott, 
with 6,000 men, against Santa Anna. Mex- 
ican loss, the city. 

Huamantha, October 9, General Lane, with 
500 men, against Santa Anna, with 1,000. 
American loss, 34 killed and wounded; Mex- 
ican, not known. 

In this general war the Texans took the 
following part: The Texas legislature ap- 
pointed Governor Henderson to take com- 
mand of the Texans who might be mustered 
into the service of the United States. On 
May 2, 1846, a requisition for two regiments 
of infantry and two of cavalry was njade on 
Texas. Henderson reached the army of Gen- 
eral Taylor at Comargo, after the war had 
begun. The limitedmeans of transportation, 
and uncertainty with regard to supplies, 
induced Taylor, while on his march against 
Monterey, to leave a large number of volun- 
teers on garrison duty in towns on the Rio 
Grande, and only the first and second regi- 
ments of the Texan division accompanied the 
main army on that memorable campaign. 
In the attack upon Monterey, the first regi- 
ment of mounted volunteers under Colonel 
John C. Hays, familiarly known as "Jack" 



HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 



Hays, the celebrated ranker, was detached 
and sent with General AVorth to make a 
demonstration on the western side of tlie 
town, while Taylor assaulted the east side. 
The city, which was strongly fortified and 
garrisoned, was assailed by Taylor September 
21, and the attack lasted three days, on the 
last of which Henderson led in person the 
second regiment of Texans, who, dismount- 
ing, acted as infantry. Being cut off from 
his command by amiirderous fire, he narrow- 
ly escaped death. 

In the meantime Worth, making a detour, 
had gained the other side of the town. On 
the 21st he engaged a body of Mexicans 1,500 
strong; and it was mainly owing to the 
strategy of Hays and the deadly fire of the 
Tfxan rangers, who were in advance, that a 
furions cavalry charge was repulsed and a 
victory gained. 

To the west of Monterey were two fortified 
heights, one on each side of the river, known 
by the names of La Federacion and Cerro del 
Obispado, and commanding the approach to 
the place. On the afternoon of the 2l8t a 
force of 300 men, half of them Texans, 
stormed and occupied La Federacion on the 
south side, and before daylight on the follow- 
ing morning 200 Texans, led by Hays and 
"Walker, with three companies of the artillery 
Itattalion and three companies of the Eighth 
Infantry, scaled in two columns, under cover 
of a mist, the almost perpendicular height of 
El Obispado, and nearly reached the summit 
before the alarm was given. Then a volley 
was poured down upon them; but the work 
was soon taken, and as fresh troops ar- 
rived in support, the strong fort of El Obis- 
pado was assaulted and taken. The Texans, 
however, had to mourn the death of Captain 
Gillispie. 



Thus the investment of the city on the 
west side was complete; and during the next 
two days the Americans so successfully pushed 
their way into the city that on the 24rth Am- 
pndia capitulated. The Texans bore a promi- 
nent part in the above engagement. 

Indeed, all through the war the Texaiu 
characteristically exhibited their valor, inain 
taining the extraordinarily high reputation 
they had gained in former years. Hays' 
regiment, for example, of which the rangers 
formed the nucleus, was transferred to Scott's 
command, after serving in Taylor's campaign 
on the Rio Grande, and the etfieieucy of these 
men was marked wherever the army went. 
Serving equally well on foot or on horseback, 
they would storm a height or charge the 
enemy's cavalry with the same indifference, 
intrepidity and success. On the road they 
were the terror of the guerrilla bands, and in 
the town they were objects of dread to antag- 
onists and of awe to non-combatants. As 
Bancroft says, " their uncouth, wild, and fierce 
appearance, their strange garb and their 
reputation for contempt of every form of 
danger, gained for tliem in Mexico the belief 
that they were more than human, — that they 
were beings intermediate between man and 
devill In the city of Mexico, some of these 
brave, single-hearted and patriotic men fell 
beneath the knives of assassins, and the re- 
mains of many others lie buried in Mexican 
soil all the way from Vera Cruz to the city of 
Mexico." 

Mexico was forced to the terms dictated 
by the United States, and in the treaty of 
peace, signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, Febru- 
ary 22, 1848, not only Texas was given up, 
but also what is now New Mexico, Utali, 
Nevada, Arizona and California were ceded 
to the United States. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



EVENTS AFTER THE WAR. 

While Govornor Henderson was absent in 
command of the Texan vohmtecrs, his place 
was filled by Lieutenant-Governor Uorton. 
December 21, 1847, George T. Wood was 
inaugurated as the second governor of the 
State, and John A. Greer as lieutenant- 
governor. 

During Wood's administration a dispute 
arose which made many a Texan sorry he 
voted for annexation. When war was de- 
clared between the United States and Mexico, 
General S. W. Kearny took possession of 
Santa Fe in the name of the latter govern- 
ment; and when, by the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, New Mexico was ceded to the 
United States, Colonel Munroe was placed in 
command there. In 1848 the Texan legisla- 
ture sent a judge (Beard) to hold court there, 
still maintaining that that part of the coun- 
try was a portion of Texas, as at first de- 
cided by them. Colonel Munroe, however, 
ignored the Texan judge, and ordered the 
election of a Territorial delegate to the gov- 
crnment at Washington. The controversy 
grew violent, and Governor Wood threatened 
force. The Washington government an- 
nounced that it would resist it. The matter 
entered into national politics as a new side 
issue between the North and the South, the 
latter sympathizing with the claims of Texas. 
This matter was at length "settled" by ab- 
sorption into another question, namely, that 
of the public debt of Texas, soon to be men- 
tioned. 

The election of 1849 resulted in the choice 
of P. Hansborough Bell for governor, while 
John A. Greer was re-elected lieutenant- 
governor. For the next presidential term 
Governor Bell was re-elected. During bis 
administration two absorbing questions were 



settled, — the boundary line and the public 
debt. The particulars in regard to these 
delicate and complicated matters are thus 
carefully worded in H. H. Bancroft's His- 
tory: 

"On the incorporation of Texas into the 
Union, the United States Government, of 
course, acquired the revenue derived from 
the customs. These receipts, however, had 
been pledged by the late Republic as security 
for the payment of a certain portion of her 
debt; and when they were passed over to the 
Federal Government the bondholders clamor- 
ously maintained that the United States had 
become responsible for the liabilities of Texas, 
and pressed for a speedy settlement. That 
portion of the debt, however, for which the 
revenue from customs was specially pledged, 
amounted to only $868,000 ostensible value, 
or $611,784.50 par value. This matter, as 
well as the boundary question, was discussed 
at great length in both houses, and January 
29, 1850, Henry Clay introduced, among 
other 'compromise resolutions,' one designed 
to solve the perplexing questions of dispute 
with Texas. 

" Meantime the excitement with regard to 
the question of ownership of that part of 
New Mexico lying east of the Eio Grande, 
increased both in Texas and the United 
States. To show her serious determination 
not to yield her claim, a joint resolution was 
passed, February 11, 1850, by the legislature 
of the new State, asserting not only her right 
to the disputed ground, but declaring her in- 
tention to maintain the integrity of her ter- 
ritory. The several resolutions of Clay's bill 
were slowly discussed, and August 5, 1850, 
James A. Pearce, senator from Maryland, in- 
troduced a bill making definite propositions 
to the State of Texas relative to her bound- 
ary and the payment of her public debt. 



HISTORY OF TEXAIS. 



Tl;ey wore to this t'lTect: Texas was to agree 
tliat her boundary on tlie north should coni- 
nieiieo at tlie point at which tlie meridian of 
100° west from Greenwicli is intersected by 
the parrllel of 36° 30' north latitude, and 
should run from that point due west to the 
meridian of 103° west from Greenwich; 
tlionce the boundary line should run due 
south to tlie 32° of north latitude, thence on 



])ar; 



to the Rio Grande, and thence 



with tlie channel of that river to the gulf of 
.Mexiio. Texas was to cede to the United 
States all her claim to territory outside of 
those limits, and to relinquish all claim on 
the United States for liability for her debts, 
or compensation for the surrender of her 
siiips, forts, customhouses, custoinhouse reve- 
nue, public buildings, etc. The United States, 
in consideration of the establishment of said 
boundary and relinquishment of claims, would 
pay to Texas $10,000,000, in stock bearing 
live per cent, and redeemable at the end of 
fourteen years. No more than $5,000,000 of 
said stock was to be issued until the creditors 
of the State of Texas had tiled at the treas- 
ury of tlie United States releases of all claims 
against the United States on account of Texan 
bonds. 

"This bill passed the senate August 7, by 
a vote of 30 yeas and 20 nays, and on Sep- 
teniljer 4 following passed the house by a 
vote of 108 against 97. A copy of the bill, 
called the Boundary Act, was forwarded to 
Governor Bell, who forthwith called an extra 
session of tiie legislature. In his message 
Bell advised the occupancy of Santa Fe with 
a military force, suggesting, however, that the 
vacant lands of that district might be sold to 
the United States provided that Texas re- 
tained jurisdiction over it. Apart from the 
unwillingness to yield territory on a general 
principle, there was one feature in the bill 



especially repulsive to the Texans, and that 
was tiie retaining of half of the $10,000,000 
in the United States treasury until the cred- 
itors of Texas were paid. This self-protective 
condition imposed by the United State? was 
regarded as a reflection on Texas, since it 
seemed to insinuate that she would not be 
disposed to meet her liabilities promptly if 
she obtained possession of the whole amount. 
Then again, agreement to the propositions 
was required to be given on or bel'ore De- 
cember 1, 1850, — a proviso which, taken 
with the general tone of the document and 
the unconditional assent expected, was re- 
garded as a symptom of domination to which 
a sovereign ought not to be subject. The 
question having been discussed with much 
warmth and at great length, the propositions 
of the United States were finally accepted, 
November 25, 1850, and a law passed to that 
effect. By this act Texas waived her fictitious 
claim to about 98,380 square miles of the 
territory of New Mexico;" and thus it seems 
that all the important questions were settled 
regarding the evolution of Texas from an 
unprogressive province of Mexico to a com- 
plete membership in the American Union, 
with every prospect of prosperity and peace. 
" This matter having been settled, " con- 
tinues Bancroft, " the $5,000,000 was paid 
into the State treasury in February, 1852. 
The amount of the indebtedness of the late 
republic had been determined previously by 
the State. According to the report of the 
auditor and comptroller, dated November 12, 
1851, the ostensible indebtedness of Texa< 
was $12,43R,991, including interest; but the 
State, in view of the low price at which a 
large portion of the bonds issued by the re- 
publican government had been sold, did not 
consider itself bound to pay their full face 
value, and in January, 1852, the legislature 



IIIHTORT OF TEXAS. 



reJucL-d the amount of her apparent obliga- 
tions (S12,4B6,9yi)to nearly half (?6,S27,278), 
over tlie president's veto, by a strong vote." 
As soon as Texas was annexe,] to the United 
States, iinini<^ration began to increase, and in- 
crease more and more rapidly after peace was 
established. The oidy drawback to uninter- 
rupted prosperity was Indian depredations. 
Though the main body of each border tribe 
professed friendship, the outlying settlements 
sui?ered considerable damage, especially on the 
western frontier. These depredations for the 
most part were committed by theComanches, 
who generally did their mischief on return- 
ing from raids into Mexico. On several oc- 
casions white men were killed and captives 
taken. Also the Choctaws, Chickas."\ws and 
Kickapoos made raids from the north. In 
the spring of 1854 a band of Kickapoos killed 
the special aj^ent. Stein, and a Mr. Lepper- 
man from Ohio, near Fort Belknap. The 
affair was reported to the Government at 
Washington, and aid invoked. 

INDIAN COLONIZATION, ETC. 

The Indians were the more incited to pred- 
atory raids on acconnt of the diminution of 
wild game on the approach of the white race, 
and they were in danger of being reduced to 
destitution, since their manner of living made 
tliem dependent npou flesh food; and they 
were unwilling to adopt the white man's 
method of raising domestic animals for a sub- 
sistence. 

As a remedy for the evil, a system of col- 
onization was applied, but this system, too, 
was quite unwelcome, being more a white 
man's method of managing affairs than the 
Indians'. Means were to be provided by the 
United States Government to aid and instruct 
Indian settlers in the cultivation of land. In 



carrying out this policy two Indian colonies 
were established in Texas in the spring of 
1855, on reservations granted by the State in 
Young county, one of which, consisting of 
eight leagues of land, was located on the 
Crazos river, below the junction of Clea*- 
Fork, and fifteen miles from Fort Belknap. 
This reservation was called the Brazos agency. 
The other, comprising four leagues, was sit- 
uated on Clear fork about forty-live miles 
above its confluence with the main river. In 
the first colony were placed Anadarcoes, Cad- 
does, Tahwacorroes, Wacoes and Tonkawas, 
numbering in all 794 souls. At the other 
reservation were 277 northern Comanches. 

At first the reports of the agents at these 
points held out every prospect of success. 
The Indians of the Brazos settlement, in good 
behavior, morality and industry, surpassed 
the most sanguine expectations. They vol- 
untarily abstained from the use of ardent 
spirits. By the end of August, public build- 
ings had been erected, — store I'oonis, houses 
for agents and employees, and a blacksmith's 
shop. Two farmers, with assistant laborers, 
were employed to instruct the Indians, and 
295 acres of land had been plowed and planted 
with corn. At the other reservation the 
Comanches were too late in arriving for corn- 
planting, but from the disposition evinced by 
them the agents looked forward to the suc- 
cess of the settlement. "Within three years 
these settlements attained a high degree of 
prosperity. The Brazos Indians, however, 
on account of their always having had more 
familiar and friendly intercourse with the 
whites, were more apt in the new arts, and 
their settlement accordingly made more rapid 
progress in the arts of civilization. They 
erected comfortable dwellings, had school 
houses, and were accumulating a goodly num- 
ber of live stock by honest methods. Besides, 



84 



HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 



tliey lieljiel ill the protection of the white 
tVoiitier, as they furiiithud from tifty to a 
hundred warriors for ranging service. For 
exatnple, in the spring of lb58, a hand of 
those went out with the Texan rangers on an 
expedition against the Cotnanches, and foiiglit 
gallantly. 

Hut alas! this tender bud of civilization 
was nipped by wliite people! Tlie rougher 
0!:es, inconsiderate and over-zealous, continued 
to encroacli upon them, until they were driven 
entirely away. In 1858 the number of 
these natives thus reclaimed from barbaric 
life was 1,483; and among this number, es- 
pecially of the Comanches, some were ad- 
dieted to horse-stealing, and sometimes would 
|)articipate with the wilder tribes in general 
jircdatory incursions. Some white men even 
assisted them in these nefarious trans- 
MCtions. The crimes of the few had to 
lie visited on all, such is the inconsid- 
eiateness and haste of human nature 
gi^nerally. In the counties adjoining the 
reservations many of the whites were so 
ha-ty as to believe that all, or nearly all, the 
depredations in their neighborhood were com- 
mitted by the Indians at these reservations, 
ami ihey accordingly determined to get rid 
of ihem some way. In 1858 several parties 
of these innocent Indians went hunting out- 
side of their reservations, as thoy had often 
been permitted to do by the agents on 
former occasions, and a number of rouglis 
among the whites determined on a cruel 
massacre. In a bend of the Brazos, just above 
the Jiiouth of Keochi creek, a party of In- 
(.iaiis, — men, women and children, — en- 
eainpel, for several weeks, peaceably engaged 
in luintiiig. On December 21, between forty 
and lifty men, mostly of P]rath county, as- 
sotnbled in conclave on Bosque river to con- 
sult upon a general extermination policy. 



They appointed a committee to organize a 
company, the command of which was given 
to Peter (4arland. Then the order was given 
to kill any Indians found south of Cedar 
creek. The company proceeded to the Indian 
camp on the Brazos, which at the time con- 
tained eight men, eight women and eleven 
children. Approaching stealthily early in 
the morning in December, while their victims 
were sound asleep, they poured into them a 
volley of buckshot and rifle-balls. Seven 
were killed outright, of whom three were 
women! Three men, two women and three 
children were severely wounded, and nearly 
all the rest moreor less injured. The wounded 
succeeded in escaping to the reservation. 

This atrocity naturally caused great excite- 
ment. A proclamation issued by the gover- 
nor, denouncing the act and warning all per- 
sons against joining organizations fur hostil- 
ities against the friendly Indians, had no ef- 
fect. The newspapers published prejudicial 
stories and inflammatory philippics on the 
subject, and the citizens at various points 
held meetings and resolved that the Indians 
should be removed. In the adjoining coun- 
ties bands of armed citizens were organized, 
who spent much time scouting around the 
reservations. Civilized Indians found outside 
the reservation limits, it was said, could not 
be distinguished from the savage ones, and 
would therefore have to suffer their fate. The 
removal of the reservation Indians was per- 
emptorily demanded, under threats of ex- 
termination. In vain did the agents ende ivor 
to avert the coming blow, and their efforts in 
this direction even gave offense to the citi- 
zens of the frontier, who, on April 25, 1859, 
boldly demanded their immediate resignation. 
All the agents could do then was to acqui- 
esce as soon as they could safely remove the 
Indians to a better place; but before they had 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



reasonable tiino for this, May 23, Captain 
Ijaylor, an ex-agent, at the Iiead of 250 armed 
men, marched to tlie Brazos resei-vation, with 
the avowed intention of attacking; tlie Indians. 
Captain rinmmer, of the First Inlantiy, 
warned him to leave the leservation, and he 
did so, but a skirmish occurred with the In- 
dians, and several on both sides were killed 
and wounded. 

It was now, tiierefore, certain that the In- 
dians could not remain on the reservation 
they were then occnpying. On the represent- 
ations of the agents, the government urJered 
the removal of the Indians as soon as the 
crops could be matured and gathered, but tliis 
did not satisfy the hasty frontiersmen, who 
demanded immediate action, and at the ur- 
gent request of the snjjervi^ing agent, R. S. 
Neighbors, permi^sion was given him to con- 
duct them at once beyond Red river. The 
evil passions of the border whites were so 
greatly aroused that the government had to 
send troops to guard the imprisoned Ind'ans 
on their march to prevent massacre! Tiius 
guarded, these unfortunate Indians were es- 
corted, July 30 and August 1, to a reserva- 
tion on the Washita river, beyond the juris- 
diction of the State of Texas. The numlier 
of Indians in this exodus was 1,415, of whom 
380 were Comanches. Owing to the persist- 
ent persecution kept up by the whites, it was 
found impossible even to collect the cattle 
which belonged to these Indians, and they 
were therefore obliged to leave their stock be- 
iiind! As a climax to this practical illustra- 
tion of Lamar's principle of expulsion or ex- 
termination. Superintendent Neighbors, hav- 
mct returned to Texas in September, was way- 
laid on the 14th near Fort Uulknap by a man 
unknown to him and shot! He died in twenty 
minutes. It was believed that this crime was 
committed on account of the fiee opinion ex- I 



p.csscd by Ne'glibors rel.itivo to the killing 



of a reserve Indian some time 



prev 



.sly. 



Tlie last of the Alabiiiia Indians were re- 
ported in existence on the Trinity river, a few 
miles east of the town of Livingston in 18G'J, 
then about 200 or 300 in number, and half 
civilized. 

CURRENT OF EVENTS. 

While Elisha M. Pease was governor the 
financial questions between the State and tiie 
general Government were finally adjusted, and 
a settlement made with the creditors of the 
eld Republic. Bnt many new claimants arose 
demaiuHng indemnity from the United States 
Government for loans and losses incurred dur- 
ing the days of the Republic in defending 
the country against Indians from United 
States territory. The general Government 
offered a compromise, which was at tir.-t 
treated very indignantly by the creditors, and 
even by a majority of the citizens in a popu- 
lar vote on the subject. The legislature, 
iiowever, in later and cooler moments, agr- e i 
to the compromise, and the creditors received 
a pro rata, which was about 78 per cent. The 
amount thus paid was $2,750,000. 

From 1852 to 1858 nine-tenths of the 
taxes collected were remitted to the several 
counties to enable them to build courthouses 
and jails, the remaining tenth being set apart 
by the constitution for the support of schools, 
was paid into the treasury. During this 
period very rapid progress was made, both in 
immigration and assessable wealth. 

Rut Texan animosity toward the Mexican 
population did not abate. The Mexican in- 
habitants were mostly of the lower orders, 
and were charged with associating with " nig- 
gers," and frequently of stealing horses and 
negro girls, whom they would take to Mexico. 
In the fall of 1850 a formidable negro con- 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



spiraey was discovcrou in Colorado conntj', 
which coutemplated a siinultaneous insnirec- 
tion and the massacre of the wiiite jwpula- 
tion, with the exception of tlioir young 
women, who were to he made captives. Tlie 
i-laves had systematically organized, with 
secret signs and pass-words, and provided 
tlieinsclves with bowie-knives and a few tire- 
arms. Their intention seemed to be to fight 
tlieir way into Mexico, which they called a 
" free State." On the detection of the con- 
spiracy, more than 200 negroes were severely 
punished with the lash, two being whipped 
to death, and tiiree prominent leaders were 
hanged Seiitemher 5. It was asserted that 
every Mexican in the county was implicated 
in this intended uprising, and they were or- 
dered to le.ive and never return, under |)en- 
alty of death. Similar measures were adopted 
in Mat agon la county. 

TUE CART WAR. 

In 1857 Texan wagoners committed many 
acts of violence upon Mexican cartmen in 
the transportation of goods from San Anto- 
nio. The fi-eight rates were so low as to 
dri\'e the Texan wagoners from the field. 
The latter, moreover, were'not quite so faith- 
ful as the Mexicans. Outrages became so 
numerous and high-handed that General 
Twiggs, the United States commander at San 
Aiitonio, was compelled to furnish a military 
ocortto trains tran;iporting Government sup- 
plie.*. In October, the Mexican minister at 
Washington addressed the United Sates Gov- 
ernment on the matter, stating that he had 
lieeu assured that the number of men thus 
murdered was no less than seventy-live, and 
that many Mexicans had been compelled to 
lly to Mexico, in a state of destitution. In 
November, Governor Tease addressed special 



messages to the legislature on the matter, 
stating that Mexican citizens engaged in the 
business of teaming were not safe without a 
military escort. As the counties in which 
the deeds of violence were committed did 
nothing to stop them, he suggested the pro- 
priety of legislative interference. The senate 
referred the matter to a committee, who re- 
ported in favor of inflicting a penalty upon 
those counties, but introduced no bill to that 
etlect, and so the matter ended. The legis- 
lature, however, ajjproved the action of the 
governor in calling out a company of troops, 
wiiich, by the way, was ineffectual in regu- 
lating a large section of country with the 
criminals scattered over it. When the road 
was abandoned bj' the Mexican cartmen and 
booty became scarce, they began to commit 
depredations on the propu'rty of the citizens. 
The latter, though so indifferent to the rights 
of the MexicaTis previously, were now enraged 
and reported to lynching; ami in the neigh- 
borhood of Goliad the traveler would eee 
many a corpse suspended from tiie boughs of 
the black oaks. The " Cart War" was thus 
brought to an end. 

POLITICAL PARTIES. 

The general political parties were not defi- 
nitely organized in Texas until during Pease's 
adniinisti-ation. The party factious opposed 
to each other previous to this differed only on 
personal or local matters. After the annex- 
ation the people naturally allied themselves 
gradually with either theWiiigor the Demo- 
cratic party, but took no zealous part in their 
issues for eight or ten yeais, on account of the 
greater importance of local questions; these 
settled, they began to become more decidedly 
Whig or I)em.)cratic, with a far greater pre- 
ponderance on tho Demociutic side. Between 



HISTOliY OF TEXAS. 



1854 and 1857, " Know-notl)iii.i<lriiu" liad 
considerable influence. By tlie laitur patty, 
in 1855, L. D. Evans was elected to Gongivrfs 
from the Eastern District of Te.uis, and the 
same year Dickson, for (Governor, received 
17,968 votes, against Tea^e, who was then 
re-elected. 

In 1857 tlie death of two eminent Texas 
statesmen took place, — Thomas J. Jinsk and 
James Uamilton, of South Carolina. Tneir 
sketches may be found on a subsecjuont page, 
by the index. 

SIGNS OF TUE COMING STORM. 

December 21, 1857, Hardin 11 Pvunnels, 
the successful Democratic candidate, was in- 
augurated governor, lie had be u elected by 
a vote of 32,552 against 2'6,Cr2S for Sa n 
Houston. 

By this time the old slavery question be^an 
to loom up in its various relatious to passing 
political events, and nothing so exasperating 
could happen to the American public, both 
North and South, liunuels addressed a mes- 
sage, in January, 185S, to the legislature, 
calling attention to the aspect of ati'iiirs in 
Kansas, and clearly advocating the doctrine 
of secession. During the same month a 
Democratic State convention at Austin le- 
solved that it suspected the United States 
Government of abandoning the principle of 
"non-intervention" in respect to the slavery 
question, in its dealings with Kansas and 
Nebraska. T. J. Chambers offered resolu- 
tions to the effect that any act on the part of 
Congress tending to embarrass the admission 
of Kansas as a member of the Union woul.i 
be a usurpation of power, etc., and that in 
case Congress should do such a thing Texas 
should again declare independence. In le- 
sponse to the governor's message the legi^la- 



tiire adopted a resolution to appoint delegates 
to a genei al convention of the Southern States, 
to act in self-defense and in protection of 
immigrants in Kansas from the South, who 
were denied the rights of citizenship there. 

Ivunnels, at the close of his term, again 
ran as a candidate for governor, on the Demo- 
cratic ticket, but was defeated by Safn Hous- 
ton, indepL-ndent, by a majority in favor of 
the latter of 8,757 votes, the latter being 
known as opposed to scces.sion. In 1858, a 
vacancy occurred on the supreme bench, and 
the Democrats nominated for it a Mr. Buck- 
Icy, whose reputation was not the best, and 
was of well-known disunion proclivities; and 
he was defeated by an overwhelming ma- 
jority, by Bell, an avowed Unionist. 

During the canvass of 1859, the Demo- 
cratic convention at Houston contained mem- 
bers who spoke publicly and vehemently in 
favor of secession, and even upheld the Afri- 
can slave trade. Indeed, so much sympathy 
for Southern independence was manifest at 
that convention that the Democratic party of 
Texas was clearly known as committiHl in fa- 
vor of secession, if the Federal Government 
did not receJe from its intervention policy 
with the great Southern institution. 

Houston, therefore, took his seat as gover- 
nor at a time when intense political excite- 
ment prevailed througliout the United States, 
as well as in Texas. By tlie close of 1859 
the apposing parties were uncompromisingly 
arrayed against each other on the slavery 
question, and the fire of disruption was be- 
ing kindled. The victory of the Abolition 
party in Kansas and the John Brown raid at 
Harper's Ferry aggravated the feeling of dis 
ap2)ointmenl throughout the South. Accord- 
ingly, in December, this year, the legisla- 
ture of South Carolina, famous for taking the 
load for the South, passed resolutions in favor 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



of secession, ami appri>priated a contingent 
uf $100,000 for nnlitaiy purposes, sliould it 
lie rer^nired. These ruaolutions were ad- 
dressed to the governors of all the Soutiiorn 
Slates. On the receipt of them, Houston 
addressed a lonw message to the Texas legis- 
lature, opposing secession. It liad a great 
influence, upon that body, for the ineuibers 
very temperately passed resolutions favoring 
union, except that they held that a State had 
the right to secede, etc. There were majority 
and minority reports of the committees of 
Ijnth liranclies of the legislature, the minority 
iiolding that a State did 'not have the rij;ht 
to secede. 

Many years previously, a secret order was 
foi-med for tlie purpose of establishing a 
Soutliern empire, with slavery, and known as 
the Knights of the Golden Circle. Its em- 
pire was to have Havana, Cuba, as its center 
and extend in every direction from that six- 
teen geographical degnes. It is said that 
the filibustering expeditions of 1850 and 
1857 were undertaken under the auspices of 
'ills organization, and tliat now, in the anti- 
slavery agitation at the North, the disip- 
].uinted Democrats began to turn to it for 
uid. "In 18G0," says Bancroft, "two mem- 
bers of the order, George W. Bickley and liis 
nephew, were employed to orj;anizti 'ca ties' 
<jr lodges, in Texas, receiving as reinnneration 
for their w^rk the initiation lees paid by in- 
<'oming members. Such castles were soon 
t'stiibliflu'd in every principal town and vil 
bigi- in the State, and they ln'c,iiiii> a power 
ill the 1 •lid. In it were many lucmbcis of 
the h gi^l.ltllre and piomiiKut |MilitH-i;ins. 
I!y its inlhience the sentiments oC the people 



were revolutiniiizi'd; from its t'tild WiTediawn 
the first armed rebels in Texas under the fa- 
iiiiuis rangiM', Benjamin M(!(!nlloii4li ; it fiir- 
niffbed the vigilance commitle. n; and to its 



members were charged murders and incendi- 
ary acts comm'tted during the war." 

Even after South Carolina had positively 
declared secession from the Union, in De- 
cember, 1860, Houston stood true to his prin- 
ciples of Unionism, though it must be 
confessed tiiat many Union men in the State 
were suspected of too great sympathy with 
the Abolitionism of the North, and were 
bunged by vigilance committees, and that 
most otliers were terrorized into silence. So 
said Senator CI ingman, of North Carolina, at 
the time. Remember, it is not understood 
that such outrages are chargeable to the 
Democrats as such, but to " mobocrats," of 
whatever party. Sixty of these Knights, says 
Bancroft, issued a call for a State convention 
at Austin, to meet January 28, 1861. Tlie 
mass of the people considered the proceeding 
as irregular, as the Knights took pains to put 
in their own men as judges at the primary 
elections wherever practicable, and barely 
half of the counties were represented at the 
convention by the people. The legislature, 
by a joint resolution, recognized the infor- 
mally elected delegates and declared the con- 
vention a legally constituted assenably. Hous- 
ton's veto was overruled, and on the appointed 
day the Convention met. February 1, it passed 
the ordinance of secession, by a vote of 167 
to 7, subject to a vote of the people on 
the 23d. This body, also, without waiting to 
hear what the residt of the popular vote 
mi^lit be, appointed a " committee of public 
salety,'' with secret instructions, and ap- 
jiointei also delegates to the Confederate 
convention at Montgomery, Alabama. This 
committee of safety usurped the powers of 
tl'.e execntive, and appointed three commis- 
sioners to treat with General Twiggs, in com- 
m;ind of the United States forces in Texas, 
lor the surrender of his army and the na- 



HISTOBr OF TEXAS. 



tional posts and property. February 16th 
he complied, surrendering 2,500 men, and 
all the forts, arsenals, military posts, public 
stores and munitions of war, all the property 
being valued at $1,200,000 cost price. 

A few days before the popular vote was 
taken, as above noted, Houston delivered a 
speech from the balcony of the Tremont 
House in Galveston, to the excited public, on 
the question of secession. His personal 
friends, fearing that violence wonld be offered, 
entreated him to remain quiet; but he was 
not to be stopped by any apprehension of 
danger. He stood erect before the people, 
and in prophetic language pictured to them 
the dark future. " Some of you," he said, 
" langli to scorn the idea of bloodshed as a 
result of secession, and jocularly propose to 
drink all the blood that will ever ilow in con- 
sequence of it. But let me tell you what is 
coming on the heels of secession: the time 
will come when your fathers and husbands, 
your sons and brothers, will be herded to- 
gether like sheep and cattle at the point of 
the bayonet, and your mothers and wives, 
sisters and daughters, will ask: Where are 
they? You may, after the sacrifice of count- 
less millions of treasure and hundreds of 
thousands of precious lives, as a bare possi- 
bility, win Southern independence, if God 
be not against you; but I doubt it. I tell you 
that, while I believe with you in the doctrine 
of State rights, the North is determined to 
preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, 
impulsive people as you are, for they live in 
cooler climates; but when they begin to 
move in a given direction, where great in- 
terests are involved, such as the present 
issues before the country, they move with 
the steady momentum and perseverance of a 
mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they 
will overwhelm the South with ignoble de- 



feat." Before the close of his speech, how- 
ever, he said, " Better die freemen than live 
slaves. Whatever course Te.xas may pursue, 
my faith in State supremacy and State rights 
will carry my sympathies with her. As 
Henry Clay had said, ' My country, right or 
wrong,' so say I, My State, right or wrong." 

It seems from the above that Houston was 
a shrewd reader of human nature, as also 
from the following remarks in his message to 
the legislature a year previously: " To nul- 
lify constitutional laws will not allay the 
existing discord. Separation from the Union 
will not remove the unjust assaults made by 
a class in the North upon the institutions in 
the South. They would exist from like pas- 
sions and like feelings under any govern- 
ment. The Union was intended as a per- 
petuity. In accepting the conditions imposed 
prior to becoming a part of the Confederacy, 
the States became a part of the Union. In 
becoming a State of the Union, Texas agreed 
' not to enter into any treaty, alliance or con- 
federation, and not, without the consent of 
Congress, to keep troops or ships of war, 
enter into any agreement or compact with 
any other State or foreign power.' " 

The result of the vote of February 23 for 
delegates to the State convention to consider 
the propriety of secessien, was in substance 
as follows: Austin, the capital, San Antonio, 
and other western towns, as well as counties, 
gave Union majorities; the German colon- 
ists, too, were for the Union, while the rest 
of the State gave large Confederate majori- 
ties. Out of about 70,000 voters in the 
State, 53,256 cast their votes; and of this 
number 39,415 were in favor of secession, 
and 13,84:1 against it. 

To lose no time, the State convention as- 
sembled on March 2, in order to be ready for 
immediate action as soon as the result of the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



vote was known, which proved to be on the 
5th. They, therefore, immediately assumed 
the powers of government. It instructed its 
delegates at Montgomery to ask for the ad- 
mission of Texas into the Southern Confed- 
eracy that had just been formed; it. sent a 
committee to Governor Houston to inform 
him of the change in the political position of 
the State; it adopted the Confederate con- 
stitution, and appointed representatives to 
the Confederate congress. During the Con- 
federacy, Lewis T. Wigfall and William S. 
Oldham represented Texas in the senate, and 
John A. Wilcox, C. C. Herbert, Peter W. 
Gray, B. F. Sexton, M. D. Graham, William 
B. Wright, A. M. Branch, John K. Baylor, 
S. H. iforgan, Stephen H. Derden and A. 
P. Wiley in the house. 

In his reply to the above convention Hous- 
ton said that that body had transcended its 
powers, and that he would lay the whole 
matter before the legislature, which was to 
assemble on the 18th; whereupon the con- 
vention defied his authority and passed an 
ordinance requiring all State officers to take 
the oath of allegiance to the new govern- 
ment. Houston and E. W. Cave, secretary 
of State, refused to take the oath, and they 
were deposed by a decree of the convention, 
and Edward Clark, lieutenant governor, was 
installed as the executive. Houston then 
appealed to the people, and when the legisla- 
ture met, sent to it a uaessage protesting 
against his removal, stating at the same time 
that he could but await their action and that 
of the people. He argued his case ably and 
well before both the legislature and the peo- 
ple, but the legislature sanctioned the acts of 
the convention. Houston then retired to 
private life. 

Duringthese years Indian depredations con- 
tinued, and were more frequent and daring after 



Twiggs had surrendered all the Unitotl States 
forces on the frontier to the Texans; and also 
after the removal of the Indians from the 
reservations in Young county the hostility of 
the red savages was intensified. The more 
peaceable Indians had been removed to a 
great distance, while the more hostile were 
next in proximity. There was one remarka- 
ble exception, however, to the above observa- 
tion: A band of emigrants from the Creek 
nation, consisting of Alabamas, Coshattas 
and a few Muscogees, persevered in their 
peaceful pursuits on Alabama creek, on the 
side toward Trinity river, despite the frequent 
depredations committed upon them by "mean 
whites." As a community they set a model 
example of industry, honesty, patience and 
peaceableness. 

While the northern and western frontier 
was subjected to slily conducted forays by 
the untutored savages, the southern borders 
on the Rio Grande were afflicted with a more 
open and formidable invasion by a Me.xican 
desperado namad Cortina. He and his gang 
had long been known for their frequent thefts 
of cattle and other depredations. He and his 
followers, by professing sympathy with the 
persecuted Mexicans living in Texas, added 
to their numbers until they had nearly 500, 
and, like the old Mexican i-egime, began to 
inaugurate a little rebellion against the gov- 
ernment. But booty was their principal ob- 
ject, and they made their escapes the easier 
by alternating in their operations between 
Texas and Mexico, claiming while followed 
in one country to be citizens of the other. 
The gang sometimes committed murder, as 
for example in Brownsville, in September, 
1859. On the 29th of that month he issued 
a "proclamation" professing that his object 
only was to protect persecuted Mexicans in 
Texas, and that an organization had been 



HISTOBT OF TEXA8. 



formed for the pnrpose of chastising their 
enemies. It is claimed that he was assisted 
secretly by Mexican money and arms. Dur- 
ing October and November there were several 
collisions of Cortina and his men with the 
Government military forces, with loss on 
Doth sides. He devastated the country along 
the Eio Grande for over 120 miles, and back 
to the arroyo Colorado. This unprincipled 
desperado was finally defeated in May, 1861, 
when he burned a village named Rome. But 
he afterward revolutionized Tamaulipas, be- 
came governor, and intrigued both with the 
Confederates and the United States officials. 
In 1871 he was a general under Juarez, and 
in 1875 mayor of Matamoras and general in 
the Mexican army. 

During the great civil war it was fortunate 
for Texas that she was geographically situated 
at a distance from the seat of the main con- 
flict. The patriotism of her sons caused all 
of them to lose much in property, but no 
battle took place in, or destructive army 
marched through, her territory. Although 
her commerce suffered considerably, she found 
in Mexico a fair market for her cotton, her 
main staple, and her numerous ports on the 
gulf enal)led her more easily to run the 
blockade. 



THE 8T0EM 



Within a month after the installation of 
Clark as governor, hostilities broke out. On 
April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter, at Charleston, 
South Carolina, was evacuated by Major 
Robert Anderson, and on the following day 
President Lincoln issued his proclamation for 
75,000 volunteers. Enlistment for the South- 
ern cause was begun in Texas at once, and 
early in May Colonel W. C. Young crossed 
Red river and captured Fort Arbuckle and 
other military posts of the United States in liie 



Indian Territory, the Federal soldiers retreat- 
ing to Kansas. Colonel Ford also, assisted 
by an expedition from Galveston, took pos- 
session of Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, 
meetiiig no resistance. Captain Ilill, in com- 
mand there, was still holding it for the 
United States, having disobeyed the order of 
General Twiggs to evacuate it, but he had too 
small a force to hold it against assault. 

Governor Clark issued a proclamation 
June 8 that a state of war existed, and shortly 
afterward the ports of Texas were blockaded. 
By November 15,000 Texans were enlisted 
for the Southern cause. 

The election of 1861 showed the small 
majority of only 124 votes in favor of Fran- 
cis R. Lubbock for governor, over Clark, can- 
didate for re-election, and he was inaugurated 
November 7, 1861. 

Going back a little, we should state that in 
July of this year Lieutenant-Colonel John R. 
Baylor had occupied Fort Bliss, on the Rio 
Grande, and on the 25th Mesilla, across the 
Rio Grande, Major Lynde, commanding the 
United States fort, Fillmore, near by, having 
failed to dislodge Baylor, surrendered his 
whole command of about 700 men. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Canby was at this time in 
command of the department of New Mexico, 
and made preparations to meet the invasion, 
while Major Sibley, of the United States 
Army, had joined the Confederates, and with 
the rank of brigadier general was ordered in 
July to proceed to Texas and organize an ex- 
pedition for the purpose of driving Federal 
troops out of New Mexico. Sibley reached 
El Paso with his force about the middle of 
December, and issued a proclamation inviting 
his old comrades to join the Confederate 
army, but met with no response. 

Early in 1862 Colonel Canby made Fort 
Craig, on the Rio Grande, his headquarters. 



UlUTORT OF TEXAS. 



February 21 he crossed tlie river and en- 
gaged the Texaiis, but was repulsed. This 
was the battle of V.alverde, in which General 
Sibley had 1,750 men to 3,810 on Canby's 
side; but only 900 of Canby's men were reg- 
ulars, and the others were of but little serv- 
ice. Encouraged by success so signal, Sibley 
immediately marched on to Albuquerque, 
sending a -detachment on to Santa F^, and 
easily took those places, but, a part of his 
army meeting with defeat by Colonel Slough, 
he bad to begin a retreat which did not end 
until he reached Texas. In this bootless cam- 
paign the Texans lost 500 men; and even 
General Can by afterward reported that that 
portion of the country was too unimportant 
to hold by the expenditure of blood and 
treasure. 

In May, 1862, Commodore Eagle, of the 
United States Navy, demanded the surrender 
of the city of Galveston, but could not en- 
force bis demand. October 4: following he 
was re-inforced and easily took the place 
without much resistance. The Texans criti- 
cised General Hebert for giving up that city, 
and he was superseded during the next 
month by General Magruder, who forthwith 
made preparations to recapture the island. 
He made good preparation, with great se- 
crecy, to attack the island by both land and 
water, and he was successful in regaining the 
point, after an engagement that cost the 
Federals great loss. But the port continued 
to be blockaded. 

At first, and during the earlier part of 
Governor Lubbock's administration, the Tex- 
ans enlisted freely and cheerfully, believing 
that the contest would soon end in victory 
for them, but ere long they began to feel 
the tedious burden of war in many ways. 
Trade was interfered with, military law pro- 
claimed, conscription resorted to, etc. All 



males from eigliteen years of ago to forty-five 
were made liable to service in the Confed- 
erate army, with the exception of ministers 
of religion, State and county officers and 
slave-holders, the possession of fifteen slaves 
being the minimum number entitling to ex- 
emption. Governor Lubbock was an ex- 
tremist in regard to this system. In his 
message to the Legislature in November, 
1863, he suggested that every male person 
from sixteen years old and upward should be 
declared in the military service of the State; 
that no one should be permitted to furnish a 
substitute, and in the same message informed 
the Legislature that 90,000 Texans were 
already in the field. When one calls to mind 
that the greatest number of votes ever polled 
in the State was but little over 64,000, it 
will be seen what a tremendous drain had 
been made on the strength of the country! 

August 31, 1861, the Confederate congress 
passed a law confiscating all the property of 
Union men, and banishing the men them- 
selves. Many persons who had spent their 
lives in Texas ihus lost their property, and 
even temjiorary absentees in the North, who 
would have found it difficult, if not impossi- 
ble, to return, were likewise deprived of their 
possessions. Many Unionists, in their at- 
tempts to escape to Mexico, were canglit and 
put to death. Says the San Antonio IJerald, 
a paper loyal to the Confederacy: ''Their 
bones are bleaching on the soil of every 
county from lied river to the Rio Grande, 
and in the counties of Wise and Denton their 
bodies are suspended by scores from the 
black-jacks." 

By the close of Lubbock's administration, 
in 1863, the tide of public opinion and feel- 
ing began to ebb, as the Confederate arms 
bad met with serious reverses, and the dark 



EiaronT of tbxas. 



shadow of the impossibility of an indepeudent 
confederacy was casting a gloomy sky over 
tlie sunny South. 

After the recovery of Galveston island, no 
other opei-ation of importance occurred until 
September, 1863, when the Federals at- 
tempted to effect a lodgment at Sabine City, 
the terminus of a railroad. The blockade of 
Sabine Pass was temporarily broken by the 
capture of two United States gunboats, out- 
side the bar. Afterward the Confederates 
erected a fort at Sabine City, defended by a 
formidable battery of eight heavy guns, three 
of which were rifled. A detacliment of 4,000 
men, with gunboats, from Banks' army, made 
an attempt in September, 1863, to take Sa- 
bine City, but met with ignominious defeat, 
losing two gunboats, 100 men killed and 
wounded, and 250 as prisoners. The garri- 
son of the fort consisted of only 200 Texans, 
of whom only forty-two took part in the ac- 
tion. These were presented by President 
Davis with a silver medal, the only honor of 
the kind known to have been bestowed by 
the Confederate government.* 

On the 26th of July this year General 
Houston died. See his biography on another 
page, to be found by the index. 

The Rio Grande being a national boundary 
line, it could not be blockaded by the United 
States; but General Banks, after his failure 
to capture Sabine City, endeavored to take 
Brownsville, and thus at least cripple the trade 
between Texas and Mexico. Late in Octo- 
ber, 1863, supported by a naval squadron 
under Commander Strong, Banks sailed with 
6,000 troops from New Orleans for the Rio 
Grande. The immediate command, however, 
was given to General Napoleon Dana. By 
November 2 the force reached Brazos Santi- 
ago, and on the 6th took Brownsville, and 
soon afterward Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, 



Cavillo Pass and Fort Esperanza at the 
mouth of Matagorda bay. By the close of 
the year Indianola and the Matagorda penin- 
sula were also in the hands of the Federals. 
The Texans made but a show of resistance, 
withdrawing from the coast defenses west of 
the Colorado. But this possession of Texan 
forts was of short duration. After a few 
months the Federals withdrew from all except 
Brazos Santiago, leaving the duty of guard- 
ing the coast to the navy, wiiich soon after- 
ward captured several Confederate vessels. 

Banks' next scheme to obtain possession of 
Texas was by an entrance from the northeast, 
from Red river; but this famous " Red river 
expedition " also ignominiously failed. The 
Texans were too much for that Yankee army. 
At the battle of Pleasant Hill, however, the 
Texans suffered a serious defeat; Sweitzer's 
regiment of cavalry, about 400 strong, was 
almost annihilated by the Federals; and they 
also lost the battle at Pleasant Grove; but 
in the great battle of Sabine Cross Roads the 
Texans gained a great victory. 

During the month of September Browns- 
ville was captured by her old enemy, Cortina, 
under peculiar circumstances. A French 
force of about 5,000 took Bagdad, at the 
mouth of the Rio Grande, with the object of 
taking possession of Matamoras, where Cor- 
tina was then in command. Brownsville was 
at that time occupied by Colonel Ford with a 
considerable force of Texan cavalry, and Bra- 
zos Santiago was still held by the Federals. 
On the 6th the French began to move up the 
right bank of the river, and their advance be- 
came engaged with Cortina, who had naarched 
with 3,000 Mexicans and sixteen pieces of 
artillery from Matamoras to meet them. 
There seems to have been some understand- 
ing between Ford and the French commander, 
for during the engagement the former ap- 



UlUTORY OF IJiX.lS. 



peared on the other side of the liio Grande 
with a large lierd of cattle for the use of the 
invading army, and, immediately crossing the 
river, took part in the contlict by attacking 
the rear of Cortina's army. The Mexican 
commander, however, succeeded in repulsing 
l)Otli Ford and the Frencli, who retreated to 
Uagdad. Cortina next turned his attention 
to Ford. On the 9th he passed with his whole 
force and drove the Texans from IJrownsville, 
and took possession of the town for the 
United States. 

Governor Pendleton Murrah, of Texas, on 
liis accession to the executive chair, found 
many unusual perplexities, the State being 
harassed, and currency down to 3 or 4 cents 
on the dollar, and all three branches of the 
s^overnment usurped by military proclama- 
tion, etc. He therefore convened the legisla- 
ture in extra session, to meet May 11, 1864. 
But the terrible evils under which Texas was 
laboring could not be remedied in a short 
time, and before any measure of relief could 
take signal effect, the end of the great war 
came. Kirby Smith, however, had the hardi- 
hood of protracting the war in Texas some 
weeks after the surrender of Lee at Appo- 
mattox, but finally surrendered to General 
C'a?iby, May 26. But the last engagement in 
the great war took place May 13, near the old 
i)attle-lield of Palo Alto, the scene of Taylor's 
victory over Arista. 

AFTER THE WAE. 

After the formal surrender of Smith and 
Magruder, Governor Murrah reti red to Mexico, 
and June 19, General Granger, of the United 
States Army, assumed temporary command. 
On the 17th President Johnson, in pursuance 
of his plan of reconstruction, appointed An- 
<lrew J. Hamilton provisional governor of 



Texas. May 29, the president issued a 
proclamation granting an amnesty, with cer- 
tain exceptions, to persons who had been en- 
gaged in the rebellion, on condition of their 
taking an oath of allegiance. Governor Ham- 
ilton arrived at Galveston near the close of 
July, and began the reorganization of the 
State government, under the old regime, by 
proclaiming an election, where loyal persons 
may vote for State and all other necessary 
officers. Both President Johnson and Gov- 
ernor Hamilton were so liberal that the anti. 
Union men of Texas had hopes of gaining 
control of the government. 

But the greatest practical question now 
coming up was the disposition of the freed 
blacks. The course of Congress soon assured 
the public that the negroes would have all the 
rights of citizenship, so far as national legis- 
tion could make them. President Johnson 
seemed to be in haste to re-install the old 
Confederates in power under the Federal 
Government. During the years 1865-'66 he 
pardoned over 600 persons in Texas alone 
who were not included in the amnesty procla- 
mation he had issued. He "soured" on cer- 
tain prominent liepublicans in Congress, and 
seemed to desire to obtain a preponderance 
of Southern or Democratic element in that 
body as soon as possible. 

After the final victory of Northern arms, 
the Unionists in Texas, and especially the 
Federal soldiers, were peculiarly exposed to 
the vengeance of the more riotous element of 
the vanquished Confederates, and considerable 
persecution and some murders were indulged 
in. Only in the vicinity of the garrisoned 
towns and posts was security of person and 
property maintained. Even the courts were 
warped, according to General Custer's (Fed- 
eral) testimony. Said he: "Since the estab- 
lishment of the provisional government in 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



95 



Texas the grand juries throughout the State 
have found upward of 500 indictments for 
murder against disloyal men, and yet not in 
a single case has tliere been a conviction." 

The negro population of Texas at the close 
of the war was about 400,000. Great num- 
bers had been sent hither during tliat struggle 
to get them away from Federal interference. 
Now, since they had been freed, they all be- 
gan to move for employment, and before they 
attained it many of them suffered much, and 
some even killed. One man testifies that he 
collected accounts, showing that 260 dead 
bodies of negroes had been found throughout 
the State up to the middle of January, 1866, 
— some in the creeks, some floating down 
stream, and some by the roadside. But soon 
the excitement died down somewhat, and the 
negroes began to find work. Plantation own- 
ers were compelled to yield to necessity and 
offered tiiem terms which promised to insure 
steady labor. Wages, $20 a month, or two- 
thirds of the cotton crop and one-half the 
corn crops. And many testified that they 
could net as much from their business under 
the new order of things as under the old. 

THE KECONSTEUCTION PEKIOD. 

January 8, 1866, an election was held for 
delegates to a State convention to form a new 
constitution. There was no excitement, and 
little interest was shown, probably not half 
the voters taking part. This created some 
alarm in the minds of the philanthropists, but 
an occasion of that kind seldom draws out a 
large vote, because there is no particular issue 
in question, and no great hero up for office, 
whose followers take zealous hold. 

On the meeting of the convention J. W. 
Throckmorton was elected its president, and 
they proceeded to adopt every measure neces- 



sary for re-admission into the old Union. 
This constitution was submitted to the people 
June 25, who that day gave 28,119 votes for 
it and 23,100 against it. Of course there was 
many a bitter pill in the new document for 
the old pro- slavery element to swallow, but 
they could not help themselves. 

On the same day of the ratification of the 
constitution, Mr. Throckmorton was elected 
governor, and G. W. Jones, lieutenant-gov- 
ernor. In his message to the legislature 
the new governor said it was desirable 
that all military force, and the agents of 
the freedmen's bureau, should be with- 
drawn from the interior of the State, 
and that the most certain way to effect 
this object would be the enactment of just 
laws for the protection of the blacks, and their 
rigid enforcement. He added that every ef- 
fort should be made to impress upon the 
freedmen that their labor was desirable, and 
that laws should be passed carrying out the 
intention of that article in the constitution 
securing to them protection of person and 
property. He also called the attention of the 
legislature to the numerous outrages recently 
committed by Indians on the frontier. Upon 
his recommendation the legislature paid no 
attention to the question of ratifying the new 
clause of the Federal constitution abolishing 
slavery, and rejected by sixty-seven nays to 
five yeas the disfranchisement of the late 
Confederates imposed by the fourteenth ar- 
ticle of the same constitution, which reads: 
" No person shall be a senator or representative 
in Congress, or elector of president or vice- 
president, or hold any office, civil or military, 
under the United States, or under any State, 
who, having previously taken an oath as a 
member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
United States, or as a member of any State ^ 
legislature, or as an executive or judicial offi- 



UlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 



ccr of any State, to support the constitution of 
the United States, shall have engaged in insur- 
rection or rebellion against the same, or given 
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each 
house, remove sucli disability." The governor 
maintained that the adoption of such an ar- 
ticle would deprive the State, for nearly a 
quarter of a century, of the services of her 
ablest and best men, at a time, too, when such 
services are peculiarly important. 

This legislature passed numerous laws for 
internal improvement, and one providing an 
efficient military force for the protection of 
the frontier, besides many other useful laws. 

Under the plan pursued by President 
Johnson, State governments had by this time 
been established in all the Confederate 
States. But Congress considered that the 
president had been going too fast, and estab- 
lished military rule throughout the South, of 
course over the veto of the president. Gen- 
eral Phil Sheridan was given the command 
of the district including Louisiana and Texas, 
and he appointed General Grifiin to super- 
vise the latter State, with headquarters at 
Galveston. To him was entrusted the reor- 
ganization of the State, and he proceeded ac- 
cording to the more stringent measures re- 
quired by the " Eadical " Congress. He 
found Governor Throckmorton in his way, 
and advised his removal, which was done by 
General Sheridan. Griffin added: "I can- 
not lind an officer holding position under the 
State laws whose antecedents will justify me 
in reposing trust in him in assisting in the 
registration." lie further stated that he had 
again and again called the attention of the 
governor to outrages perpetrated on Union 
men, but knew of no instance in which the 
offender had been punished. At a later date 
he explains that efforts were made to exclude 



Union men from the jury boxes, to prevent 
which he issued a circular order, prescribing 
a form of oath which virtually excluded every 
person that had been connected with the Con- 
federacy from serving as a juror. This order 
was seized upon by some State officials, who 
attempted to make it appear that the courts 
were closed by the enforcement of it. 

Governor Throckmorton, of course, denied 
the many slanderous attacks that had been 
made upon him, and it seems that he was 
really desirous of adjusting himself and the 
State to the new system of reconstruction 
adopted by Congress in opposition to Presi- 
dent Johnson's views. 

Says Bancroft: "Early in August the 
deposed governor sent in his iinal report of 
his administration. It contains the Treas- 
urer's report, showing the receipts to have 
been $626,518, and the expenses $625,192; 
a statement of Indian depredations from 1865 
to 1867, from which it appears that during 
the two years 162 persons were killed, 48 
carried into captivity and 24 wounded; and 
he gave in addition a copy of his address and 
the official correspondence explanatory of his 
conduct. In reviewing this correspondence 
Throckmorton remarks that every fair-mind- 
ed person will be satisfied that the reports of 
General Griffin were made without any foun- 
dation in fact, and were not supported by 
any public or private act of his ; and that the 
imputation that he (Throckmorton) was an 
impediment to the reconstruction of the 
State showed the sinister influences which 
surrounded Griffin and his proclivity to 
error. 

" In examining the facts Throckmorton 
calls attention to the fact that he tendered 
the cordial co-operation of the State authori- 
ties to aid in the execution of the laws of 
Congress; that he called upon the civil au- 



EISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



thorities for such inforroation as would con- 
duce to that end; and that be advised the 
people to a cheerful and prompt compliance 
with the terms. But extraordinary impedi- 
ments to the proper execution of the acts of 
Congress had been thrown in the way. First, 
the circular order relative to jurymen's quali- 
fications filled the country with consternation, 
impressing the minds of the people that they 
were not to have the benefit of the laws; the 
oath prescribed would in fact exclude the 
majority of the people, except the freedmen, 
from serving as jurors; secondly, by refusing 
to fill vacancies in State oflices except by such 
persons as could take the test oath; and 
thirdly, by delay in appointing boards of 
registration in many counties. Again, no 
persons except those of one political party 
were selected as registrars, while negroes no- 
toriously incompetent were appointed to act 
on such boards; such persons as sextons of 
cemeteries, auctioneers, members of police, 
under- wardens of workhouses, school direc- 
tors, jurymen, overseers of the roads and 
many other classes had been excluded from 
registration; and finally a manifest disinclin- 
ation had been shown by the military authori- 
ties to believe in the sincerity of the State 
ofiicials, and in the people when declaring 
their desire to comply with the acts of Con- 



Besides the above, Mr. Throckmorton pi y- 
ceeds to enumerate many acts of lawlessness 
and oppression on the part of the United 
States agents and the military. 

Elisha M. Pease became governor for the 
third time in August, 1867. Public affairs, 
however, had sadly changed since the happy 
period of his first administration. Partisan 
feeling was now bitter, and in no other of the 
Confederate States did the work of recon- 



struction prove more difficult. Texas was 
the last to be readmitted into the Union. 

General Sheridan's military administra- 
tion gave great dissatisfaction to President 
Johnson, and on August 26, 1867, he was re- 
placed by the appointment of General Win- 
field S. Huicock, whose views were very dif- 
ferent from those of his predecessor. He 
was unwilling to submit civil offenders to 
military tribunals. He annulled the rigid 
rules laid down by Griflin with regard to 
registration of voters, instructing the local 
boards to proceed according to the statutes. 
But Hancock gave as little satisfaction to 
Congress as his predecessor had to the presi- 
dent, and the want of harmony at Washing- 
ton between the legislative and executive de- 
partments was the occasion of frequent 
change in policy with regard to Texas, and 
corresponding change of officers, and such a 
state of national affairs would naturally keep 
the people of Texas in an unsettled condi- 
tion. Hancock was succeeded by General 
Keynolds. 

An election was held in February, 1868, 
which continued four days, for the choice of 
delegates to a State constitutional convention. 

At the same time 44,689 votes were cast 
in favor of the convention being held, and 
11,440 against it. According to the historian 
Thrall, 56,678 white voters were registered 
and 47,581 black ones. 

June 1 following, the convention, compris- 
ing sixty-three delegates, was held at Austin, 
and organized by electing Edmund J. Davis 
president, and "W. V. Tuustall secretary. Al- 
though the convention was composed of loyal 
Repuldicans, they were divided into two fac- 
tions. General Griffin had some time before 
that been petitioned to declare by military 
order all acts of the Texas legislature passed 
after secession null ab initio; but he died 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



lief ore issuing ti)o order. Tiie members of 
the convention who believed in having a 
forma! order issued annulling all acts during 
the period of secession, were called by nick- 
name "Ab Initios." Another difference con- 
cerned the question of suffrage, a portion of 
the convention being inclined to be more in- 
tolerant toward the ex-Confederates than the 
otiier party. For three months these oppos- 
ing factions argued these matters and made 
but little progress in framing a constitution. 
August 31 they adjourned to reassemble 
December 7, and when they did meet again, 
the ilifferences appeared to be more irrecon- 
cilable than ever; but finally the more lib- 
eral party prevailed by a vote of thirty-seven 
yeas against twenty-six nays, on February 3, 
1869. The article concerning the franchise, 
which was finally adopted, was drafted by 
Governor Hamilton, and reads as follows: 

"Every male citizen of the United States, 
of the age of twenty-one years and upward, 
not laboring under the disabilities named in 
this constitution, without distinction of race, 
color or former condition, who shall be a res- 
ident of this State at the time of the adop- 
tion of this constitution, or who shall there- 
after reside in this State one year, and in the 
county in which lie offers to vote sixty days 
next preceding any election, shall be entitled 
CO vote fur all officers that are now, or here- 
after may be, elected by the people, and upon 
^ll (juestions submitted to the electors at any 
.'K'ctiun; provided, that no person shall l)e 
nlliiwed to vote or hold ottice who is now or 
liei-eafter may be disqualified therefor by the 
i'onstitution of the United States, until such 
Jitqualification shall be removed by the Con- 
gress of the United States: provided further, 
that no person, while kept in any asy- 
lum or confined in prison, or who has been 
(■(invicted of a felony, or is of unsound mind, 
^ilall be allowed to vote or hold office." 

But the very next day after the adoption 
of the form of constitution to be submitted, 



namely, on February -Ith, twenty-two of the 
minority members signed a protest, the pres- 
ident, E. J. Davis, being one of them. In 
substance the objections they raised were: 
That it was based on the assumption that the 
constitution of the United States and the 
accepted constitution of Texas of 1845 had 
not been continuously the supreme law of 
the land; tliat the article on the right of 
suffrage enfranchised all those who volunta- 
rily became the public enemy of the United 
States; that the majority of the convention 
had deliberately removed from the constitu- 
tion every safeguard for the protection of the 
loyal voter, white or black; had stricken from 
it the whole system of registry; had repudi- 
ated the oath of loyalty contained in the 
reconstruction laws; had spurned the test of 
equal civil and political rights, etc. 

The convention was so disorderly as to not 
adjourn in a formal and decent manner, and 
the members left for their homes before the 
joTinial of the proceedings was made up anil 
approved. General (^anby reported the trouble 
to Washington, and on instruction proceeded 
to gather together the records as well as he 
could and compile them in an orderly 
shape. 

The popular vote on the constitution, taken 
November 30 following, resulted in 72,3GG 
in favor of it, to 4,U28 against it. At the 
saine election Edmund J. Davis was chosen 
governor, and J. W. Flanagan lieutenant 
governor. Members of the legislature were 
also appointed, and an order was issued by 
the military commander, summoning the leg- 
islature to assemble at Austin February 8, 
following. 

Governor Pease, finding his position an 
embarrassing one, the military rule being so 
awkwardly mixed in with civil affairs, that 
he resigned September 30, 1869, and ai> in- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



terval of over three inonths occurred, in 
which the adjutant in cliarge acted a kind of 
provisional governor, before Davis was in- 
augurated. 

The legislature, meeting as ordered, 
promptly ratified the proposed amendments 
to the United States constitution (enfran- 
chising negroes, etc.), appointed senators to 
Congress, and did other necessary business 
imposed upon it by the reconstruction laws 
as a provisional body, and adjourned. 

March 30, 1870, the president of the 
United States, Grant, approved the Con- 
gressional act readmitting Texas "into the 
Union." 

The reconstruction period of Texas ex- 
tended over five years, during which time 
lawlessness prevailed as it never did before. 
On this subject General Keynolds, in a letter 
to the War Department, dated October 21, 
1869, says: "The number of murders in the 
State during the nine months from January 
1, 1869, to September 30, same year, accord- 
ing to the official records, necessarily imper- 
fect, is 384, being an average of about one 
and a half per day! From this statement it 
appears that with the partial breaking up of 
bands of desperadoes by military aid the 
number of murders is diminishing from 
month to month." 

Although the re-admission of Texas into 
the Union was technically the end of the 
" reconstruction period," full re-adjustment 
was not attained for some years afterward. 

On the recognition of Texas as a State, 
Governor Davis passed from the relation of 
provisional to permanent governor, and soon 
afterward the military gave up its special 
civil jurisdiction to the new order of tilings. 
The governor, in his message, called atten- 
tion to the necessity of providing measures 
for the suppression of crime, and recom- 



mended the enactment of a law for the effi- 
cient organization of the militia, and the es- 
tablishment of a police system, which would 
embrace the whole State under one head, so 
that the police, sheriffs and constables of the 
different cities should be made a part of the 
general police, act in concert with it and be 
subject to the orders of the chief. He made 
mention of a class of criminals which con- 
sisted of mobs of lawless men, who assem- 
bled and operated in disguise in carrying out 
some unlawful purpose, generally directed 
against the freedmen. The immunity from 
arrest of such offenders gave reason to sup- 
pose that they were protected or encouraged 
by the majority of the people. To repress 
this evil he suggested that the executive be 
given power to establislj temporarily, under 
certain contingencies, martial law. Also he 
considered that the frequency of homicides 
was attributable to the habit of carrying 
arms, and recommended that the legislature 
restrict that privilege, which it would be able 
to do under the amended constitution. Fur- 
thermore, believing that education would 
limit crime, he recommended improvement 
in the school system. Many other good 
things he also recommended. 

The legislature, politically, stood: Senate, 
17 Eepublicans, two of tliem Africans, 7 
conservatives and 6 Democrats; house, 50 
Republicans, 8 being Africans, 19 conserva- 
tives and 21 Democrats. This body was in 
accord with the governor. Its session was a 
long one, not adjourning until August 15, 
and it passed many acts, in accordance with 
the recommendations of the governor. The 
military and the police were authorized to be 
organized, and the result of the organizations 
brought many a collision between the whites 
and the blacks. The latter, sometimes being 
on the police force and otherwise in command. 



100 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



found a bitter time in endeavoring to execute 
the law over his wliite neighbors. Mistakes 
were made and vengeance resorted to, and 
the tire of party passion was raised to a greater 
height than ever before. In January, 1871, 
there was a serious affair at lluntsville. A 
negro, an important witness in a criminal 
c:ise, was killed, and persons implicated in 
tlie murder were arrested. Friends aided 
them to escape, and the captain of the police 
who held them in charge was wounded in the 
scrimmage. Martial law was proclaimed by 
the governor and a military company sent 
from an adjoining county to enforce the law. 
Soon all was quiet. Another difficulty oc- 
curred atGroesbeck, in September, one Apple- 
white beirig killed in the streets by three 
colored policemen. A serious disturbance 
took place, the whites and negroes Ijeing ar- 
rayed against each other. On October 10 
Governor Davis, on account of the above fra- 
cas, proclaimed martial law in Limestone and 
Freestone counties. The order was revoked 
November 11, but the people were assessed 
for a considerable sum to defray expenses. 
Godley, lloufe and Mitchell were also mur- 
dered in a similar manner. In Hill county, 
also, in the fall of 1870, martial law was en- 
forced for a short time. The particulars in 
the last mentioned case were these: 

One James Gathings and " Slol " Nichol- 
son killed a negro man and woman in Bosque 
county, and fled, it was supposed, to Hill 
county. Soon afterward, one morning before 
sunrise. Lieutenant Pritchett and two other 
officers and four negroes, under the special 
authority of Governor Davis, went to the re- 
sidence of Colonel J. J. Gathings in Hill 
county, and demanded opportunity to search 
his house for " little Jim " Gathings. The 
Ciilonel met them at the door and told them 
he was not there. They insisted, and he 



asked them for their authority, and they said 
they had it. He demanded that it be shown 
him. They then replied that they had left it 
in Waco; and he then told them that they 
could not search his house except by force of 
arms. Two of tlie men then drew out their 
pistols and said that they intended to do that 
very thing. Next, Pritchett told the negroes 
to go in and search. Gathings then seized 
a shotgun and declared that he would shoot 
the first negro that came in: a while man 
could go in, said he, but no " niirger;" and 
he cursed them in the severest terms iinairin- 
able. The search was made, but no boy 
found. 

The officers and negroes then started toward 
Covington, a village near by. Gaihings had 
them arrested before night, for searching his 
house without legal authority. They gave 
bonds for their appearance at court, but sent 
word that they were going to mob Gathings, 
and the citizens stood guard at his house for 
eight nights. The mob, however, did not 
appear; nor did they appear at court, although 
Gathings and his friends were on hand. 

In the meantime Governor Davis issued 
writs for the arrest of Gathings and his 
friends, to be served by Sheriff Grace; but 
when the matter came up again the author- 
ities said they wanted only an amicable ad- 
justment, and proposed to release Gathings 
and his friends if he would pay the cost of 
the proceedings thus far, which amounted to 
nearly $3,000, and which was readily fur- 
nished. Afterward when liichard Coke was 
governor the State reimbursed Gathings. 

During Davis' administration as governor, 
the State treasurer, Davidson, embezzled 
$.50,000 or over and ran away, and was never 
cauo-ht, although Davis seemed to make all 
possible effort to capture him. The bouds- 
men were sued. 



HISTORY OF TEX.' 



In November, as shown by tlie gonoral 
election, the Democrats came ont in full force 
and elected a full set of State otiicers, a ma- 
jority of the State legislature, and the full 
Congressional delegation. At the same elec- 
tion Austin was chosen as the permanent seat 
of the State government, by a lari^e major- 
ity. The new legislature met January 1-i, 
1873, and the Democrats at one proceeded to 
repeal all obnoxious laws; the militia bill 
passed by the preceding legislature was so 
modiiied as to dejirive the governor of the 
power to declare martial law; the objectional)le 
State police force was disbanded, and material 
changes were effected in the election laws. 

Now for a coup d'etat. The Democrats, 
after reforming the law, determined next to 
reform the perso?inel of the government, and 
this had to be done by stratagem. The gov- 
ernor was a stanch Eepublican, and the senate 
still contained a Republican majority. Seeing 
that a scheme of obstruction would imme- 
diately stop the wheels of the government, 
the Democrats voted no appropriations with 
which to carry on the government until they 
could have a new election. So, being confi- 
dent that at the polls they would be sus- 
tained, they boldly ordered a new election of 
State officers, members of the legislature, etc. 
Their party, of course, was triumphant, but, 
the election being unconstitutional, as de- 
cided by the supreme court, Davis officially 
announced the fact, and prohibited the new 
legislature from assembling. The new legis- 
lature met, however, in the upper story of 
the capitol, while the old Republican body 
met in the lower story, guarded by negroes. 
The immediate outlook appeared frightful. 
President Grant was appealed to, but refused 
to sustain Davis, and this was the cause of the 
moderation, which finally resulted favorably. 
Richard Coke was elected governor, and 



Richard B. Hubbard lieutenant governor, 
they being clecte:l by a majority of 50.000. 
On the lyth of January, Governor Davis 
vacated tlie executive chair withont a foru)al 
surrender. This was an exceedingly narrow 
escape from bloodshed. In a public speech, 
in 18S0, Davis referred to this affair, and 
said the Desnocrats seized the State govern- 
ment; but Governor Coke, in his message, 
referred to the matter in the following terms: 
" Forebodings of danger to popular liberty 
and representative government caused the 
stoutest and most patriotic among us to 
tremble for the result. A conspiracy, bolder 
and more wicked than that of Cataline against 
the liberties of Rome, had planned to over- 
throw of free government in Texas. The 
capitol and its purlieus were lield by armed 
men under command of the conspirators, and 
the treasury and department offices, with all 
the archives of the government, were in their 
possession. Your right to assemble in the 
capitol as chosen representatives of the people 
was denied, and the will of the people of 
Texas was scoffed at and defied * * * 
The president of the United States was beino- 
implored to send troops to aid in overthrow- 
ing the government of Texas, chosen by her 
people by a majority of 50,000. The local 
and municipal officers throughout the State, 
in sympathy with the infamous designs of 
these desperate and unscrupulous revolution- 
ists, taking courage from the boldness of the 
leaders at the capital, were refusing to deliver 
over to their lawfully elected successors the 
offices in their possession. A universal con- 
flict of jurisdiction and authority, extending 
through all the departments of the govern- 
ment, embracing in its sweep all the territory 
and inhabitants of the State, and every ques- 
tion upon which legitimate government is 
called to act, was imminent and impending." 



HISTORY OF T£!XAiS. 



NEW CON:vnTUTIONS AND TIIK ADMINISTRATIONS. 

Now, in January, 1875, all the most irri- 
tatinif partisan questions being out of the way 
and the minds of tlie people in comparative 
rest, Governor Coke reconiniended the adop- 
tion of a new State constitution, as many 
clauses in the one then existing were cum- 
bersome or obstructive, and becoming more 
so with the advance of events. In his mes- 
sacfe to the legislature meeting that winter, 
which was a long document of ninety-two 
octavo pages, he recounts in detail all the 
small necessities and desireil improvements 
in tlie government, as well as the large ones, 
discussing them at length. Among many 
other statements was one to the effect that 
Mexican marauders were doing more mischief 
on this side of the Kio Grande than they had 
done before for a number of years. Federal 
aid was asked for protection against them. 

l'>3' an act of August 13, 1870, veterans of 
the revolution which separated Texas from 
Mexico, including the Mier prisoners, were 
ho receive pensions. Comptroller Bledsoe, 
liy mistake, extended the provisions of tliis 
law to persons not properly entitled to the 
benefit of it. At any rate this was the rea- 
son given by Governor Davis on the occasion 
of his vetoing two items of appropriation to 
|>iiy claims of veterans. By this act the gov- 
enioi- exposed himself to the attack of his 
Uemocratic enemies, who charged him with 
entertaining hostile feelings toward the vet- 
erans. \jy a subsequent act of the legisla- 
ture, however, the list of pensioners was 
ncrcased, and by the end of the year the gov- 
ernor became alarmed at the rapidly increas- 
ing number of claims. lie said that Darden 
and Cuke, in the course of a year or so, issued 
$1,115,000 worth of bonds in pension. About 



1,100 persons came up as " veterans " in 
struggles between Texas and Mexico. Tlie 
law was soon repealed. 

In March, 1875, another constitutional 
convention was provided for. August 2d the 
people cast 69,583 votes for the convention, 
electing delegates, and 30,549 against it. 
The convention assembled at Austin, Sep- 
tember 6, following, and completed its labors 
November 24. The new constitution was 
ratified by the popular vote February 17, 
1876, when 136,606 votes were cast in its 
favor and 56,652 against it. On the same 
day a general election was held, when tlie 
regular Democratic State ticket prevailed. 
Coke was re-elected governor, by a majority 
of over 102,000 votes, over William Cham- 
bers, who received 47,719 votes. 

In this new constitution the following are 
some of the more noticeable features: In the 
bill of rights the provisions of the constitu- 
tion of 1809, which declared secession a her- 
esy, and the constitution and laws of the 
United States the supreme law of the land, 
are omitted. Provision was made to increase 
the number of members of the house of rep- 
resentatives to 150, at the rate of one addi- 
tional member for each 15,000 inhabitants at 
each fresh apportionment. The number of 
senators was permanently fixed at thirty-one. 
The legislature was to meet every two years, 
the governor's term of ofiice reduced to two 
years, and his salary from $5,000 to $4,000. 
The article of the old constitution respecting 
suffrage was so changed as to make no refer- 
ence to "race, color or former condition." 
Foreign immigration was discountenanced. 

As soon as the legislature met, the gover- 
nor pointed out defects in the constitution, 
recommending amendments, especially with 
reference to the judicial system. The gov- 
ernor also stated, in his message to the legis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



latiire, that while Indian tronbles were less, 
the Mexican border troubles continued nn- 
abated. 

On May 5, this year, Governor Coke was 
elected United States Senator, but continued 
to exercise the functions of executive until 
December 1, when he resigned, and Lieuten- 
ant Governor Hubbard succeeded to the of- 
fice. 

During Governor Hubbard's administra- 
tion a serious trouble arose between Texan 
and Mexican citizens in El Paso county, 
which resulted in some bloodshed among the 
bad characters, and probably even among 
some of the good people. It originated in a 
personal quarrel between Charles H. Howard 
and Louis Cardis, concerning some salt de- 
posits. The United States military was 
called into requisition before the fracas was 
finally quelled. 

Oran M. Koberts was governor of Texas 
during the years 1879-'80, during which 
period nothing very exciting occurred. 

By this time it seems that the famous old 
Indian question was about out of the way. 
The reds were nearly all gone. The Co- 
manches and Kickapoos had proved to be the 
most troublesome, the former claiming the 
country as their own, while the latter pro- 
claimed that they were at war only with 
Texas, and not with the United States. In 
1870 there were only 500 Tonkawas and 
Lipans, and a few years later Texas was re- 
lieved from the hostile incursions of the 
Kickapoos, who were removed to a reserva- 
tion in the Indian Territory, and since that 
time all hostile Indians have been subdued. 
By 1882 the remnant of harmless natives 
within the borders of the State have been re- 
duced to 108 souls, and these were located 
in the vicinity of Fort Griffin, in Shackelford 
county. They had no reservation, and were 



dependent to a great extent upon the whims 
of their white neighbors. They had no live 
stock, and lived in brush houses and tepees. 
They had all been friendly to the whites and 
were well contented. An insufficient appro- 
priation for their support was annually made 
by the Government, and the citizens of Texas 
assisted them from time to time. 

A little further on will be given a list of 
all the governors of Texas to date. As this 
work goes to press J. S. Hogg is re-elected 
governor, after an exciting contest occasioned 
by his antagonism to certain classes of mo- 
nopolistic corporations, etc. 

GREER COUNTV. 

« Under the terms of the annexation treaty 
of 1845 Texas retained possession of all 
vacant and unappropriated lands within her 
boundaries; but from that time to the pres- 
ent the boundary has not been definitely set- 
tled. A dispute has occurred, arising out of 
the old treaty with Spain of February 22, 
1819, in which the Eed river is made the 
boundary between the 94th and 100th degree 
west longitude from Greenwich. At the date 
when this treaty was made but little infor- 
mation had been obtained respecting the 
region extending along the upper portion of 
Red river, nor was it known that the river 
was divided into two branches — now called 
the north and west forks — between the 99tii 
and 100th meridians. As late as 1848 all 
maps described Red river as a continuous 
stream, the north fork not being laid down 
upon them. By an exploration, however, 
made in 1852, by Captains Marcy and Mc- 
Clellan, under the direction of the War De- 
partment, it was discovered that there were 
two main branches to the river proper; but, 
probably owing to the inaccuracy of tiieir 



UIHTOBY OF TEXAS. 



instruments, the explorers located the 100th 
meridian below the junction. In 1857 the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who wished 
to know the boundary between the Choctaw 
and Chickasaw countries, caused an astro- 
nomical survey to be made for the purpose 
of ascertainin<r the true meridian, which was 
found to 1)6 eighty miles west of the junction 
of the two forks, the surveyors designating 
the soutii fork — " Prairie Dog Fork " — as 
tiie main branch. 

"Texas at once questioned this designa- 
tion, and Congress passed an act, approved 
June 5, 1858, autiiorizin<!f the president, in 
conjunction with the State of Te.xas, to mark 
out the boundary line. Commissioners on 
both sides were appointed, who proceeded to 
do their work in 1800. No agreement, how- 
ever, could be arrived at, and Texas, adopt- 
ing the report of her commissioner, estab- 
lished the Territory in dispute— about 2,000 
square miles in area — as a county under the 
name of Greer. In an act of Congress of 
February 24, 1879, to create the Northern 
Judicial District of Texas, etc., Greer county 
i.s included in the district. 

"In 1882 a bill was before Congress seek- 
ing to establish the north fork as the true 
boundary, but hitherto no settlement of the 
question has been attained. Meantime com- 
l-lications have arisen, through persons claim- 
ing to exercise rights on the disputed land 
under the jurisdiction of Texas, conflicts 
1 ave taken place and blood has been shed, 
owing to procrastination in the adjustment 
of the disputed claim."—//. //. Bancroft, 
Uhlonj of the Pacific States. 

GENERAL EKFLECTFONS. 

In tiie language of Mr. IJ. H. liancroft: 
" No State in the Lfnion has passed through 
more political vicissitudes than Texas. Dur- 



ing the present century her people have 
fought and IJed under no le.ss than five dif- 
ferent national flags, representing as many 
different governments. First we find her 
with a sparse population, among which might 
be found some few individuals of the Anglo- 
American race, under the royal standard of 
Spain, ruled by monarchial laws; next, the 
eagle of the Mexican republic dictates the 
form of governtnent and exasperates by op- 
pression the free-spirited settlers from the 
United States; then follow revolt and a short 
but sanguinary struggle for independence, 
terminating in the establishment of the 
Texan republic, with its emblematic lone- 
star flag. After a brief existence, however, 
as a sovereign nation, Texas was content to 
repose beneath the standard of the stars and 
stripes, which in turn she threw aside to 
fight under the Confederate banner. The 
land which was once the abode of savages 
has been converted into a civilized country, 
which will prove a center of human develop- 
ment. 

" Short as has been her life, the common- 
wealth of Texas has had a varied experience, 
— first as the borderland of contending col- 
onies, then a lone republic, as a member of 
the great federation, member of the Southern 
Confederacy, and flnaily reinstated as one of 
the still unbroken [Jnion. The annals of her 
past career, as we have seen, are replete with 
stories of romantic events, and persevering 
struggles to shake off the leaden weight of 
impeding influences and elevate herself to 
the proud level of advancing civilization. 
Iler future is bright; she has entered the 
broad highway of universal progress, and 
henceforth her march will be one of unprcc- 
cdenti'd prosperity. A marvelous rapidity 
has already marked her onward course to 
wealth and happiness. Trobably there uever 



HI STOUT OF TEX^IS. 



was a country wliicli entered upon the long 
and brilliant career of progress that we may 
look forward to in this instance, under more 
favorable auspices than this State. Although 
older than any of the more northern Pacific 
States, it has developed more slowly, and has 
avoided many of their mistakes. The great 
curse of California is not here entailed. The 
people are still freemen, and the law-makers 
and the public officials are their servants. 
There is little or no public debt; their pub- 
lic lands are their own, and they have not all 
fallen into the hands of sharpers and specu- 
tors; they rule the railroad companies in- 
stead of being ruled by them; unjust and 
oppressive monopolies are not permitted. 
Here are the seeds of life instead of the ele- 
ments of disease and death. "With her vast 
area of tillable and grazing lands, a people 
rapidly increasing in numbers, wealth and 
refinement; with young and healthy institu- 
tions resting on honest republican founda- 
tions; with a determination on the part of 
tiie people to admit within their borders no 
species of despotism, no form of tyranny, 
there is no height of grandeur to which this 
commonwealth may not reasonably aspire. 

" Indian depredations on the frontier have 
ceased, and cattle-raiding on the Hio Grande 
borderland will soon be a trouble of the past; 
lawlessness and crime are yielding to fearless 
administration of justice and application of 
the laws, and order is sweeping from her 
path the refuse that for decades obstructed 
tiie progress of large portions of the State. 
The advancing strides made by Texas since 
the civil war toward the goal where lofty 
aspirations will win the prize of unalloyed 
prosperity, are strikingly exhibited by offi- 
cial statistics on population, agriculture, 
commerce, industries and developing enter- 
prises." 



Indeed, many men who have no pecuniary 
interests in Texas have been heard to say 
that that State is destined to be the greatest 
in the Union. 

In their social character the people of 
Texas are still hospitable, with better oppor- 
tunities than ever to exhibit that pleasurable 
trait. General intelligence, and its concom- 
itant, the establishment of educational insti- 
tutions, also characterize the sons of the 
South who emigrated to that great, free 
State in the first place for greater opportu- 
nity for education, hospitality and comfort- 
able homes in a comfortable climate. 

CHIEF EXEOOTIVES OF TEXAS FROM 1691 TO 
1891—200 YEARS. 

SPANISH— 1691 TO 1822—131 teaes. 

Domingo Teran. 

Don Gaspardo de Anaya. 

Don Martin de Alarconne. 

Marquis de Aguayo. 

Fernando de Almazan. 

Melchoir de Madiavilia. 

Juan Antonia Bustillos. 

Manuel de Sandoval. 

Carlos de Franquis. 

Prudencia Basterra. 

Justo Boneo. 

Jacinto de Barrios. 

Antonio de Martos. 

Juan Maria, Baron de Riperda. 

Domingo Cabello. 

Rafael Pacheco. 

Manuel Mniioz. 

Juan Bautista el GuazabeL 

Antonio Cordero. 

Manuel de Salcedo. 

Christoval Dominguez. 

Antonio Martinez. 



U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 



MEXICAN — 1822 TO 1835 — 13 years. 

Trespalacios 1822 

Don Luciana le Garcia 1823 

Rafael Gonzales (Coahuila and Texas) . . 1825 

Victor Blanco 182G 

Jose Maria Viesca 1828 

Jose Maria Letona 1831 

Francisco Vidauri 1834 

TEXAN 1835 TO 1846 11 TEARS. 

Henry Smith, Provisional Governor . 1835-'36 
David G. Burnett, President ad interhn . 1836 
Sam Honston, Constitutional President. 1836 

Mirabeau B. Lamar, Presideut 1838 

Sam Houston, President 1841 

Anson Jones, President 1844 

STATE GOVERNMENT SINCE ANNEXATION 1846 

TO 1893—47 TEAKS. 

J. Pinckney Henderson 1846 

George T. Wood 1847 

P. H. Bell 1849-'51 

P. n. Bell 1851-'53 

E. M. Pease 1853-'55 

E. M. Pease 1855-'57 

H. R. Runnels 1857-'59 

Sam Houston 1859-'61 

Edward Clark 1861 

F. R. Lubbock 1861-'63 

Pendleton Murrah 1863-'65 

A. J. Hamilton (provisional) 1865-'66 

James "W. Throckmorton 1866-'67 

E. M. Pease (provisional) 1867-'70 

E. J. Davis 1870-'74 

Richard Coke 1874-'76 

R. B. Hubbard 1876-'79 

O. M. Roberts 1879-'83 

John Ireland 1883-87 

L. S. Ross 1887-91 

J. S. Hogg 1891-'93 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

Some of the more prominent characters in 
the early history of Texas are further sketched 
in the following list: 

Ellis P. Bean, the successor of Philip No- 
lan, in the command of his company, was a 
marked character. In 1800, when he was but 
eighteen years of age and possessing a spirit 
of adventure, he left his father's home at 
Bean's Station, Tennessee, went to Natchez 
and enlisted in Nolan's trading company, 
then consisting of twenty-two men. Reach- 
ing Texas, and while at a point between tiie 
Trinity and Brazos rivers, they were attacked 
and beaten by a body of Spanish troops. 
Bean, with eight others, was taken as a pris- 
oner to San Antonio, and thence to Chihua- 
hua, being kept at the latter place three years, 
when they began to be allowed some liberty and 
to labor for themselves. Bean had learned 
the hatting business, and he followed it for a 
year in Chihuahua, when his longing to see 
his native land induced him, \<Tth two com- 
rades, to run away and endeavor to reach the 
United States. The three were arrested near 
El Paso, severely lashed, and again ironed 
and imprisoned. 

Bean's many friends in Chihuahua soon 
obtained for him again the freedom of 
the city, and he made a second effort 
to escape, but was again taken. He was 
this time sent under a strong guard tt> 
the south of the city of Mexico. On their 
way they came to the city of Guanajuato, 
where they remained several days; and while 
there, Bean's noble and manly bearing won 
the heart of a beautiful Mexican sefiorita of 
rank, who wrote a letter to him avowing her 
passion, and promising her influence to ob- 
tain his liberation, when she would marry 
him; but he was hurried away and never per- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mitted again to see her. Poor Bean was next 
conveyed to Acapulco, one of the most sickly- 
places on the Pacific, and thrown into a filthy 
dungeon, where no ray of the light of heaveu 
penetrated, and the only air admitted was 
through an aperture in the base of the mas- 
sive wall, which was six feet thick I In this 
foul abode his body was covered with vermin ; 
no one was allowed to see him, and his food 
was of the coarsest and most unhealthy kind. 
In his confinement his only companion was a 
white lizard, which he succeeded in taming, 
and which became very fond of him. The 
only air hole had to be closed at night, to 
prevent ingress of serpents. One night, having 
neglected to close it, he was awakened by 
the crawling of a monstrous serpent over his 
body. His presence of mind enabled him to 
lie perfectly still, until, getting hold of a 
pocket-knife which he had been able to keep 
concealed upon his person, he pierced the 
monster in the head and escaped his fangs. 
This exploit so astonished the keeper of the 
prison that by his influence a petition was 
sent to the governor for a mitigation of his 
confinement; and that dignitary graciously 
decreed that he might work in chains, and 
under a guard of soldiers. Even this was a 
relief. 

While thus engaged his desire for freedom 
again overcame his prudence. He succeeded 
in freeing himself from his shackles, and with 
a piece of iron killed three of the guard and 
fled to the mountains. Again he was hunted 
down and recaptured, nearly starved. His 
cell now became his only abode, and flogging 
and other indignities were heaped upon him. 
Another year passed and be was again al- 
lowed the liberty of the prison yard, under 
strict surveillance. 

Once more he made a desperate attempt to 
escape, killing several soldiers and taking the 



road to California. This time he had traveled 
300 miles, when he was once more recaptured 
and carried back. He was now confined upon 
his back, and for weeks was almost devoured 
by vermin! His appeals for mercy were 
treated with mockery. But his freedom drew 
nigh. The Mexican revolution of 1810 broke 
out. The royalists became alarmed. They 
had learned to look upon Bean as a chained 
lion, and now, in the hour of their trouble, 
they offered him liberty if he would join their 
standard. He promised, secretly determin- 
ing that he would desert the first opportunity. 
In a few days he was sent out with a scout 
to reconnoitre the position of General More- 
los, the chief of the republicans. When near 
the camp of that officer. Bean proposed to his 
comrades that they should all join the pa- 
triots. His persuavive eloquence was so 
successful that they all agreed, and at once 
reported to Morelos. 

Upon the information Bean was able to 
give, an attack was planned and executed 
against the royalists, resulting in a complete 
victory. For this Bean received a captain's 
commission, and his fame spread like a prairie 
fire throughout Mexico. For three years he 
was the chief reliance of Morelos, and when 
he fought victory followed. He was soon 
conducted, with flying banners, into the town 
of Acapulco, the scene of his sufferings. 
The wretches who had persecuted him now 
on bended knees begged for mercy, expecting 
nothing but instant death. But Bean scorned 
to avenge his wrongs upon them, and dis- 
missed them with warnings as to their future 
conduct. 

Three years later it was agreed that he 
should go to New Orleans and obtain aid for 
the republicans of Mexico. With two com- 
panions, he made his way across the country. 
On the route, while stopping a few days at 



niSTOBT OF TEXAS. 



Jalapa, Mexico, be hecanie s\i<Menly and vio- 
lently enamored of a beautiful lady and mar- 
ried her, promising that he would return to 
her after accomplishing his mission. After 
various adventures he reached New Orleans, 
two days before the memorable battle of Jan- 
uary 8, 1815. He at once volunteered as aid 
to General Jackson, whom he had known 
when a boy, and he fought bravely in that 
decisive action. 

He afterward returned to Mexico and joined 
iiis wife, with whom he lived happily many 
years. In 1827, when the Fredonia war 
broke out at Nacogdoches, Texas, he was 
colonel commanding the Mexican garrison at 
that place. In 1835 he returned to Jalapa, 
Mexico. In 1843 he was still living in Mex- 
ico, as an officer on the retired list of the 
army of that nation. A volume containing 
an account of his almost fabulous adventures 
was written by himself in 1817, and pub- 
lished soon afterward. 

Stephen Fuller Austin, who carried out 
the scheme of his father, Moses Austin, in 
the founding of what was known as tlie Aus- 
tin colony, was born November 3, 1793, at 
Austinville, Wythe county, Virginia, while 
his father was interested in lead mines there. 
In 1804 he was sent to Colchester Academy, 
in Connecticut, and a year afterward to an 
academy at New London, same State. At 
the age of fifteen he became a student at 
Transylvania University, in Kentucky, where 
he completed his education. When twenty 
years of age he was elected a member of the 
Territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was 
regularly re-elected until 1819, in which year 
he went to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he 
was made Circuit Judge of that Territory. 
From there he removed to New Orleans, in 
order to co-operate with his father in the 
projected colonization scheme. On the death 



of his fatlier he determined to carry out the 
enterprise himself, in deference to the wishes 
of his deceased parent. 

Stephen F. Austin was well adapted as a 
leader of settlers in an unknown country. In 
his childhood he had been inured to a front- 
ier life, and his broad intellectual capacity 
enabled him to utilize many lessons to be 
learned from the wild West. This, together 
with his legislative experience in Missouri, 
and experience as an executive of Territorial 
laws, enabled him to be a good ruler, diplo- 
matist or commissioner. But as a military 
commander he had no ambition. As to his 
temper, he himself published that he was 
hasty and impetuous, and that he had forced 
upon himself a stringent discipline to pre- 
vent a fit of passion that might destroy his 
influence. In his disposition he was open- 
hearted, unsuspecting and accommodating 
almost to a fault. He was therefore often 
imposed upon, especially in the minor de- 
mands of benevolence and justice in social 
life. lie excelled in a sense of equity, con- 
stancy, perseverance, fortitude, sagacity, pru- 
dence, patience under persecution, benevo- 
lence, forgi%'eness, etc. 

He was never married. During the first 
years of his residence in Texas, his home 
was at the house of S. Castleman, on the 
Colorado. Later, when his brother-in-law, 
James F. Perry, removed to the colony, be 
lived, when in Texas, with his sister at Peach 
Point plantation, in Brazoria county. Besides 
this sister he had a younger brother, named 
James Brown Austin, who was well known 
in Texas. 

Colonel David Crockett, one of the most 
orio-inal, typical Western characters that ever 
lived, and the bravest hero of the Alamo, 
was born in east Tennessee, on the Nola 
Chucky river, at the mouth of Limestone 



UI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 



creek, August 17, 1786, the son of John 
Crockett, of Irish descent, wlio participated 
in the American revolution for independence. 
David's grandparents were murdered by In- 
dians, one uncle wounded by them, and 
another captured. When about twelve years 
of age his father hired him out to a kind- 
hearted Dutchman in Virginia, several hun- 
dred miles distant, but ho soon became home- 
sick, ran away, and, availing himself of the 
services of a man he knew, and who was 
passing through tiiat section of the country 
with a wagon, started home with him, but 
the wagon proved to be too slow in its progress 
for his eagerness to reach home, and he left 
it and hastened along on foot. 

But he was not home very long until he 
ran away from that, and after a time went to 
Baltimore to embark in a seafaring life, but 
the man who conveyed him to Baltimore in 
his wagon, concluding that the boy was too 
hasty, prevented him, by liolding his cloth- 
ing and money, about $7; and the wagoner 
started back with him in a homeward direc- 
tion, and young Crockett had to complete 
his journey home for the want of funds to 
go elsewhere. He remained with his father 
for some years, working on the farm and 
hunting, for he finally became as great a 
hunter as Daniel Boone himself. During 
this period, when about seventeen years of 
age, he " fell in love " with a young Quaker- 
ess and proposed marriage, but was refused, 
which event preyed upon his spirits. When 
about eighteen he was "smitten" by another 
girl, who at first agreed to marry him, and 
then jilted him; and this was worse than 
ever; he felt like committing suicide. 
Within a year or so, however, after this, he 
found still another young lady who agreed 
to marry him, and "stuck" to her bargain. 
Up to the time of his second proposal of 



marriage he had had but four days' school- 
ing, and he sometimes thought that it was 
his lack of education that caused the girls to 
despise liim, and he managed to get a few 
months' schooling, and that was all he ever 
obtained in his life. After marriage he 
moved to Lincoln county, and then to Frank- 
lin county, Tennessee. 

The Creek war coming on, in 1813, Mr. 
Crockett enlisted in Captain Jones' company 
of mounted volunteers, and was engaged as a 
scout. Afterward, while a member of the 
main army, he participated in several engage- 
ments, and subsequently, under General Jack- 
son in the Florida campaign, he was commis- 
sioned colonel. 

About the close of the Florida war his wife 
died ; but he soon married a soldier's widow 
and emigrated to Shoal creek, where he had 
an amusing time endeavoring to serve as a 
justice of the peace. He was subsequently 
elected a member of the State legislature, 
despite his backwoods character, as he was a 
witty humorist. He made the campaign a 
characteristic one as a humorous, typically 
Western-pioneer electioneeringcanvass, which 
suited the tastes of the people of the time and 
place. 

His next removal was to Obion, Tennessee, 
to a point seven miles distant from the near 
est house, fifteen from the next, twenty from 
the next, and so on; but, heing a passionate 
hunter, and living in a forest noisy with 
abundant game, he found it easy, the heiglit 
of his life's pleasure, to keep his family sup- 
plied with fresh meat of the highest order, 
besides obtaining many luxuries from a dis- 
tant market in exchange for peltry. lie, 
killed many a bear, one specimen weighing 
600 pounds, and of course he had many hair- 
raising adventures and hairbreadth escapes 
with his life. 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



Being again elected to the State legislature, 
as a Wliig, he voted against General Jackson 
for United States senator, becoming a candi- 
date for the office himself. After the ad- 
journment of this legislature he engaged in 
lumber speculation. Making a trip down the 
Mississippi with a splendid cargo of lumber, 
he was wrecked and lost all. In 1827 he was 
elected to Congress, and in 1829 reelected; 
l)ut, running the third time, he was defeated, 
liis district having been gerrymandered to 
keep him out; and the foiirth time a candi- 
date, he was again triumphant, but the fifth 
time he was beaten. 

The last disapointment disgusted him, es- 
pecially after he had so great an ovation in 
northern cities, wliere everybody was running 
after him, more for his humor than learned 
statesmanship. This disgust with his fellow- 
citizens in Tennessee was the spur that incited 
him to think of a distant pioneer tield, and 
he decided upon Texas, then a part of Mexico, 
struggling for independence. At Little Rock, 
Arkansas, on his way, he endeavored to enlist 
a number of assistants, but failed to obtain 
any volunteers. On arriving in Texas, how- 
ever, he succeeded in picking up four or five 
attaches, and soon had a scrimmage with some 
fifteen Mexicans, and of course whipped them 
out completely. Giving the fugitives chase 
they soon arrived at the fortress Alamo, com- 
manded by Colonel William B. Travis. This 
rt as situated at the town of Bejar (now San 
Antonio), on the San Antonio river, about 140 
miles from its mouth. At that time it had 
about 1,200 inhabitants, nearly all native 
Mexicans, but was afterward greatly reduced 
by Indian depredations. It was started by 
the Spaniards establishing a military post at 
that point in 1718, the village actually start- 
ing three years later, by emigrants sent out 
from the Canary islands by the king of Spain. 



Colonel " Davy " Crockett kept notes, as a 
fouiidation for an autobiography, and they 
end with his death in the Alamo fortress, 
March 5, 1836. 

General Castrillon, commanding under 
Santa Anna, as a besieger of the fort, was a 
brave man, but not cruel toward prisoners. 
Crockett's life had just been spared from the 
first massacre, with live others; and Castrillon 
marched these fated six patriots up to that 
part of the fort where stood Santa Anna and 
his murderous crew. The steady, fearless 
step and undaunted tread of Colonel Crockett 
on this occasion, together with the bold de- 
meanor of the hardy veteran, had a powerful 
effect upon all present. Nothing daunted, 
he marched up boldly in front of Santa An- 
na and looked him sternly in the face, while 
Castrillon addressed "his excellency," "Sir, 
here are six prisoners I have taken alive: how 
shall I dispose of them?" Santa Anna looked 
at Castrillon fiercely, flew into a violent rage 
and replied, " Have I not told you before how 
to dispose of themi Why do you bring them 
to me?" At the same time his hard-hearted 
officers plunged their swords into the bosoms 
of the defenceless prisoners ! Crockett, seeing 
the act of treachery, instantly sprang like a 
tiger at the ruffian chief, but before he could 
reach him a dozen swords were sheathed in his 
indomitable heart, and he fell and died with- 
out a groan, with a frown on his brow and a 
smile of scorn and defiance on his lips! 

General Sam Houston, the father of 
Texas, was born in Rockbridge county, Vir- 
ginia, March 2, 1793. Left an orphan in 
early life by the death of his father, he went 
with his mother, in destitute circumstances, 
to Tennessee, then the verge of civilization. 
There he received a scanty education, spend- 
ing most of his youthful years among the 
Cherokee Indians. During a portion of this 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



period he served as clerk for one of the trad- 
ers, and also taught a country school. 

In 1813 he enlisted as a private in the 
United States Army, and served under Gen- 
eral Jackson in his famous campaij^n against 
the Creek Indians. He had so distinguished 
himself on several occasions that at the con- 
clusion of the war he had risen to the rank of 
lieutenant, but on the return of peace he re- 
signed his commission in the army and be- 
gan the study of law at Nashville. His po- 
litical career now commenced. After hold- 
ing several minor offices he was sent to Con- 
gress from Tennessee in 1823, and continued 
a member of the House until 1827, when 
he was elected governor of the State, but 
before the expiration of his term he resigned 
that office, in 1829, and went to Arkansas 
and took up his abode among the Cherokees. 
Soon he became tlie agent of the tribe, to 
represent their interests at Washington. 

On a first visit to Texas, just before the 
election of delegates called here to form a 
constitution preparatory to the admission 
of Texas into the Mexican Union, he was 
unanimously chosen a delegate to that body. 
The constitution framed by that convention 
was rejected by the Mexican government. 
Santa Anna, president of the Mexican Con- 
federated Republic, demanded of Texas a 
surrender of their arms. Resistance to this 
demand was determined upon. A military 
force was organized, and Houston, under the 
title of general, was soon appointed com- 
mander-in-chief. He conducted the war 
with great vigor, and brought it to a suc- 
cessful termination by the battle of San Ja- 
cinto. His enemies had accused him of 
cowardice, because he had the firmness not 
to yield to hot-headed individuals, who would 
liave driven him, if they could, to engage 
Santa Anna prematurely, and thereby have 



placed in jeopardy the independence of Texas, 
and because he scorned to resent with brute 
force the abuse that was heaped upon him 
by political and personal enemies seeking 
his blood. 

In October, 1836, our hero was inaugu- 
rated the first president of the new Repub- 
lic of Texas, and afterward served as the 
chief executive in this realm twice, besides 
acting in many other capacities. On the 
breaking out of the great Civil war he was a 
strong Union man, but the excited Texans 
had nearly all espoused disunion principles, 
and Houston was forced to retire from public 
life. He died July 25, 1863, at Huntsville, 
Walker county, Texas, after having witnessed 
for some years, with a broken spirit, the wild 
rush of the South for a goal that she could 
not obtain, and suffering in his own person 
physical ailments and general declining 
health. His last days were embittered by 
the fact that even his own son, Sam, had en- 
listed early in the Confederate ranks, and had 
been wounded and was a prisoner. 

Houston was a remarkable man. This fact 
has frequently been illustrated in the forego- 
ing pages. He was a better and a more ca- 
pable man than George Washington. His 
greatest failings were vanity and its com- 
panion, jealousy. He also caused some en- 
mity by his inclination to clothe himself and 
his movements in a robe of mystery, but 
whether this was a natural trait involuntarily 
exhibited or a habit intentionally exercised, 
is itself a problem. Mistakes, of course, he 
made. The sun has its spots. But these 
mistakes were more in the direction of giv- 
ing offense to his opponents than in the ad- 
ministration of public affairs. All person- 
ality was merged into altruistic patriotism. 

He had hard men to deal with, and these 
men, of course, "knew" they could do bet- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ter tlian he. His military strategy was ex- 
traordinary. The instances are too nutnerons 
to mention here. The reader will have to 
consult nearly half tlie pages of Texas history 
to discover them all. Ilia intuitive quick- 
ness of perception, his foresight and far- 
reaching mental grasp, his penetration and 
ready comprehension of the drift of parties, 
and his sagacity and tact in devising means 
for the attainment of specific ends, were in- 
deed exceptional. In self-possession and con- 
fidence in his own resources he was unrivaled ; 
his influence among the masses was extraor- 
dinary, and as a speaker his power over a 
Texan audience was magical. 

As president of the Republic his adminis- 
tration was marked by economy, by a pacific 
policy toward the Indians, and by a defensive 
attitude toward Mexico. He would rather 
feed Indians than kill them; he was ever 
ready to ward off threatened invasion aod 
adopt protective measures against predatory 
incursions on the frontier, but not organize 
such undertakings as the Santa Fe expedition ; 
and such an enterprise as the one attempted 
by Colonel Fisher and his followers in their 
attack on Mier was never contemplated by 
him. 

In the Senate of the United States, where 
he represented Texas for nearly fourteen 
years, he was persistently conservative and 
democratic. He voted against the extension 
of the Missouri compromise line to the Pa- 
cific coast, and thereby favored free territory 
south of that parallel ; he voted for the Ore- 
gon Territorial bill with the slavery exclusion 
clause, and he voted against the Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill of Stephen A. Douglas, thereby 
favoring free territory where the Missouri 
compromise had fixed it, and by this last act 
he incurred the displeasure of his Southern 
adherents more than bj anything else he had 



ever done. He also became identified with 
the " Know-Nothing " party, and by this 
means also alienated many of his old Demo- 
cratic friends. But who can guard the rights- 
of the righteous without incurring the dis- 
pleasure of the unrighteous? For the ignor- 
ant, the hasty and the iniquitous will not 
only promulgate falsehoods, but even truths 
in sucii a way as to turn friends into enemies. 
Gossip, especially in haste, will unavoidably 
distort everything. 

The following is one of the numerous in- 
stances illustrating the humor as well as the 
sternness of character of that eminent states- 
man: 

In 1860, while Houston was governor of 
Texas, an expedition was fitted out for frontier 
protection. In the purchase of medical sup- 
plies, the governor gave strict orders that no 
liquor should be included, under penalty of 
his serious displeasure. In the requisition for 

medical stores made by Dr. T , surgeon 

of the regiment, were included, "Spts. Vini 
Gallici, bottles 24. " This was duly furnished 
with the other articles, and the bill was taken 
to General Houston for his approval. The 
old gentleman settled his spectacles upon his 
nose, and, gravely putting his eagle quill be- 
hind his ear, read the bill through slowly and 
carefully until he came to the item in ques- 
tion, when he turned to the druggist and 
said: " Mr. B — , what is this, — Spts. Vini 
Gallici?" " That, General, is brandy. " "Ah, 
yes! and do you know that I have given posi- 
tive orders that no liquor should be furnished 
for this expedition?" "No, General; I was 
not aware of it. " 

The general rang his bell. " Call Dr. T — . " 
The doctor was summoned. "Dr. T — , what 
is this 'Spts. Vini Gallici' for?" "That. 
Governor, is for snake-bites." Appealing to 
the druggist the governor continued, "Mr. 



HIHT0K7 OF TEXAS. 



113 



B — , is Spts. Villi Gallici good for snake- 
bites?" "Yes, sir; it is so considered." "Yes", 
replied General Houston, in slow and meas- 
ured tones; " and there is Dr. T — , wiio would 
cheerfully consent to be bitten by a rattle- 
snake every mornincr before breakfast in order 
to obtain a drink of this Spts. Vini Gallici!" 
Having thus delivered himself, he approved 
the account. 

In private life Mr. Houston was affable 
and courteous, kind and generous. When 
thwarted, however, he became harsh and 
sometimes vindictive. He never failed to 
repay with compound interest, sooner or later, 
any insinuation or coarse attack; and those 
who crossed his political pathway were chas- 
tised with a scathing invective which they 
never forgot. Acts of friendship and enmity 
were equally retained in his memory, and 
met with corresponding return. Majestic in 
person, of commanding presence and noble 
countenance, he was a striking figure. Sorrow 
for the miseries of his country, poverty in 
his household and a broken-down constitu- 
tion, saddened his later days. So straitened 
were his means that his family were often 
stinted for the necessaries of life! He was 
married the second time, and at his death left 
a widow and seven children, all under age. 

Lorenzo de Zavala, a prominent champion 
of Texan freedom, was born in Merida, Yuca- 
tan, in 1781, where he was educated and 
practiced as a physician till 1820, when he 
was elected deputy to the Spanish Cortes. On 
his return he was first made deputy and then 
senator in the Mexican congress. In March, 
1827, he was governor of the State of Mexico, 
wiiicli office he held until tlie revolution of 
Jalapa in 1830, which forced him to leave 
the country. In 1833 he was again elected 
to congress, and also governor of the State 
of Mexico, the house passing a unanimous 



resolution permitting him to hold both posi- 
tions. During the following year he was ap- 
pointed minister to France, but as soon as he 
saw the direction toward centralism which 
the party in power was taking he resigned 
that position. He was too liberal a republi- 
can and too honest in his principles to take 
part in the overthrow of the federal constitu- 
tion. He served his country faithfully, but on 
his retirement to Texas he was stigmatized as 
a traitor and vagabond. March 6, 1829, he 
acquired a grant in Texas, contracting to colo- 
nize it with 500 families. He was one of 
three commissioners to represent Texas and 
Coahuila at the Mexican government in 1834; 
signed the declaration of independence; was 
the second vice president of the Texan He- 
public; and was entrusted with many other 
important public matters. He died atLyncli- 
burg, Texas, November 15, 1836. 

Of William B. Teavis, a Texan patriot 
in tile early times of strife and feud, compara- 
tively little is known. His name figures oc- 
casionally in the previous history in this 
volume, his career winding up at the terrible 
battle of the Alamo, where he was killed 
early in that short fight. The capital county 
of Texas is named in his honor. 

RicuAKD B. Ellis, after whom Ellis county 
is named, lived in one of the disputed set- 
tlements in the Eed river country. He was 
a prominent citizen and represented his 
municipality in the convention of 1836, being 
president of that body. He died in 1810. 
Doubt existing as to which government his 
section belonged, to be certain of representa- 
tion somewhere, his son, who lived in the 
same house with him, was elected to the leg- 
islature of Arkansas as a citizen of Miller 
county, of that State, and accepted. 

James Bowie, brother of the gentleman 
who invented the " bowie knife, " was a na- 



n I STORY OF TEXAS. 



tive of Georgia. While Latitte occupieJ 
Galveston, tlie three brothers, James, Keziii 
P. and John, engaged in buying negroes of 
Latitte's men, conducting them through the 
swamps of Louisiana for sale. They are said 
to ha\e made $05,000 by this traffic. James 
Bowie was connected with Long's expedition 
in 1819. In October, 1830, he became a 
naturalized citizen of Saltillo, and soon after 
married a daughter of Vice Governor Vera- 
mendi, of San Antonio de Bejar. November 
2, 1831, he fought a remarkable battle with 
Indians on the San Saba river, in which, with 
his brother Rezin, nine other Americans and 
two negroes, he defeated 164 Tehuacanas and 
Caddoes, the Indians losing nearly half their 
number, while the Anglo-Texans had only 
one man killed and three wounded! When 
hostilities broke out he attached himself to 
the Texan cause. A county in this State is 
named in his honor. 

Rkzin (or Razin) P. Bowie, first made a 
new style of knife, which was used in com- 
bat by his brother, Colonel James Bowie, 
and it has since been improved upon from 
time to time by cutlers and dealers. 

Steimien M. Blount, who was in 1888 the 
oldest living survivor of the signers of the 
declaration of Texan independence, was a na- 
tive of Georgia, born February 13, 1808, and 
moved to Texas in July, 1835, settling at 
San Augustine. In 1836 he was elected a 
member of the convention that declared the 
independence of Texas, and nominated Gen- 
eral Houston for commander-in-chief of the 
Texan forces. Blount was a close personal 
friend of Houston, whom he always after- 
ward regarded as a grand man. In 1837 
Blount was elected clerk of San Augustine 
county, and iield that position four years. 
His whole life lias been one of activity. 
Prior to bis emigration to Texas he served in 



several official capacities in his native State, 
lie was colonel. of the Eighth Hegiment of 
Georgia militia, and was aide-de-camp to 
military generals in 1832-'34:. 

Colonel James W. Fannin particij)ated in 
the battle of Conception in October, 1835; 
was stationed in command at Velasco directly 
afterward; appointed military agent early in 
1846 to raise and concentrate all volunteers 
who were willing to take part in an expedi- 
tion against Matamoras; a.ssisted in the de- 
fence of Goliad early in 1837, but made a 
fatal mistake and was defeated. He was a 
brave and intrepid officer, but somewhat 
deiicient in caution. He was inclined to 
underestimate the force of the Mexicans, 
was with his men taken prisoners, and as 
such massacred, with over 300 others 1 

MiRABEAU B. Lamar was appointed secre- 
tary of war in 1836 for the new republic, and 
as such was strongly opposed to entering 
into negotiations with Santa Anna; was ap- 
pointed major general of the Texan army, in 
1836, but his hasty advice caused him to be 
unpopular among his men, and he was in- 
duced to retire; was the same year elected 
vice president of tiie republic; was left in 
COTumand of the general government by 
President Houston, who left the executive 
office for the seat of war; elected president 
in 1838; advised in his inaugural address 
"extermination or extinction" of the Indians; 
encouraged the Santa Fe expedition, which 
proved so disastrous; and on the whole he was 
a rather unfortunate "statesman." His ad- 
ministration as governor, etc., was extrav- 
agant financially, and many of his measures 
demoralizing. 

JosE Antonio Navarro, in whose honor 
Navarro county was named, was born in San 
Antonio de Bejar, February 37, 1705, his 
father being a native of Corsica aud an offi- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



cer in tlie Spanish army. He was a stanch 
Federalist and a foe to military depotism. In 
1834-'35 Navarro was a laud commissioner 
for Bejar district; a member of the conven- 
tion in 1836; and a member of the congress 
in 183S-'39. He was condemned by Santa 
Anna to imprisonment for life, tliough daring 
liis captivity he was several times offered 
pardon, liberty and high office if he would 
abjure his native country, Texas, forever. 
These propositions were rejected with scorn. 

In December, 1844, just before the fall of 
Santa Anna, he was removed from San Juan 
de TJlua and allowed to remain a prisoner at 
large in Vera Cruz, whence he escaped Janu- 
ary 2, arriving at Galveston February 3, 1845, 
after an absence of more than three years and 
a half. On his return he was elected delegate 
to the convention held that year to decide 
upon the question of annexation, and was 
afterward senator from Bejar district in the 
State congress. He died in his native city in 
1870. 

General T. J. EtrsK was born December 
5, 1808, in South Carolina, his father being 
an immigrant from Ireland and a stone mason 
by occupation. Through the influence of John 
C. Calhoun, on whose land the family lived, 
young Rusk was placed in the office of 
William Grisham, clerk for Pendleton dis- 
trict, where he made himself familiar with 
the law, and was soon admitted to the bar. 
He afterward removed to Clarksville, Georgia, 
where he married the daughter of General 
Cleveland. At that place he acquired a 
lucrative practice, but unfortunately engaged 
in mining speculations and was swindled 
out of nearly all his earnings. He pursued 
some of the rascals to Texas, and found them 
ill this State, but they had spent or concealed 
all his money. Going to Nacogdoches, he 
located himself, and was afterward conspicuous 



as a Texan patriot. He distinguished himself 
in the war of independence, and subsequently 
commanded various expeditions against the In- 
dians. In 1839 he was appointed chief justice 
of the Eepublic, but soon resigned and retired 
into law practice at Nacogdoches. In 1845, 
he was president of the annexation conven- 
tion, and was one of the first two senators to 
the United States Congress, and this position 
he held until his death in 1857, brought 
about by his own hand, probably in a flt of 
mental aberration induced by a malignant 
disease and the loss of his wife. He was a 
man of rare qualities, and is held in the high- 
est esteem by all who knew him. On account 
of his death Congress wore the usual badge 
of mourning for thirty days. 

Elisha Anglin, a prominent early settler 
of central Texas, was born in Powell Valley, 
Virginia, where he was raised and married; 
moved thence to Kentucky, afterward to Clay, 
Edgar and Cole counties, Illinois, and iinaliy, 
in 1833, to Texas. He reached what is now 
Grimes Prairie, Grimes county, in the fall of 
1833, where Austin's colony still remained. 
In the summer of 1834, in company with 
James and Silas Parker, he visited Limestone 
county in Eobertson's colony, and located a 
claim where the present town of Groesbeck is 
situated. Silas Parker located his claim north 
of Anglin's, and James Parker went still 
further north. They then returned to Grimes 
Prairie, each buying a load of corn prepara- 
tory to bringing their families, which they 
did in the summer of 1834. Mr. Anglin set- 
tled on his claim February 1, 1835, and Fort 
Parker was built in the sumnier of the same 
year. 

When the Parkers and Mr. Anglin settled 
in the county the Indians were friendly and 
peaceable, those then in the locality being the 
Tehuacanas, at Tehuacana Hills; the Kee- 



tl6 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



cliies, on Kcecliie creek, and tlie Wacoes, who 
were then occupying their village at Waco. 
The first trouble was brought about by raids 
being made on them by bands of white men. 
Tlie raids were made in the summer of 1835, 
and tlie following sprint news reached the 
fort of tlie advance of the Mexicans under 
Santa Anna. Mr. Anglin, believing that the 
fort and all the inmates would fall victims to 
Mexican foes and hostile Indians, tried to in- 
duce the Parkers to abandon it and retire to 
the settlements beyond the Trinity. But this 
they refused to do. Taking his family, Mr. 
Anglin, in company with Mr. Faulkenberry 
and family and Mr. Bates and family, sought 
safety at old Fort Houston, near Palestine. 
He did not return to Limestone county until 
tlie spring of 1838, when Springtield, after- 
ward the county seat, was laid out, he being 
present and assisting in this labor. For four 
or five years following this date he resided 
principally in the setteinents in Grimes coun- 
ty, but in January, 1844, took up his perma- 
nent residence on his claim, where he lived 
until his last marriage, and until his death, 
near Mount Calm, in January, 1874, aged 
Feventy-six years. He assisted in the organi- 
zation of the county, held a number of minor 
local positions at an earlier day, was an un- 
lettered man, but possessed considerable force 
of character, the elements of the pioneer 
strongly predominating. 

Mr. Anglin was five times married, and 
the father of a number of children. His first 
wife was Kachel Wilson, a native of Virginia, 
who died in Edgar county, Illinois, leaving 
five children: A brain; William; John; Mary, 
afterward the wife of Silas II. Bates; and 
Margaret, now Mr.'?. John Moody. He was 
then married, in Coles county, Illinois, to 
Catherine Duty, who bore him three children, 
• >nlyone of whom reached maturity: Rebecca 



Catherine, now the wife of Tra iklin Coates, 
of Utah Territory. His second wife died at 
old Fort Houston, near Palestine, this State, 
and he married the third time, at Tinnan's 
Fort, Robertson county, Mrs. Orpha James. 
They had eight children, only one of whom 
is now living: Adeline, wife of Daniel Par- 
ker, of Anderson county, Texas. His fourth 
marriage occurred in Limestone county, to 
Mrs. Nancy Faulkenberry, widow of David 
Faulkenberry. His fifth wife was Mrs. Sarah 
Chafiin, nee Crist, but by the last two unions 
there were no children. 

Neill McLennan, in honor of wlnmi Mc- 
Lennan county is named, was born in the 
highlands of Scotland, in 1777, and emigrated 
with two brothers and other relatives to the 
State of North Carolina in 1801, where he 
resided as a fanner until 1816. With a brave 
and adventurous spirit, and with one com- 
panion, he explored the wilds of Florida, and, 
becoming satisfied with the country, remained 
there until 1834. He had heard of Texas, 
and with his two brothers and a few other 
friends purchased a schooner at Pensacola, 
loaded her with their goods and fam- 
ilies, navigated her themselves, and landed 
safely at the mouth of the Brazos river 
early in 1835. They proceeded up the 
river and settled on Pond creek, near its 
mouth, in what is now Falls county. While 
there his two brothers were killed by the In- 
dians, Laughlin, one of the brothers, being 
shot full of arrows. The family of the lat- 
ter, consisting of a wife and three small boys, 
were captured and taken away. The mother, 
who was living with him, was also killed, the 
house was burned, and the wife and youngest 
child died in captivity. The next boy was 
bought, and the eldest remained with the 
Indians until grown, when, by a treaty, his 
uncle, Neil (not JS'oill) McLennan, brought 



HISTORT OP TEXAS. 



him to McLennan county. It was difficult 
to reconcile him to staying away from his 
tribe. He finally married and raised six 
children. His death occurred in 1866. John, 
the other brother, was ambushed and shot 
near Nashville. 

During the winter of 1839 and spring of 
1840 Neill McLennan accompanied Captain 
George B. Erath on a surveying tour to tlie 
Bosque country, and being impressed with 
the advantages tliere for farming and grazing, 
determined to locate there. Accordingly he 
commenced improvements there in 1845, and 
made it his home during tiie remainder of 
his life. At the old homestead still stands 
the old double log house, where many a way- 
faring man has received refreshments and 
rest without money or charge. 

Mr. McLennan had six children, namely: 
John, who died in Milam county, in 1887; 
Christina, wife of Eli Jones, of McLennan 
county; Catherine, wife of L. E. R. Davib; 
Neil (one 1), a resident of McLennan county; 
Duncan, also of McLennan county; Laughlin, 
deceased in 1860. Mr. McLe.inan died in 
the month of November, 1867, aged eighty- 
one years. 

Colonel Steeling C. Roberston, em- 
presario of Robertson's colony, was born in 
Nashville, Tennessee, about 1785. He served 
as major of the Tennessee troops in the war 
of 1812, received a good education, and was 
trained up as a planter, and engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits in Giles county, that State. 
Enterprising and adventurous, and having 
considerable means, he formed a company 
in Nashville, in 1823, to explore the wild 
"province" of Texas. Coming as' far as the 
Brazos, he formed a permanent camp at 
the mouth of Little river. Ail the party re- 
turned to Tennessee, however, except Robert- 
son. He visited the settlements that had 



been made, and while there conceived tlie 
idea of planting a colony in Texas. Filled 
with enthusiasm over this plan, he went to 
his home in Tennessee, where he purchased h 
contract which the Mexican government had 
made with Robert Leftwick for the eettle- 
ment of 800 families. The colony embraced 
a large tract of land, and Robertson was to 
receive forty leagues and forty labors for his 
services. 

L) 1829, at his own expense, he introduced 
100 families, who were driven out by the 
military in consequence of false representa- 
tions made to the government. The matter 
was finally adjusted, and in the spring of 
1834 the colony was restored. In the sum- 
mer of the same year he laid out the town of 
Sarahville de Viesca. A land office was 0(>er)ed 
about October 1, and the settlements were 
rapidly made. In the summer of 1835 he 
made a tour of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisi- 
ana and Kentucky, makingknown the induce- 
ments to immigration. lie had been authorizf d 
by the Mexican government to offer to settlers 
who were heads of families one league and 
one labor of land, and lesser proportions to 
others. 

Colonel Robertson was a delegate to the 
general convention of 1836, was one of the 
signers of the declaration of independence 
and of the constitution of the Republic of 
Texas. In the spring of 1836 he commanded 
a military company, and received therefor a 
donation of 640 acres of land, having partici- 
pated in the battle of San Jacinto. He was 
a member of the Senate of the first congress 
of the Republic of Texas. 

He died in Robertson county, March 4, 
1842, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. 
Bold, daring and patriotic, he had many op- 
portunities for the exhibition of these traits. 
From the campaigns of the war of 1812 dowu 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



to 1842, he was a participant in every struggle 
of liis countrymen. When tlio revolution 
I'roke out in 1835, he had introduced more 
tlian 600 families into the colonies, fully 
one- half of the whole number at his own 
expense. 

Davio G. Burnett, according to the fore- 
going history of Texas, is first known in this 
State as an " empresario," who, December 
22, 1826, contracted to colonize 300 families 
in Te.xas. After the annulment of Edwards' 
contract, his »rant was divided between Bur- 
nett and Joseph Vehlein. lie was a mem- 
ber of the second State convention, which 
met April 1, 1833, at San Felipe; was elected 
the first President of the Republic of Texas 
in 1836; had a stormy time during an en- 
gagement with the Mexicans, being accused 
of treason; resigned his presidency October 
22, 1836; was elected vice-president in 1838, 
but in 1841, as a candidate for the presi- 
dency, was defeated by General Houston. 

M.v.'OR George B. Erath, after whom 
Kiath county is named, was born at Vienna, 
Austria, January 1, 1813. His mother was 
siipj)08cd to l)e of Greek origin. At Santa 
.\niia College, Vienna, he studied Spanish, 
French, Italian and English, besides other 
blanche-.. lie also spent two years at a poly- 
lichnic institute. When fifteen years of age 
Ills father died, and he was taken in charge 
by relatives in Germany, who, at the request 
(if his mother, managed, by a ruse, to keep 
him from conscription by the Austrian gov- 
ernment. By the connivance of the German 
and French governments he managed to get 
a start to America, and in due time landed 
at New Orleans with no money. After 
traveling and working his way along to sev- 
eral points, he came to Texas in l''S33, first 
stopping at Brazoria. He visited several 
points in the eoutliern central portion of the 



State, and at length eiigaged in war with the 
Indians, in which he distinguished himself 
for bravery and fidelity, lie also was in 
Captain Billingsley's company at the battle 
of San Jacinto. Moreover, he at several 
times engaged as an assistant in land survey- 
ing. 

In 1839 he was a member of a company of 
rangers, l)y which he was elected captain, and 
again he was active in repelling Indian inva- 
sions. He was also in the noted " Mier ex- 
pedition," but, not crossing the Rio Grande 
with the headlong faction, he escaped the 
horrible experiences of the Mier prisoners. 

From 1843-'46 he was. a member of the 
Texas congress, and in the latter year he was 
elected a member of the legislature of the 
State of Texas. In 1848 he was elected by 
an overwhelming majority to the State sen- 
ate, from the district of McLennan county, 
his home; and in 1861 he was a^ain elected 
to the same body, and after the legislature 
a<ljourned raised a company of infantry and 
fought under the command of Colonel 
Speight. Ill health not permitting him to 
remain in the service, he returned home, but 
was appointed major of the frontier forces of 
Texas, in which capacity he won the grati- 
tude of the State. 

After tiie war he settled down upon his 
farm on the South Bosque, eight miles from 
Waco, and endeavored to confine himself to 
the quiet pursuits of agriculture; but his ex- 
tended knowledge of land and surveying in 
that part of Texas led others to persuade 
him to engage again as a surveyor. He was 
called the " walking dictionary of the land 
office." In 1873 he was again elected to the 
State senate, ami was an infiuential member of 
that body. 11 is intelligence and integrity were 
so great that in many instances he was se- 
lected as sole arbitrator in preference to a 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



suit at law. He died in Waco, May 13, 
1891, and his wife five months afterward. 
He lost one son in tlie last war, and died 
leaving one son and three daughters. 

General James Hamilton was a native of 
South Carolina, of which State he was gov- 
ernor. Coming to Texas he boldly advo- 
cated her independence, and contributed both 
time and means to the cause. Even in South 
Carolina, as a member of her senate, he up- 
held in eloquent phrase the purity of tlie 
motives of the revolutionists of Texas, and 
actively devoted himself to the interests of 
the new republic. He secured the treaty 
with Great Britain, and negotiated one with 
the kingdom of the Netherlands. ]n recog- 
nition of his services he was invested with 
the rights of Te.xas citizenship by a special 
act of its congress. But while he was a dip- 
lomatic agent for Texas in Europe he became 
involved in embarrassments which eventually 
ruined him. In 1S57 he sailed from New 
Orleans for Galveston in the steamship Ope- 
Ifausas, with the hope of obtaining an indem- 
nification for his losses and of retrieving his 
fortune in the country for which he had done 
so m\icb. The vessel was wreckeu on her 
passage by a collision with the steamer Gal- 
veston, and Hamilton was one of the victims 
of tlie disaster. Tlie State congress went 
into mourning out of respect to his memory. 

James W. TirEocKMOETON, governor of 
Texas in 1866-'67, was born in Tennessee 
in 1825, and began life as a physician, in 
which calling he won a high reputation until 
he decided to adopt the profession of law. 
Removing to what is now Collin county, 
Texas, in 1841, he was elected ten years later 
to the State legislature, and was re-elected in 
1853 and 1855, and in 1857 he was chosen 
•State senator. During all tiiese years the 
legislation of the State bears the impress of 



his tireless efforts, and to no one else are tl;o 
people more indebted for the development 
of tiieir resources. Though a Democrat in 
politics, he was opposed to secession, and as 
a member of the first secession convention 
he voted against secession; but, being true to 
his State, after the Confederate movement 
was fully inaugurated he raised a company 
of soldiers and joined the Southern cause, 
and remained till the close of the struggle, 
though at intervals he was disabled from 
active service by sickness. Among the en- 
gagetnents in which he participated was the 
battle of Elkhorn. Afterward he served 
under General Dick Taylor. In 1864 Gov- 
ernor Murrah assigned him the command of 
the northern frontier, with the rank of briga- 
dier general. In 1865 General Kirby Smitli 
appointed him general Indian agent, and he 
made treaties with numerous Indian tribes 
favorable to Texas. In 1866 he was elected 
a member of the first reconstruction conven- 
tion, aiid was chosen president of that body: 
the same year he was elected governor, under 
the new constitution, by a vote of nearly four 
to one; but, though his administration was 
most satisfactory to the people of the State, 
he was deposed in the following year, umler 
reconstruction measures executed by "Radi- 
cals." In 1874, and again in 1876, he was 
chosen for Congress, where he sei'ved with 
distinction until March, 1879, when he re- 
tired to private life. 

Early in his professional career he was 
married to Miss Ann Ratten, a native of Illi- 
nois, and of their nine children seven still 
survive. 

Geni5RAL Thomas Neville Waul, whose 
ancestors on both sides took part in the 
Revolutionary struggle, was born in South 
Carolina, in 1813. After recoi.'ing his edu- 
cation at one of the best colleges in that 



Ul STORY OF TKXAa. 



State, he studied law at Vicksbnrg, Missis- 
pipj.i, and was admitleil to practice in tlie 
snpi-cme court of that State in 1835, and was 
soon afterward appointed district attorney. 
Itenioving later to New Orleans, lie took an 
active part in politics, being a thorough 
Democrat of the State-rights school, and he 
won a high reputation. After the war broke 
out he organized what was known as Waul's 
I-egion, which he commanded ir many hotly 
contested engagements. At its close he set- 
tled in Galveston, where he resumed his pro- 
fession, and was elected president of the bar 
association. 

In 1837 the General married Miss Mary 
Simmons, a native of Georgia, and in No- 
vember, 1887, celebrated his golden wedding, 

Ben AIcCdllodgh, prominent in the last 
war, was a native of Tennessee, came to Texas 
during revolutionary tinies, and commanded 
a cannon in the battle of San Jacinto. After 
the independence of Texas he was captain of 
a company of rangers. During the last war 
he was appointed brigadier general in the 
Confederate army, and was killed in the 
Reeorid day's tight at Pea liidgo, Arkansas, 
March 24, 18G2. 

GicNKRAL Henkt Eustace McCdllooh was 
liorn in Rutherford county, Tennessee, De- 
cember 0, 1816, and first came to Texas in 
the antunm of 1835, accompanied by his 
lirotlier, Ben McCnIloch, five years older. 
Arriving at Nacogdoches, they had an ar- 
gument as to the propriety of Henry's coming 
DM. J!en tried almost every way to per.-uade 
iiim to return home, but in vain, until he hit 
upon the argument that he should take care 
of his parents in their old age. Selling their 
iiorses, fine pad<ile animals, they separated, 
starting off on foot, one east and the other 
west. 



In the fall of 1837 Henry came again to 
Texas and stopped at Washington, then the 
capital of the State, and passed the winter 
there hewing house logs, splitting red-oak 
boards and building board houses. In the 
spring he joined a party in the exploration of 
the upper Brazos. While out hunting one 
day, in company with another member of the 
party, they chanced upon a company of five 
Indians, whom they attacked, killed two ami 
chased the other three away! In the summer 
of 1838 he joined his brother, Ben, at Gon- 
zales and formed a partnership with him in 
surveying and locating lands, and this 
partnership lasted until the death of the 
brother in 1862. 

During pioneer times both the brothers 
engaged in much ranger service, witli skill 
and good fortune, the particulars of which we 
have not space for here. 

During a battle with the Comanches in 
1840, Henry saved the life of Dr. Sweitzer, a 
bitter enemy of his brother, by driving away 
the Indians who where about to take the life 
of the doctor. Henry had dismounted and 
taken his position behind a small sapling in 
advance of the main Texan force and was 
pouring hot shot into the ranks of the enemy, 
who, in return, had completely scaled the 
bark of the little tree behind which he stood. 
Arch. Gipson and Alsey Miller had come up 
and wore sitting on their horses near Henry, 
who was standing on the ground beside his 
hor.'ie, when suddeidy Gipson or Miller cried 
out, "They'll catch him; they'll catch him!" 
McCnIloch asked, "Catch who?" The reply 
was, "Sweitzer." 

Glancing over his horse's neck the gallant 
young McCullocli saw a party of eight or ten 
Indians closely pursuing the bitterest enemy 
of his brother; but the life of a human being 
was involved, and,^prompted by that magna- 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



nimity of heart which ever characterized his 
life, he did not stop to calculate the conse- 
quences, but in a second was in his saddle 
going at full speed at the risk of his own life 
to save that of Sweitzer. Ilis companions 
followed, and they reached Sweitzer just in 
time to save his life. 

August 20, 1840, soon after the above 
occurrence, Mr. McGulIoch married Miss 
Jane Isabella Ashby, and directly settled on 
the place improved by his brother Een, four 
miles from Gonzales. 

In September, 1842, General "Woll, at the 
liead of a thousand Mexican infantry and 
500 or 600 cavalry, captured San Antonio; 
but just before the retreat of the Mexican 
forces Captain Matthew Caldwell, with 200 
men, engaged the enemy about five or six 
miles from town and defeated them. While 
this fight was progressing Dawson's men were 
massacred in the rear of the Mexican array 
while trying to make their way to Caldwell, 
and in this engagement McCuUoch was a 
lieutenant under Colonel Jack Hays. He was 
also in Somervell's expedition so far as it 
remained in Texas. 

Becoming a resident of Gonzales county 
in 1844, he entered mercantile business there. 
In 1846 he was elected captain of a volunteer 
company for the Mexican war, and the next 
year was elected sheriff of that county. 
Occasionally he was engaged in an expedition 
against the Indians, witli success. In 1853, 
on the Democratic ticket for the legislature, 
he was elected, over Colonel French Smitli, a 
Whig, and in 1855 he was again elected, 
defeating Thomas H. Duggan. In 1858 he 
was appointed United States marshal for the 
Eastern District of Texas, which position ho 
held until the breaking out of the Civil war, 
iud in this mighty struggle he had a brilliant 
career. He was promoted from tlie position 



of colonel to that of brigadier-general. March 
1, 1876, Governor Coke appointed him 
superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb 
Asylum, which place he held until dismissed 
by Governor Roberts, September 1, 1879. In 
1885 he was employed by the State Land 
Board as an agent to manage the public- 
school, university and asylum lands. 

Elisha M. Pease, twice governor of Texas, 
was born in Connecticut, in 1812, and be- 
came a lawyer. In 1835 he came to Texas 
and was appointed secretary of the executive 
council at San Felipe. During 1836-'37 he 
held several positions under the government. 
Resigning the comptrollership of public ac- 
counts in the latter year, he began to prac- 
tice his profession in Brazoria county. He 
was a men^ber of the house of representatives 
of the first and second legislatures, and of the 
senate of the third legislature. He was gov- 
ernor of Texas from 1853 to 1857, and from 
1867 to 1869, in the latter case being ap- 
pointed by General Sheridan, under recon- 
struction regime, to succeed Throckmorton. 
In 1874 he was appointed collector of cus- 
totns for Galveston, which office he did not 
accept. In 1879 he was reappointed to the 
same position, and took charge of the custom- 
house February 1 of that jear. 

Benjamin R. Milam was a native of Ken- 
tucky, born of humble parents and iiaving 
but little education. He distinguished him- 
self in the war of 1812, and afterward en- 
gaged in trade with the Indians at the liead- 
waters of Texan rivers. Later he joined 
Mina in his disastrous expedition in aid of 
the revolutionary cause in Mexico, and, being 
one of those who escaped death, rendered 
valuable services. When Iturbide proclaimed 
himself emperor, Milam was among the first 
to join the party that opposed him. For 
this he was cast into prison, where he 



Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 



languished until Iturbide's dethronement, 
when he was released. For his services in 
the republican cause he received in 1828 a 
grant of eleven square leagues of land in 
Texas, but he located it by mistake in Ar- 
kansas, and obtained from the government of 
tiie State of Coahuila and Texas an em- 
presario grant. He was in Monclova at the 
time of Viesca's deposal, and was captured 
in company with him. Milam escaped from 
prison at Monterey by winning the confi- 
dence of the jailer, and, being supplied with 
a fleet horse and a little food by a friend, he 
traveled alone for 600 miles, journeying by 
night and concealing himself by day, till he 
reached the vicinity of Goliad, almost ex- 
hausted. After the capture of that place he 
enlisted in the ranks, and was soon afterward 
killed by a rifle ball from the enemy, when 
he was about forty-five years of age. 

Erastl-8 Smith, who, on account of his 
being "hard of hearing," was generally 
known as "Deaf Smith," was born in New 
York in 1787, moved to Mississippi in 1798, 
and to Texas in 1817. He was a most inde- 
fatigable observer of the movements of the 
Mexican army daring the war; and his per- 
fect knowledge of the country and astonish- 
ing coolness and bravery made him an inval- 
uable scout for the Texan army. He married 
a Mexican lady in San Antonio, and had 
several children. He died at Fort Bend in 
1839, and is buried at Eichmond. A county 
is named in his honor, " Deaf Smith." 

JosiAH WiLBAROEE, brother of the author 
of the work entitled "Indian Depredations 
in Texas," was one of the earliest settlers in 
this State, coming here from Missouri in 
1828, locating first in Matagorda county for 
a year. Early in the spring of 1830 he re- 
moved to a beautiful location he had selected 
at the mouth of the creek named in bis honor, 



ten miles above the point now occupied by 
the town of Bastrop. At that time his near- 
est neighbor was about seventy-five miles 
down the Colorado, and he was not only the 
first but also the outside settler of Austin's 
colony until July, 1832, when Reuben Horns- 
by went up from Bastrop, where he had lieen 
living a year or two. He located about nine 
miles below the present city of Austin. 

Early in August, 1833, Mr. "Wilbarger 
went to Hornsby's, and, in company with 
Messrs. Christian, Strother, Standifer and 
Ilaynie, rode out in a northwest direction to 
look at the country. On Walnut creek, five 
or six miles above Austin, they discovered an 
Indian, who ran away and disappeared. The 
white party gave chase but after a time aban- 
doned it. While eating their dinner, however, 
after returning from the chase, they were sud- 
denly fired upon by Indians. Strother was 
mortally wounded, Christian's thigh bone was 
broken, and Wilbarger sprang to the side of 
the latter to set him up against a tree, when 
the latter received an arrow in the leg and 
another in his hip. Soon he was wounded 
in the other leg also. Three of the Wilbar- 
ger party then ran to their liorses, which had 
been been tied out for feeding, and began to 
flee. Wilbarger, though wounded as he was, 
ran after them, begging for an opportunity 
to ride behind one of them, but before 
reaching them he was wounded in the neck 
by a ball. He fell apparently dead, but 
though unable to move or speak be remained 
conscious. He knew when the Indians came 
around him, stripped him naked and tore the 
scalp from his head. The character of the 
wound in the neck probably made the In- 
dians believe that it was broken, and that 
Wilbarger was dead, or at least could not sur- 
vive, and they left him. They cut the throats 
of Strother and Christian. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Late in the evening Mr. Wilbarger so far 
recovered as to drag himself to a pool of 
water, lay in it for an hour, and then, be- 
numbed with cold, he crawled upon dry 
ground and fell into a profound sleep. When 
awakened the blood had ceased to flow from 
his wounds, but he was still consumed with 
hunger and again sufl'ering intensely from 
thirst. Green flies had "blown" his scalp 
while asleep and the larves began to work, 
which created a new alarm. Undertaking to 
go to Mr. Ilornsby's, about six miles distant, 
he had only proceeded about 600 yards when 
he sank e.xluiusted ! Remaining all night upon 
the ground, he suffered intensely from cold; 
but during the next day he was found by his 
friends, who had been urged to hunt for him 
by Mrs. Hornsby, despite the report by Hay- 
nie and Standifer that he was dead. She was 
influenced by a dream, so the story goes, to 
say that Wilbarger was still alive, and con- 
sequently urged the men to go and hunt for 
him. It is stated also that Wilbarger had a 
dream or vision of the spirit of a sister, who 
had died only the day before in Missouri, 
which said that help would come that day! 
The relief party consisted of Joseph Rogers, 
Reuben Hornsby, Webber, John AValters and 
others. As they approached the tree under 
which Wilbarger was lying and had passed 
the night, they saw first the blood-red scalp 
and thought they had come upon an Indian. 
Even his body was red almost all over with 
blood, and he presented a ghastly sight. 
Rogers, mistaking him for an Indian, ex- 
claimed, "Here they are, boys!" Wilbarger 
arose and said, " Don't shoot! it is Wilbarger! 
The poor sufferer was taken to Ilornsby's 
residence, where he was cared for. When he 
had somewhat recruited he was placed in a 
sled, as he could not endure the jolts of a 
wagon, and taken down the river to his own 



cabin. He lived eleven years afterward, but 
the scalp never gi-ew to entirely cover the 
bone. The latter, where most exposed, be- 
came diseased and exfoliated, finally exposing 
the brain. 

By his death he left a wife and five chil- 
dren. The eldest son, John, was killed many 
years afterward by the Indians in west Texas. 
Harvey, another son, lived to raise a number 
of children. 

Tlie circumstance above related is the first 
instance of wiiite blood shed at the bands of 
the red savage within the present limits of 
Travis county. 

General Edward Burleson was born in 
Buncombe county, North Carolina, in 1798. 
We quote the following sketch of his life 
from J. W. Wilbarger's work, before re- 
ferred to: 

"When but a lad, young Edward served 
in a company commanded by his father un- 
der General Jackson, in the Creek war. In 
March, 1831, he emigrated to Texas and set- 
tled eleven miles below the town of Bastrop, 
where he soon rendered himself conspicuous 
by his readiness when called on to repel the 
savages, then of frequent occurrence. His 
unflinching courage and perseverance on such 
occasions brought him into favorable notice, 
and in 1832 he was elected lieutenant colonel 
of the principality of Austin. By his activ- 
ity, promptness and courage, he soon rose to 
be an acknowledged leader, while his plain 
and unpretending deportment and natural 
dignity won friends as fast as he made ac- 
quaintances. 

"In the battle with the Mexicans under 
General Cos at San Antonio he was conspicu- 
ous for his gallantry and rendered important 
services. As colonel of a regiment he par- 
ticipated in the final battle at San Jacinto, 
which secured the independence of Texas. 



HISTORY OF 'JKXAS. 



On that bloody field Burleson added new 
honors to his fame as a brave soldier and 
tried ofiicer. His regiment stormed the 
breastwork and captured the artillery, and 
contributed its honorable share to tiie victory. 
The morning of the day on which the battle 
was fought, General Houston ordered Burle- 
son to detail 100 men from his regiment to 
build a bridge across the bayou in case a re- 
treat should be necessary. Burleson replied 
that he could make the detail, but he had no 
idea the bridge could be built; that they had 
no axes or tools of any description whatever, 
or teams to haul the timber. Houston asked 
him whether he intended to disobey orders. 
Burleson replied that he was not disposed to 
disobey orders, but that his men would much 
rather fight than work. 'Then,' said Hous- 
ton, 'if yon are so anxious to fight you shall 
have your fill before night," and immediately 
made out his plan of battle. 

"After the battle of San Jacinto General 
Burleson returned to his home and was 
elected to the senate of the first congi-ess 
of the republic. In the Cherokee war he 
moved against the Indians at the head of 
500 men, defeated them in a hard-fought 
battle, killing many (among them their head 
chief, Bowles) and drove the remainder be- 
yond the limits of the republic. In the great 
Indian raid of 1840 General Burleson was 
second in command of the forces that met 
the Indians on Plum creek, which defeated 
them with great slaughter and recaptured a 
vast amount of plunder. He was in a num- 
ber of hotly contested fights with the Indians, 
in one of which, the battle of Brushy, he 
lost his brother, Jacob Burleson, who had 
engaged the enemy before the general arrived. 

" On one occasion a party of forty-five or 
fifty Indians came into the settlements below 
the town of Bastrop and stole a lot of horses 



while the people were at church. A man 
who had remained at home discovered them, 
ran to church and gave the alarm. Burleson, 
with only ten men, started in immediate pur- 
suit and followed the trail that evening to 
Piny creek near town. Next morning he 
was reinforced by eight men, the pursuit was 
continued and the enemy overtaken near the 
Yegua, a small sluggish stream now in Lee 
county. "When within about 200 yards of 
them, Burleson called out to the Indians to 
halt; they immediately did so, and, forming 
themselves in regular order, like disciplined 
troops, commenced firing by squads or plat- 
oons. "When within sixty yards the battle 
was opened by the Texans by the discharge 
of Burleson's double-barreled shot-gun. The 
conflict was of short duration. Six Indians 
were killed, and the remainder fled into a 
deep ravine enveloped in thickets and made 
their escape. 

" In 1841 General Burleson was elected 
vice president of the Bepnblic, by a consid- 
erable majority over Gent^ral Memucan Hunt. 
At Monterey he was appointed by Governor 
Henderson, then in personal command of the 
Texas division, one of his aides-de-camp, and 
in that capacity bore a distinguished and hon- 
ored part in the fierce conflicts before that city. 

"He died September 26, 1851, at the 
capital of the State, while a member of the 
senate then in session, and his death produced 
a profound sensation throughout the country, 
where his name had become as familiar as a 
household word. Eloquent eulogies were 
pronounced in both houses of the legislature 
at his death." 

An ambitious young village in Johnson 
county, this State, a few miles north of Al- 
varado and on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Railroad, is named in honor of the hero of 
the foregoing memoir. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



John C. Hays, generally known as Colonel 
" Jack " Hays, was a native, it is believed, 
of Tennessee, and came to Texas when a 
young man, bringing with him letters of 
recommendation from prominent people to 
President Houston. The latter soon gave 
him a commission to raise a ranging cora- 
|)any for the protection of the western frontier. 
This company is supposed to be the first 
regularly organized one in the service so far 
in tin West. With this small company — 
for it never numbered more than threescore 
men — Colonel Hays effectually protected a 
vast scope of the frontier reaching from 
Corpus Christi on the gulf to the headwaters 
of the Frio and Nueces rivers. With the 
newly introduced five-shooting revolvers each 
of his men was equal to about five or six 
Mexicans or Indians. Although the colonel 
was rather under the medium size, he was 
wiry and active, well calculated to withstand 
the hardships of frontier life. He was fre- 
quently seen sitting before his camp fire in 
a cold storm, apparently as unconcerned as if 
in a hotel, and that, too, when perhaps he 
had nothing for supper but a piece of hard- 
tack or a few pecans. Although he was ex- 
tremely cautious when the safety of his men 
was concerned, he was extremely careless 
when only his own welfare was in jeopardy. 

He was elected colonel of a regiment of 
mounted volunteers at the breaking out of 
the Mexican war, and they did valiant service 
at the storming of Monterey. Some time 
after the war he moved to California, where 
he finally died, a number of years ago. 

As an example of Hays' heroism we cite 
the following anecdote from Mr. Wilbarger's 
work: In the fall of 1840 a party of Comanche 
Indians numbering about 200 came into the 
vicinity of San Antonio, stole a great many 
horses and started off in the direction of the 



Guadalupe river. Hays, with about twenty 
of his men, followed in pursuit, overtaking 
them at that river. Hiding in front, as was 
his custom, the colonel was the first to dis- 
cover the red rascals, and, riding back to his 
men, he said, "Yonder are the Indians, boys, 
and yonder are our horses. The Indians 
are pretty strong, but we can whip them and 
recapture the horses. What do you say?" 
" Go ahead," the boys replied, " and we'll 
follow if there's a thousand of them."" Come 
on, then, boys," said Hays: and, putting 
spurs to their horses, this little band of only 
twenty men boldly charged upon the 200 
wan-iors who M'ere waiting for them drawn 
up in battle array. i 

Seeing the small number of their assailants 
the Indians were sure of victory, but Hays' 
men poured shot among them so directly and 
rapidly as to ciit down their ranks at a fear- 
ful rate, killing even their chief, and the 
Indians, frightened at what appeared to them 
a power superior to man, fled in confusion. 
Hays and his men followed for several miles, 
killing even more of them and recovering 
most of the stolen horses. 

About a year afterward he was one of a 
party of fifteen or twenty men employed to 
survey land near what the Indians called 
" The Enchanted Eock," in which, high up, 
was a cavity large enough to contain several 
men. Being attacked by Indians in this 
vicinity, Colonel Hays, who was at some 
distance from his party, ran up the hill and 
took a position in this little hollow place, 
determined to "sell his life at the dearest 
price." He was well known to the Indians, 
and they were anxious if possible to get his 
scalp. Mounting the hill, they surrounded 
the rock and prepared to charge upon him. 
Hays was aware that his life depended more 
upon strategy than courage, and reserved 



HISTORY OF TEXM. 



his fire until it could do the most good. lie 
lay behind a projection of the rock, with the 
muzzle of his gun exposed to their vision, 
and awaited the most opportune moment. 
The savages meanwhile suspected that the 
noted white warrior had a revolver besides, 
and indeed he had two. The Indians yelled 
with all their might, but our hero was too 
well acquainted with that style of warfare to 
be very badly frightened by it. 

The red men, being ashamed of permitting 
themselves to be beaten by one man, made a 
desperate assault, and when the chief in 
front approached sufficiently near the colonel 
downed him with the first shot of his rifle. 
In the next charge he did effective work with 
a revolver, and soon the remainder of his own 
men, who had been engaging the main body 
of Indians, suspected that their commander 
was hemmed in there, and turned upon the 
Indians near by, immediately routing them. 
A remarkable example of Colonel Hays' 
generalship was exhibited in a little skirmish 
in 1844, when, with fifteen of his company, 
on a scouting expedition about eighty miles 
from 8an Antonio, he came in sight of fifteen 
Comanciies, who were mounted on good horses 
and apparently eager for battle. As the 
colonel and his men approached, the Indians 
slowly retreated in the direction of an im 
mense thicket, which convinced Hays that the 
Indians they saw were but a part of a larger 
number. He therefore restrained the ardor 
of his men, who were anxious to charge upon 
the Indians they saw, and took a circuitous 
route around the thicket and drew up his 
little force upon a ridge beyond a deep ra- 
vine, in order to take advantage of some 
position not looked for by the Indians. The 
latter, seeing that they had failed to draw 
the white party into the trap they had lai<l 
for them, showed themselves, to the number 



of seventy-five. Directly the rangers assailed 
them on an unexpected side, made a furious 
charge, with revolvers, etc. The battle lasted 
nearly an hour, exhausting the ammunition 
of the whites. The Comanche chief, perceiv- 
ing this, rallied his warriors for a final eflbrt. 
As they were advancing. Colonel Hays dis- 
covered that the rifle of one of the rangers 
was still loaded. He ordered him to dis- 
mount at once and shoot the chief, and the 
man did so, successfully. This so discour- 
aged the Indians that they gave up the day. 
In the battle above referred to, with the 
main body of the Indians, the rangers lost 
only two killed and five wounded, while 
thirty Indians were left dead on the field. 
For good generalship, as well as cool, un- 
flinching bravery. Colonel Hays and his men 
deserve the highest credit. The above fight 
is certainly one of the most remarkable in 
all Indian warfare. 

In 1845, in encountering a large party of 
Indians, Colonel Hays mounted a horse which 
had more "heroism" or "foolhardiness" than 
he anticipated, as it carried him, in spite of 
all the rider could do, right through the 
enemy, the main body of the Comanches. 
This 80 astounded the Indians that they 
actually gave way for him and another man 
accompanying him, and the rest of the white 
party rallied forward with a yell and with 
their revolvers actually put the savages to 
flightl 

Not long after the above occurrence Hays, 
with only fifteen men, encountered and 
totally defeated the famous Comanche chief, 
Yellow Wolf, who was at the head of eighty 
warriors: the chief himself was slain. This 
battle occurred at the Pinta crossing of the 
Guadalupe river, between San Antonio and 
Fredericksburg. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Captain James G. Swisiiee, in whose 
lionor a county in this State is named, was 
born in Knoxville, Tennessee, November 6, 
1794. Joining John Donelson's company, 
under General Jackson, he participated in tlie 
battles of New Orleans on the night of Decem- 
ber 23, 1814, and on January 8, 1815. He 
came from near Franklin, Williamson county, 
Tennessee, to Texas in 1838, and during the 
following January he settled at the town of 
Teiwxtitlan on the Brazos river, not now in 
existence, but which up to tlie year 1832 
had been garrisoned by 200 Mexican troops. 
Swisher commenced life here with his family 
apparently under the finest auspices, but in 
a few months two Comanche Indians stole 
most of his horses, which, however, he recov- 
ered after a long journey in pursuit. 

Captain Swisher was the father of James 
M. Swisher and John M. Swisher, of Travis 
county. The latter, known as Colonel " Milt." 
Swislier, was in the employ of the Republic 
from 1839 up to the time of annexation, and 
from that time to 1856 in the employ of the 
State. In 1841 he was chief clerk and acting 
secretary of the treasury of the Eepublic, 
and in 1847 was appointed auditor to settle 
up the debts of the late Eepublic. 

John L. "Wilbakgee, brother of the author 
of "Indian Depredations in Texas," was born 
in Matagorda county, Texas, November 29, 
1829, and grew up in his parents' family in 
Austin colony, inured to the roughness of 
pioneer life. Having considerable talent he 
became well qualified to manage the interests 
of those exposed on the frontier; but before 
he had opporttmity to exercise his talent to 
a considerable degree he joined an expedi- 
tion which eventually proved disastrous to 
him. August 20, 1850, he and two other 
young men were quietly pursuing their jour- 
ney back to the command in Bastrop county 



which they had left, when Indians attacked 
them, shooting down the two other young 
men at the first fire, and then Wilbarger, 
after a chase of about two miles. One of 
the young men (Neal), however, was not 
killed, and succeeded in getting back home, ' 
to tell the news. i 

Colonel Geoeoe G. Aifoed, prominent in 
the early history of the State, was born in 
Cayuga, Seneca county, New York, June 19, 
1793, reared on lakes Champlain and Cayuga, 
that State, and served as lieutenant of artil- 
lery under General Winfield Scott during 
the second war with Great Britian, in 1811- 
'13, participating in the battles of Queens- 
town Heiglits, Lundy's Lane, etc. His 
father, who was a cousin of General Ethan 
Allen, of Revolutionary fame, had twelve 
children. In 1815 the family removed to 
Detroit, Michigan, then an obscure and 
remote frontier Indian village, making the 
trip in a small sail vessel, which was wrecked 
at what is now the great city of Cleveland. 
In 1819 he moved to New Madrid, Missouri, 
the former capital of the Spanish province of 
Louisiana, and there engaged in mercantile 
pursuits. In 1821 he married Miss Jeannette 
Lesieur, a sister of Hon. Godfrey Lesieur, 
one of the oldest and wealthiest French set- 
tlers of that section: she died, leaving liim 
one daughter, Jeannette. About 1829 Col- 
onel Alford married Miss Ann Bartield, of 
Murfreesborough, Tennessee, born May 9, 
1807, a descendant of Governor Badger, of 
North Carolina. By this marriage there was 
born Judge George Frederick Alford, now of 
Dallas. 

Wliile a resident of Missouri the Colonel 
prospered and became wealthy, and served 
with satisfaction to his constituents a term 
in the State legislature. 



UIHTORY OF TEXAS. 



He came to Texas during the excitino; 
titnes of the revolution, in 1835, and, still 
inspired with the martial spirit of 1812, lie 
entered zealously into the cause of Texan 
independence. He joined the immortal band 
under General Houston and participated in 
the heroic struggles which culminated in the 
battle of San Jacinto, which was so glorious 
a victory for the Texans, securing for them 
what they had unanimously so long sought 
for, — independence. Soon after this battle 
Colonel Alf'ord was sent by the provisional 
government of the embryo republic to New 
Orleans, for military supplies for the famish- 
ing soldiery of Texas. Here he loaded two 
vessels, and, returning on one of them, tlie 
brig Julins CiEsar, he was captured by the 
Mexican blockading fleet, under command of 
Captain Jose V. Matios of the Mexican brig 
of war General Teran, off Galveston harbor; 
tl)e two vessels and cargoes were confiscated, 
and tlie captives incarcerated in a loathsome 
dungeon in Matamoras, Mexico; and Colonel 
Alford and his brother. Major Johnson II. 
Alford (who was returning to Texas with 
liim), were condemmed to be shot; but they 
were liberated, through the intercession of 
Andrew Jackson, president of the United 
States. 

Colonel Alford returned to Missouri, set- 
tled up his business, and in April, 1837, 
moved his family and slaves to Texas, first 
settling in the old Spanish pueblo of Nacog- 
doches, and later in Crockett, the capital of 
Houston county, and there he engaged in 
planting, in mercantile pursuits and as judge, 
until his death, April 1, 1847, his wife 
having preceded him February 10, same 
year. His death was deplored throughout 
the young State, which he had served with 
Spartan heroism. 



John Henky Brown, a well informed his- 
torian of Dallas and prominent in the annals 
of Texas as a pioneer, legislator, soldier and 
citizen, was born in Tike, county, Missouri, 
October 29, 1820, five months before that 
Territory became a State. Both his parents 
were natives of Kentucky, and in favorable 
financial circumstances. The family is and 
has been for many generations famous for 
patriotism and historical worth. The origin- 
ator of the family in this country came across 
the ocean in the time of Lord Baltimore. 

John Henry was but four years old when 
he heard, with all the intensity of earnest 
childhood, of the charms of Texas. As he 
grew up he learned the art of printing. His 
first residence in Texas was with his uncle, 
Major James Kerr, on the Lavaca river. 
When Austin was laid out, in 1839, he 
repaired thither in search of employment as 
a printer, and obtained a favorable introduc- 
tion to the principal statesmen of the place, 
who used their influence in his favor, and he 
obtained a good situation. The next year or 
two he engaged in several expeditions against 
raiding Indians. In 1813 he returned to 
Missouri and married Miss Mary Mitchel, of 
Groton, Connecticut. The following winter 
he suffered with "black-tongue," a fever 
that brought him to death's door. Recover- 
ing and returning to Texas, he was engaged 
on the Victoria Advocate. When the militia 
of the new State was organized, in 18-16, he 
was appointed brigade major of the South- 
west, with the rank of colonel, which position 
he held four years. In February, 1848, he 
removed to the new town of Indianola, and 
until 1854 was a zealous worker in various 
positions of trust, and also edited the In- 
dianola Bulletin. During this time he was 
a contributor to De Bow's Review, on the 
subject of "Early Life in the Southwest." 



n I STORY OP TEXAS. 



In 1854 he purchased an interest in and 
became co-editor of the Galveston Civilian, 
where he did most of the responsible work, 
on account of the absence of the principal 
editor. He exhibited such ability that he 
was at length elected to the legislature. He 
was a talented speaker on the political ros- 
trum, but in the legislature his speeches were 
never over five minutes in length. Next he 
was elected mayor of Galveston, where he 
gave eminent satisfaction, for two terms, and 
again he was returned to the legislature. 

Receiving an injury by a fall his health 
began to decline, and he changed his occupa- 
tion to that of stock-raising, but at length he 
again became editor, this time of the Belton 
Democrat, and in 1861 he was elected a mem- 
ber of the secession convention, without a 
single vote being cast in opposition. During 
the war he served on General Ben McCul- 
loch's staff', and on that of General H. E. 
McCulloch, and on account of failing health 
he returned home. During these years he 
had two surgical operations performed upon 
himself. 

Next he moved to Mexico, where he was 
appointed commissioner of immigration by the 
imperial government; in 1866 he received a 
commission to explore the country along the 
Panuco river; in the spring of 1869 he vis- 
ited Texas and the East in relation to the 
purchase of improved arms for the Mexican 
government; and in 1870 he delivered a 
hundred addresses in the Northern States in 
aid of a reform society in Mexico. He re- 
joined his family in Indianola, in January, 
1871, and July following he moved to Dal- 
las, where he has since resided. Here in 
1872 he was elected once more to the State 
legislature; in 1875 a member of the State 
constitutional convention; in 1880-'81 he 
was revising editor of the " Encyclopedia of I 



the New West;" and the three following 
years he was alderman, mayor or local judge 
in Dallas. 

During all this time he" has been industri- 
ously writing as an author or compiler. He 
now has prepared two large works for publi- 
cation : History of Texas from 1685 to 1892, 
in two large volumes, and "The Indian Wars 
and Pioneers of Texas." In the latter at 
least 3,000 names of early pioneers, Avho 
largely clothed, fed and in war mounted 
themselves for their unpaid services, will ap- 
pear to prove that no country was ever set- 
tled, reclaimed, populated and defended by a 
braver, more unselfish and patriotic people. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Previous to independence Texas had scarcely 
any schools worth mentioning. The munici- 
pality of Bejar had supported a school for a 
short time, and there had been a private 
school near Brazoria, with thirty or forty 
pupils, supported by subscription, and pri- 
mary schools at Nacogdoches, San Augustine 
and Jonesburg. Those colonists who conld 
afford the expense sent their children abroad 
for education, while the rest, the masses, did 
not care for education. 

As soon as Texas declared her independ- 
ence of Mexico, she declared in her constitu- 
tion the necessity of a school system. In 
1839 the congress of the new republic as- 
signed three leagues of land to each organ- 
ized county, and in the following year an 
additional league, for the purpose of estab- 
lishing primary schools. At the same time 
fifty leagues were devoted to the establish- 
ment of two colleges or universities, to be 
thereafter created. In February, 1840, a 
law was passed making the chief justice of 
each county, with the two associate justices, 



UI8T0RT OF TEXAS. 



a Iioanl of scliooi commissioners, as an ex- 
I'ciitive body, and under tlioir supervision 
iniiny tcliools wore organized and conducted. 
In 1850 there were 349 public schools, with 
;J00 teachers and 7,746 pupils. By 1860 
there wei'e 1,218 schools, with a correspond- 
ing increase of teachers and pupils. But 
I'ven yet the schools were not entirely sup- 
ported hy public ta.\. Considering the many 
pclilical revulsions, Indian depreciations, etc., 
to which the State of Texas has been subject, 
it is remarkable to observe the advance she 
has n)ade in education and the refinements 
of modern civilized life. The last civil war 
was, of course, the greatest interruption to 
her progress in all directions. Under the 
constitution of 1866, all funds, lands and 
other property previously set apart for the 
support of the free-school system were re- 
dedicated as a perpetual fund. It further- 
more devoted to that fund all the alternate 
sections of land reserved out of grants to 
railroad companies and other corporations, 
together with one-half of the proceeds of all 
future sales of public lands. The legislature 
was deprived of the power to loan any por- 
tion of the school fund, and required to in- 
vest the specie principal in United States 
bonds, or such bonds as the State might 
guarantee; and it was authorized to levy a 
tax for educational purposes, special provision 
being made that all sums arising from taxes 
collected from Africans, or persons of Afri- 
can descent, should be exclusively appropri- 
at.ed to the maintenance of a system of public 
schools for the black race. Provision for the 
university was renewed; a superintendent of 
pniilic instruction was directed to be ap- 
pointed by the governor, who, with himself 
and comptroller, should constitute a board of 
education and have the general management 
of the perpetual fund and common schools. 



The constitution of 1868 did not materially 
alter these provisions, excei)t in one marked 
j)articular, namely, the sigiiiticant omission 
of the provision appropriating the taxes paid 
by colored persons for the support of schools 
for their children. The schools were made 
free to all. The article in the constitution 
reads: "It shall be the duty of the legisla- 
ture of this State to make suitable provisions 
for the support and maintenance of a system 
of public free schools, for the gratuitous in- 
struction of all the inhabitaiits of this State 
between the ages of six and eighteen." 

Since the adoption of the constitution of 
1808, improvements have been constantly 
made, either by constitutional provision or 
legislation, until now, when the State has as 
good a school system as any in the (Jnion. 

Under the topic of public education are 
included: 

1. The Common-School System. 

2. The Normal Schools. 

3. The University of Texas. 

The Common-School System embraces: 

1. Eural Schools. 

2. Independent School Districts (cities and 
towns). 

The Rural Schools are organized in two 
ways: 

(A) Districts. 

(B) Communities. 

The districts are formed by the commis- 
sioners' courts, have geographical boundaries, 
and may vote a levy of local school tax not 
exceeding two mills. One hundred and thirty 
counties are thus districted, and about three 
per cent, of the districts levy local taxes. 
The average school term for the year 18y0-'yi 
was 5.25 months in the districts; the average 
salary paid teachers was $228.05, and 90 per 
cent, of the children within scholastic age were 
enrolled in school some tim» during the year. 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



181 



In sevonty-five counties the schools are 
operated on a peculiar plan called the coui- 
ninnity system. Tiie community has no 
geographical boundaries, and enrollment on 
the community list is a matter of local enter- 
prise. Local taxes can be levied in commu- 
nity counties, but the plan is cumbrous and 
rather inefficient. The average school term 
in these counties for 1890-'91 was 4.71 
months; the average salary of teachers was 
1202.76, and the percentage of enrollment 
on the scholastic population 88. 

The cities and towns of the State may be 
constituted independent districts on a ma- 
jority vote of the people of the municipality. 
Independent districts may vote a levy of local 
school tax not exceeding five mills. There 
are 127 of these districts in the State, includ- 
ing all of the larger and many of the smaller 
towns. The average school terra in these 
districts in 1890-'91 was 7.48 months, the 
average annual salary of teachers $447.97, 
and the per centage of enrollment 81.3. 
These districts are independent of the county 
school officers, and receive the State appor- 
tionment direct from the State Treasurer. 

The State endowment of the common 
schools is large. About 17,427,808.75 in 
interest-bearing bonds, more than $14,380,- 
906.37 in interest-bearing land notes, and 
about 20,000,000 acres of unsold lands con- 
stitute the State endowment. Of the unsold 
school lands a large amount is leased at 4 
cents per acre, and the funds thus derived 
added to the annual available school fund. 

Besides the State endowment fund, each 
county has been granted by the State four 
leagues of land, which constitute county en- 
dowment. As these lands are sold the funds 
received are invested under the authority of 
the county commissioners' court, and the in- 
terest on the investment is annually applied 



to the support of the schools. A consider- 
able portion of these lands is leased for vary- 
ing terms of years, and the rental applied as 
the rental of the State school lands. These 
lands are under the exclusive control of the 
county authorities; 3,896,640 acres have 
been thus granted to counties, and a reserva- 
tion has been made from the public domain 
for the unorganized counties. 

In addition to the interest on bonds and 
land notes and rental from leases, the State 
levies an annual ad-valorem school tax of one 
and one-quarter mills, devotes one-fourth of 
the occupation taxes, and an annual poll tax 
of $1 to the available school fund. The en- 
tire amount of available apportioned school 
fund for the year 1890-'91 was $2,545,524, 
and the total receipts by local treasurers, in- 
cluding balances from the previous jear, were 
^■3,958,316.07. The disbursements for the 
same year amounted to $3,551,442.53. 



AVAILABLE SCHOOL POND ACCOUNT. 
RECEIPTS. 

Amount brought forward from previous 

year $ 357,69176 

Amount from State apportionment 2,538,707 05 

Amount from county scliool (available) 

fund 375,806 15 

Amount from local school taxes 469,393 23 

Amount from all other sources 215,257 64 

Amount paid in excess of receipts 49,367 09 

Total receipts $4,006,231 92 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Cash paid to teachers $2,878,027 79 

Cash paid for supervision of schools 100,609 88 

Cash paid for building schoolhouses 153,417 89 

Cash paid for rent of schoolhouses 33,726 65 

C'asli paid lor repair on schoolhouses . . . 63,456 0> 
Cash paid for furniture for use of school- 
houses 61,6.37 59 

Cash paid for all other purposes 277,807 18 



132 HISTORY 

Casli paid treasurer for commissions 28,376 09 

Total amount of expenditures |;3,.J9G,059 15 

Balance on iiand 410,102 77 

Total $1,000,221 92 



AVEllAQB SALARY PAID TEACHEUB. 

Gcneml 
White. Colored. Average. 

Average salary per month for 
male teachers iu community 
counties ^jO 34 |10 17 $49 35 

Average salary per month of 
lemale teachers in commun- 
ity counties 40 00 34 55 39 65 

General average salary per 
month of all teachers in dis- 
trict counties 45 52 

Average salary per month of 
teachers in community coun- 
ties— males 47 61 48 57 46 75 

Average salary per month of 
teachers in community coun- 
ties—females 36 35 34 13 37 16 

General average salary per 
month of teachers in com- 
munity counties 43 05 

Average salary per month of 
teachers in cities and towns 
-males 81 27 53 93 71 08 

Average salary per month of 
teachers in cities and towns 
—females 48 30 38 33 45 51 

General monthly average salary of all teachers 

iu cities and iudependent districts $ 59 02 

General annual average salary of teachers in 
cities and iudependent districts 447 86 

SCHOLASTIC POPULATION AND STATE APPORTIONMENT. 

Total. AppropriHtioDB. 

White males 225,017 ) 4.^0 341 $1 06^,534 50 

While lemales 211,334) ' ■• > • 

Colored ijialcs 74,262 i j^, ^g^ gg^ 733 ^ 

Colored lemales... 73,342) 



Grand total 583,835 $2,627,257 50 

Total population of counties out- 
side of cities 472,773 2,127,478 50 

To al population of cities and in- 
dependent districts 111,062 499,779 00 

Grand total 583,835 $2,627,257 50 

149 district counties without 
ciiie. 282,049 $1,269,220 50 



74 community counties without 
cities 190,734 858,258 00 

140 cities and independent dis- 
tricts 111,002 499,779 00 



Grand total , 



..583,835 $2,027,257 50 



SAM HOUSTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

In 1879 the Normal Scliool was estab- 
lished by the State of Te.xas for the purpose 
of training competent teachers for the public 
schools. Regarding the Normal School as 
the heart of the public-school system, it was 
decided to name the proposed institution the 
" Sam Houston Normal Institute," in honor 
of the hero of Texas independence. Houston 
had spent the evening of his eventful life in 
Iluntsville. Here was his neglected grave. 
As an everlasting monument to the honored 
dead the Normal School was located at 
Huntsvillc. On the Ist of October, 1879, 
the institute opened, with Bernard Mallon 
as principal. Coming here, he had said that 
he would make this his last and best work. 
But the life of this great man, so much loved 
and so much honored, was near its close. 
On the 21st of the same month in which the 
school opened he entered upon his rest. II. 
II. Smith succeeded Professor Mallon, and 
continued in charge of the school to the close 
of the second session. The third annual ses- 
sion opened on the 2Gth of September, 1881, 
with J. Baldwin as principal. The school 
has generally prospered, and is in the high- 
est sense a State school for educating teach- 
ers. The school is greatly indebted for its 
establisliment and success to the liberality of 
the trustees of the Feabody education fund. 
The general agents, Dr. B. Sears and Dr. J. 
L. M. Curry, have done everything possible 
to foster and build up a normal school 
worthy of the great State of Texas. 



UI STORY OF TEXAS. 



133 



The school is strictly professional, and its 
aim is to qualify teachers in the Lest possible 
manner for the work of tlie schuol-rooiu. 

FIKST DECAUK. 

Enn.llpd. GMKlniitP<l. 

1879-'80 110 ... iir 

1880-'81 144 ... uo 

1881-'82 Ki". ... 73 

1882-'83 I'JO ... 77 

1883-84 .* 200 ... 101 

1884-'85 20)*, ... lis 

1885-'86 215 ... 138 

1886-'87 212 ... 13(> 

1887-'88 2^4 ... 147 

1888-'89 2il7 ... 1G8 

1890-'91 320 ... 78 

No effort has been made to secure large 
numbers, but rather the best material for 
making efHcient teachers. None are admitted 
under seventeen years of age, or who do not 
possess a good knowledge of the common 
branches. All students sign a pledge to 
teach in the public schools of the State. 

The standard for aditiission has been 
steadily raised as the educational agencies of 
the State have become more etticient. The 
aim is to make this strictly a jirofessional 
school for preparing trained teachers for the 
public schools of Texas. Academic instruc- 
tion is given only so far as they find it a])so- 
lutely necessary; and this necessity, we are 
pleased to say, steadily diminishes from year 
to year, as the public schools, high schools 
and colleges of the State become more thor- 
ough in their instruction. 

"With the session beginning September 17, 
1889, the school entered upon its second dec- 
ade, with an enrollment of over 300 stu- 
dents. The school having outgrown its ac- 
commodations, the twenty-iirst legislature, 



with wise liberality, appropriated $40,000 to 
erect an additional building. The new build- 
ing has been erected and is now occupied. It 
is a model school building, with all the mod- 
em appliances, and furnishes ample accom- 
modations for 500 students. 

Tliis institution is under control of the 
State Hiiard of Education, composed of the 
Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts 
and Secretary of State, who will appoint a 
local board for its immediate supervision. 
Value of buildings and grounds. . .$105,000 
Value of library and apparatus... 15,000 



Total . 



, 1120,000 



Total appropriations for support 

from organization to date $236,000 

Donations from Feabody fund .... 50,000 



PRAIRIE VIEW STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

This institution is located six miles east of 
Hempstead, in AValler county. It is a branch 
of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
of Texas, and under the government of the 
Board of Directors of that school. Orig- 
inally it was designed for an industrial school, 
but the lack of education among the colored 
people of the State, and the pressing need of 
trained teachers for the colored schools, led 
to a change of objects, and it was therefore 
converted into a normal school for training 
colored teachers. The constant and steadily 
increasing patronage it has since received is 
the best evidence of the wisdom of the 
change— the session of 1888-'89 having the 
largest attendance and being the most pros- 
perous in the history of the institution. 
Since its establishment 757 teachers have 
received more or less professional training, 
and a large number of them are occupying 
influential and profitable positions in the 



n I STORY OP TEXAS. 



|)nblic free schools of the State. Tlie teacli- 
f^rs are all colored people, wlio have thns far 
governed the school with credit to themselves 
and the entire satisfaction of the Board of 
Directors. The institution is supported by 
direct appropriations from the general rev- 
enues of tlie State, and one State student 
from each senatorial district and fifteen from 
the State at large are admitted and taught 
free of charge. A limited number of pay 
students are admitted, and receive books and 
tuition free. Pay students are charged $10 
per month for board. All students are re- 
required to pay a matriculation fee of 555, and 
a fee of $2 for medical attention. 

Tiie regular course of study covers a 
period of three years, and leads to a diploma 
which, in addition to evidencing the holder's 
literary attainments, has the value of a teach- 
er's certificate of the first grade. Certificates 
of competency are issued to such students as 
do satisfactory work in the middle classes, 
entitling tiiem to the compensation of sec- 
ond grade teachers in the public schools. 

Tiie continued growth of this school, and 
demand of the colored people of the State 
for opportunity to secure agricultural and 
mechanical education, induced the twentieth 
legislature to make an appropriation of SIO,- 
(tOO to enable the Board of Directors to in- 
augurate the industrial features of the school. 
A<-comnK>dation8 have recently been pro- 
vided fur thirty-eight students to receive 
instruction in carpentry under a practical 
teacher. Theoretical and practical agricul- 
ture form an important branch of study, and 
the farm and garden worked by the students 
in this department contribute largely to the 
iiL'i'ds of the mess hall. A sewing-room, 
provided with the latest improved sewing 
niacliines and other equipments, has been 
placed in charge of a competent instructress 



in the art of cutting, sewing and fitting, and 
such of the young ladies as desire a practical 
knowledge of this art have an ojjportunity to 
acquire it during their course of study. 

The institution is open to both sexes. 

Applicants must be sixteen years old and 
residents of the State, and are required to 
sign a pledge to teach as many sessions in 
the free schools as they may attend the Nor- 
mal School. 

State students must sustain a satisfactory 
examination in arithmetic as far as decimal 
fractions, orthography, English grammar, En- 
glish composition and history of the United 
States. 

Students furnish their own bedding, except 
mattresses and pillows. 

Value of buildings and grounds. . .$100,000 
Yalue of library and apparatus .... 7,000 

AGKICOLTUEAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF 

TEXAS. 

This institution owes its foundation and 
endowment to the act of the United States 
Congress, approved July 2, 1862, amended 
July 23, 18G5, and to a joint resolution of 
the legislature of Texas, approved November 
1, 1806, and an act of the same body ap- 
proved April 17, 1871. Under these acts 
and the special laws of the legislature grow- 
incr out of them, the first board of directors 
met at Austin, July 16, 1875, and proceeded 
to organize the college. Finally the consti- 
tution of 1876, article VII, provided that 
the Agricultural and Mechanical College of 
Texas, established by the act of the legisla- 
ture passed April 17, 1871, located in the 
county of Brazos, is "hereby made and con- 
stituted a branch of the University of Texas, 
for the instruction in agriculture, the me- 
chanic arts, and the natural sciences con- 
nected therewith." 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The college was formally opened for the 
reception of students October 4, 1870. 

The constitution of Texas provides that 
taxes may be raised for the maintenance and 
support of the college. 

The college is situated at College Station, 
in the county of Brazos, five miles south of 
Bryan and ninety-five miles northwest of 
Houston. The Houston & Texas Central 
railroad runs through the grounds, daily trains 
stopping at the station about 800 yards from 
the main building. 

The government of the college is vested in 
a board of directors, consisting of live mem- 
bers, appointed by the governor of the State. 
They are " selected from different sections of 
the State, and hold ofHce for six years, or dur- 
ing good behavior, and until their successors 
are qualified." 

In November, 1866, the legislature for- 
mally accepted from Congress thegiftof 180,- 
000 acres of public land for the endowment 
of an agricultural and meclianieal college. 
This land was sold for §174,000, which sum 
was invested in 7 per cent. State bonds. As 
under the act of congress neither principal 
nor interest of this money could be used for 
otlior purposes than the payment of officers' 
salaries, at the time of the opening of the 
college there was an addition to tiie fund, 
from accumulated interest, of $35,000. This 
was invested in 6 percent, bonds of the State, 
thus furnishing an annual income of$14, 280. 

The county of Brazos donated to the col- 
lege 2,416 acres of land lying on each side of 
the Houston & Texas Central railroad. 

The act of Congress which established the 
State agricultural and mechanical colleges 
defines their objects. But under that act 
there have been founded as many different 
schools as there are States. These institutions 
have presented a variety of educational 



schemes which have embraced nearly all gra- 
dations from the classical and mathematical 
col'ege to the manual labor industrial school. 
In view of this fact it is proper to state, as 
definitely as possible, the interpretation given 
to the act of Congress by the authorities of 
this college, and the manner in which they 
are endeavoring to carry out its provisions. 

The general object of this college is to ex- 
cite and foster in the minds of our people an 
enthusiastic appreciation of the attractiveness 
and value of those pursuits by which the ma- 
terial development of the country is advanced. 

It is the business of this college to turn 
the attention of our young men from the 
overcrowded " learned professions " to those 
occupations which have brought abundant 
wealth and power to other States, and which 
are beginning now to attract and well repay 
the services of trained young men in Texas. 

These objects are sought to be attained 
by a thorough course of instruction in math- 
ematics and natural science, with continual 
application of principles to work in the shops, 
fields, gardens, vineyards, orchards, pastures, 
dairies, and other laboratories; by relying 
upon text-books as little as possible, and 
leading the students to seek information di- 
rectly from observation and experiment; by 
inculcating the dignity of intelligent labor — 
banishing the idea that the farmer or mechanic 
who is worthy of the name need be any less 
learned than the professional man; and by 
inducing in the mind of the student an en- 
thusiastic love of nature and the study of 
natural laws, whereby agricultural and me- 
chanical processes become invested with ab- 
sorbing interest, and are pursued in a spirit 
which leads to progress and success. 

To enter the college an applicant must be 
in his sixteenth year, or at least must have 
attained a degree of physical and mental ad- 



HIBTURT OF TEX AH. 



vaiiceinoiit correspondinf? to that age. He 
in list be free from contagious or infections 
iliseases or any deformity that would unfit 
liiin for tlie performance of his duties as a 
student of this college. He maybe required 
to furnish evidence that he has not been dis- 
missed from another institution of learning, 
and that his moral character is good. The 
mental attainments necessary for entering 
upon the courses of study comprise a fair 
knowledge of arithmetic as far as proportion, 
of descriptive geography, and of elementary 
English grammar and composition. 

The regular courses of study lead to the 
ijejijrees of bachelor of scientific agriculture, 
buchelor of mechanical engineering, bache- 
lor of civil engineering, and bachelor of 
scientific horticulture. Thorough instruc- 
tion, theoretical and practical, is given in the 
departments of mathematics, agriculture, 
mechanics, civil engineering, horticuUiire, 
chemistry, English, veterinary science and 
drawing; courses in modern languages; 
ppocial short courses in agriculture, horticul- 
ture, dairying, carpentry, blacksmithing, ma- 
chitier^', chemistry, drawing and surveying. 

Total expenses for session (exclusive of 
books and clothing), $140. 

There are in the agricultural museum 419 



'US of Texas wood, all numbered and 



lalx'led, also 208 jars of soil from the different 
enmities of the State, all of which are properly 
arraiif^ed in cases. 

Grounds and buildings are valued at $2(50,- 
000; equipment, including stock, machinery, 
apparatus, library, etc., $75,000. 

AOUn-UI.TL'RAL EXPEKIMENT STATION OF TlIE 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE 

OF TEXAS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS. 

In 1887 Congress made provision for es- 
tablishing, equipping and supporting agri- 



cultural experimental stations in the several 
States, the stations to be placed under the 
supervision of the boards of directors of the 
State agricultural and mechanical colleges, 
where such colleges have been established. 

The act of Congress appropriates $15,000 
per annum from the United States treasury, 
to each State, to equip and support the sta- 
tions. Owing to some technical defect in the 
bill as passed, additional legislation was re- 
quired to make the fund available. By recent 
enactment the appropriation is placed at the 
disposal of the several States, and the stations 
are being organized. 

The purposes for which the Agricultural 
Experimental Station bill was passed is clearly 
set forth in section 2 of the act, which reads 
as follows: 

" It shall be the object and duty of said 
experiment stations to conduct original re- 
searches or verify experiments on the phys- 
iology of plants and animals; the diseases to 
which they are severally subject, with tlie 
remedies for the same; the chemical compo- 
sition of useful plants at their different stages 
of growth; the comparative advantages of 
rotative cropping as furnished under a vary- 
ing series of crops; the capacity of new plants 
or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils 
and water; the chemical composition of ma- 
nures, natural or artificial, with experiments 
designed to test their comparative effect on 
crops of different kinds; the adaptation and 
value of grasses and forage plants; the com- 
position and digestibility of the different 
kinds of food for domestic animals; the scien- 
tific and economic questions involved in tlie 
production of butter and cheese; and such 
other researches or experiments bearing di- 
rectly on the agricultural industry of the 
United States as may in each case he deemed 
advisable. " 



HISTORY OF TEXA8. 



The bill further provides that reports of 
the progress made in experiments shall he 
published from time to time, one copy of 
which shall be sent to each newspaper pub- 
lished in the State where snch station is lo- 
cated, and one to each individual actually- 
engaged in farming who may request the 
same, as far as the means of the station will 
permit; all such reports to be carried in the 
mails free. 

The experiment stations were placed under 
the supervision of the boards of directors of 
the agricultural and mechanical eolleo-es, 
not for the purpose of assisting the colleges, 
but because it was thought the fund would 
be most judiciously expended under such 
control, and it was believed that a portion of 
the equipment of said colleges, in the way of 
land, stock, implements, etc., might, withoiit 
detriment to the work of the colleges, be used 
to some extent in experimental work. It 
was thought also that men employed at the 
colleges, many of whom have become skilled 
in experimental work, would be able to give 
part of their time to the station. 

The bill expressly provides that no part of 
the fund appropriated shall be nsed for any 
purpose other than equipping and supporting 
an establishment for carrying on experi- 
mental work. While the stations may be 
attached to the agricultural colleges and be 
made departments of the same, no part of 
this fund may be used in support of the col- 
leges except in experimental work. 

The Texas Experiment Station. — In ac- 
cordance with the act of Congress, the board 
of directors of the Agricultural and Mechan- 
ical College of Texas have established this 
station, and have made provision for be- 
ginning the work. Tlie station is located at 
the college, and is made a department of the 
college. Such part of the college farm, build- j 



ings and other equipments as may be deemed 
necessary for experimental work will be as- 
signed to the station department by the board 
of directors. In addition to the equipment 
assigned, whatever buildings, apparatus or 
other materials are found necessary to carry 
out the provisions of the law will be provided 
from the experiment station fund. 

Tlie board of directors of the college have 
placed the station department under the im- 
mediate control of the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station Council, consisting of the chair- 
man of the faculty, the agent of the board 
and the director of the station. The depart- 
ments of agriculture, horticulture, cheraisti-y 
and veterinary science will aid in the experi- 
mental work, the heads of the departments to 
superintend the details in their several de- 
partments. 

The board of directors of the college desire 
to make the work of the station of as much 
value to the agricultural interests of the State 
as may be possible. The work will be con- 
ducted at all times with special reference to 
giving information of value that may be of 
some practical use to the farmer. To enable 
them to carry out this policy, all associations 
having the advancement of agriculture in 
view — the Grange, Alliance, stock-breeders', 
fruit-growers', and other organizations — will 
be invited from time to time to appoint dele- 
gates to meet with the board of directors and 
the council, and consult and advise with them 
in regard to the work of the station. Sug- 
gestions will be gladly received at all times 
from any one who is interested in advancing 
the agricultural interests of the State. 

Through the courtesy of the State Peni- 
tentiary board, branch stations have been 
established on the State farms for making 
experiments of interest to the particular 
localities where the farms are situated. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Following is a list of the most important 
investigations so far as undertaken by the 
station: 

A study of the disease of the cotton plant 
known as "blight," or "root rot," and experi- 
ments to find a preventive for the same; 
jointly with the Missouri Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, a study of the cattle disease 
— Texas fever — to determine how the disease 
is transmitted, what parts of the State are 
free from it, and experiments in disinfecting 
to prevent cattle from spreading the disease 
when Texas cattle are shipped north, and 
inoculating cattle to protect from the disease 
when brought into the State; testing differ- 
ent fertilizers; growing a variety of forage 
plants, including silage crops; fattening cattle 
on different rations to determine the most 
economical method of feeding; testing a 
variety of food stuffs for the production of 
butter; testing tile drains on laud used for 
growing farm, fruit and vegetable crops; 
testing a variety of grasses, fruits and vege- 
tables; operating a creamery for investiga- 
tion in dairy work. 

Bulletins are published from time to time, 
giving in detail the work of the station, and 
sent free to any applicant in the State. 

Information in regard to construction of 
silos, farm buildings, creameries, with plans 
for the same, and list of machinery and esti- 
mate as to the cost, will be supplied upon 
request. 

STATE TJNITEESITT. 

The University of Texas owes its existence 
to the wisdom, foresight and statesmanship 
of the founders of the Republic of Texas, 
who made the most ample provision for its 
establishment and maintenance in the legis- 
lation of that period. By an act of the Third 



Congress fifty leagues of land were set apai-t 
as an endowment to the university. The 
legislature of Texas, by an act approved Feb- 
ruary 11, 1858, added to this $100,000 in 
United States bonds then in the State treas- 
ury, and every tenth section of land granted 
or that migiit be thereafter granted to rail- 
roads or the Brazos and Galveston Naviga- 
tion Company, which was to be used as an 
endowment and for the purpose of putting 
the university into operation. This act was, 
however, never carried out, doubtless on ac- 
count of the intervention of the civil war. 
The constitution of 1876 re-appropriated all 
grants before made except the one-tenth 
section, and in lieu thereof set apart 1,000,- 
000 acres of the unappropriated public do- 
main for the university. 

The legislature, by an act approved March 
30, 1881, provided for the location, organ- 
ization and government of the University of 
Texas, and in obedience to that act an elec- 
tion was held the first Tuesday in Septem- 
ber, 188^, to determine where the institution 
should be located, resulting in favor of Aus- 
tin, the capital of the State. 

The buildings are situated about three- 
quarters of a mile north of the State capitol, 
on an imposing site in the center of a forty- 
acre tract of land set apart by the Third 
Congress of the Republic of Texas for that 
purpose, and were opened for the reception 
of students September 15, 1883. Thus was 
the long cherished desire of the fathei-s of 
Texas, and the wishes of the people so often 
expressed in the various State constitutions, 
at last attained. 

The university is governed by a board or 
regents composed of eight citizens, residents 
of different sections of the State, who are ap- 
pointed by the governor and confirmed by 
the senate. By an act of the legislature ap- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



proved April 10, 1883, 1,000,000 acres of the 
public debt land were added to tlie permanent 
university fund. 

Of the various land grants made to the 
university, there remained unsold 2,020,049 
acres on December 31, 1891. The perma- 
nent fund consists of : State bonds, |571,- 
240; cash, $24.01. Total, $571,2fi4.01; avail- 
able fund (cash), $19,548.85. Grand total, 
$590,812.86. 

The interest on the above sum, rental on 
leased lands, and matriculation fees, amount- 
ing to $45,100.78 per annum, constitute the 
available university fund. 

The system of instruction adopted by tbe 
university is a combination of what is known 
as the elective system and what is known as 
the class system. The four classes — fresh- 
man, sophomore, junior and senior — are re- 
tained, and serve to articulate the four years 
devoted to the completion of any full course 
in the academic department. The studies, 
however, are grouped into three general 
courses, designated, respectively, the course 
in arts, the course in letters, and the course 
in science. A student upon matriculation is 
allowed to elect any one of these courses, 
and upon its completion he is entitled to a 
diploma of the university. 

The three general courses of arts, letters 
and science lead respectively to the three fol- 
lowing degrees: Bachelor of arts (B. A.); 
bachelor of letters (B. Lit.); bachelor of 
science (B. Sc). Each special course leads 
to the same degree as the general course to 
which it is related. 

Every candidate for admission must be 
sixteen years of age and of good moral char- 
acter. Candidates (except a graduate from 
an approved high school) are required to pass 
an entrance examination in English and 
mathematics as follows: English — English 



grammar, etymology, elementary principles 
of syntax and rhetoric. The main test con- 
sists in writing upon a given subject a com- 
position correct in spelling, punctuation, 
capital letters and grammar. Mathematics 
— Arithmetic, including proportion, decimals, 
interest, discount and the metric system; 
algebra, including theory of exponents, radi- 
cals, simple and quadratic equations; and the 
elements of plain geometry (corresponding 
to the first six books of Ilalsted's geometry). 
Passing these examinations, a student will 
be admitted to the freshman class in the 
course of science, or the junior class of the 
law department. The graduates of approved 
high schools will be admitted to the univer- 
sity without examination, provided they have 
reached the required age, and provided they 
present themselves for admission at the be 
ginning of the scholastic year next succeed- 
ing their graduation from the high school. 
If, however, a graduate of an approved high 
school is not sixteen at this time, he will be 
allowed to enter when he attains this age. 

The following high schools have already 
been approved, and are now auxiliary to the 
university: 

Austin, Mexia, 

Houston, Blanco, 

Galveston (Ball), Taylor, 

Belton, Mineola, 

Bryan, Eound Rock Institute, 

Corsicana, Fort Worth, 

San Antonio, Abilene, 

Waco,- Temple, 

Brenham, Weatherford, 

Tyler, Cleburne, 

Rockdale, Terrell, 

El Paso, Waxahachie, 

Dallas, Gonzales. 

La Grange. 



UlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 



"When gradnates from the above schools 
present their diplomas or certificates to the 
ciiairman of the faculty, they will be ad- 
mitted to the freslunan class in English, his- 
tory and mathematics and to junior law. In 
case Latin and Greek were requisite for 
graduation from any high school, the grad- 
uates of that school will be admitted to fresh- 
man Greek and freshman Latin also. 

The session begins the fourth Wednesday 
in September and closes on the third "Wednes- 
day in June, and is divided into two terms. 

Co-education is a feature of the institution. 
Young women have equal advantages with 
the young men, and the course of study is 
the same for both. Tuition in the university 
is free to all residents of the State. 

Each student is required to pay a matricu- 
lation fee, as follows: Academic department, 
§10; law department, $20. Non-resident 
students are also required to pay that amount 
as a tuition fee. Students who work in the 
laboratory pay for the materials they use. 

"Value of buildings and grounds, $240,000; 
value of library, §15,573.99; value of chemical 
and physical apparatus, $30,945; total, $296,- 
518.99. 

BLIND ASYLUM. 

The State Asylum for the Blind was estab- 
lished September 2, 1856, and has for its 
object the education of blind persons. It is 
not an asylum -where the indigent and help- 
less are cared for at the public expense, but 
a school in which the blind receive such gen- 
eral education and training in industrial pur- 
suits as will aid them to become self-sup- 
porting as other classes. "When the course 
of study prescribed has been completed the 
pupils return to their homes, as do the stu- 
dents of other schools, and like them are no 
longer a charge upon the State. In short, 



the only difference between the school for the 
blind and a public school is in flie amount of 
money the State expends on them. Sighted 
persons only receive free tuition, while the 
blind are fed, clothed and transported to and 
from school at public expense. 

The course of study is as follows: 

Heading by touch in point and line print, 
writing in New York point, arithmetic, 
mathematical and physical geography, Eng- 
lish grammar, etymology, elements of ancient 
and modern history, natural philosophy, Eng- 
lish literature, elements of chemistry, phys- 
iology and hygiene. 

Of the trades, piano-forte tuning, broom- 
making and upholstering are tauglit to the 
young men. The young ladies receive in- 
struction in crocheting and bead work, and 
learn to sew by hand and by machine. The 
young men excel sighted persons as piano- 
tuners, and become very proficient at making 
brooms, mattresses, pillows, and bottoming 
chairs with cane and rattan. The bead work 
and crocheting done by the young ladies 
would reflect credit on sighted persons. The 
physical development of pupils is promoted 
by regular daily exercises in calisthenics, 
with dumb-liells, Indian clubs and rings. 

Pupils whose sight can be benefited by 
operating on their eyes receive treatment 
from a skilled oculist connected with the in- 
stitution. About twenty-three persons have 
in this way been restored to sight within the 
last twelve years. 

All blind persons, or persons who cannot 
see to read ordinary newspaper print, between 
eight and tw-enty years of age, will be ad- 
mitted to the institution. 

The school is located in Austin, and in 
number of teachers, size of the buildings, the 
amount of philosophical, chemical and astro- 
nomical apparatus, maps, globes and appli- 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



ances for the school-room, variety of musical 
instruments, etc., is the largest in the Soutli. 

N amber of pupils enrolled during 1891, 
164. The average cost per capita of feeding 
them was about $5.30 per month. 

Number of officers and teachers, 19; num- 
ber of employes, 14. 

Value of buildings and grounds, $115,000; 
value of scientific apparatus, $1,250; value of 
school and musical apparatus, $7,000; total, 
$123,250. 

DEAF AND DUMB ASVLUM. 

The State Deaf and Dumb Asylum is sit- 
uated at the State capital, on a commanding 
height south of the Colorado river, and is 
justly regarded as one of tlie most beautiful 
and healthful locations in the city. 

During the session of 1891, 233 pupils were 
enrolled up to October 31, and 195 were in 
actual attendance. 

The health of the institution has not been 
good, three deaths having occurred during 
the year from la grippe, dysentery and dropsy 
of the heart. 

The total expense of maintaining the insti- 
tution from March 1, 1891, to November 1, 
1891, was $75,816, which includes $30,- 
000 for additional story and repairs. This 
includes all ordinary expenses, such as board, 
fuel, light, medicine, salaries of officers, teach- 
ers and employes, and so much of clothing 
and transportation as was paid by the State. 

There are fourteen officers and teachers, 
five experts and twelve employes connected 
with the institution. 

It is the purpose of the State in establish- 
ing snch institutions to give the students a 
practical education, and as far as posiible 
rescue this unfortunate class from helpless- 
ness and dependence. In addition, therefore, 



to the instruction usual in such schools, a 
printing office, book bindery and shoe shop 
have been established for the purpose of teach- 
ing those trades to such of the pupils as have 
the ability and inclination to learn them. 
Skilled workmen, experts in their business, 
are in charge of each of these departments, 
and the progress made by the students under 
them has thus far been very encouraging. 

An art department was inaugurated Octo- 
ber 5, 1887, and is now one of the most in- 
teresting and attractive features of the school. 
Some of the pupils acquired such skill in 
crayon work before the end of the session that 
they were offered profitable employment at 
work of that kind during vacation. 

The conditions of admission to the insti- 
tution are few and simple. The age at which 
pupils are received and the length of time 
they are kept are matters left to the discre- 
tion of the superintendent. Persons not 
susceptible of receiving instruction will not 
be received at all. Parents are required to 
furnish transportation, if able to do so; other- 
wise it will be provided by the State. 

The school opens the first "Wednesday in 
Septem'ber and closes the first "Wednesday in 
June of each year. 

Pupils are required to return to their 
homes during vacation to give opportunity to 
renovate and repair the buildings. 

"Value of buildings and grounds, $125,000; 
value of library, $500; total, $125,500. 

DEAF AND DUMB AND BLIND INSTITUTE FOR 
THE COLORED YOUTH. 

The Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum 
for colored youth was established by an act 
of the Twentieth Legislature, which provided 
for the appointment of a board to select a 
site near the city of Austin, and appropriated 



U I STOUT OF TEXAS. 



§50,000 for the erectiou of buildings and tlie 
jMirchase of furniture. An admirable loca- 
tion, about two and a quarter miles northwest 
of Austin, was selected for the buildings, and 
tlie institution first opened for the reception 
of students October 1, 1887. On November 
1, 1891, there had been 73 pupils enrolled 
and in actual attendance. Of this number 
'61 were deaf mutes and 36 blind persons. 

The same general rules of government and 
conditions of admission in force at the insti- 
tutions for the blind and deaf and dumb for 
the whites, obtain in this institution. The 
text-books and system of instruction are also 
the same. 

Including the superintendent, there are 
three otficers and four teachers and four em- 
ployes connected with the institution, all of 
whom are colored people. 

Value of buildings and grounds, $34,000; 
total disbursements from March 1, 1889, to 
October 1, 1890, $24,553.48. 

OTHER STATE INSTITUTIONS. 

STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 

The State Lunatic Asylum is situated about 
two miles north of Austin, on a beautiful 
plateau of ground adorned and beautified by 
dowers, plants, summer-houses and forest 
trees, the latter constituting a splendid park, 
upon whose grassy lawn the patients are per- 
mitted to take exercise and get fresh air and 
sunshine. The buildings are capacious and 
elegant, though somewhat crowded owing to 
the rapidity with which the insane popula- 
tion increases. 

There are ninety-five employes in the in- 
stitution. 

The estimated value of the buildings and 
grounds is $505,000, that of all other prop- 



erty belonging to the institution ^35,419.83. 

In connection with the institution there is 
a large farm and garden where patients are 
permitted to work with a view of diverting 
the mind and affording exercise for the body. 
For the same purpose concerts, music, danc- 
ing and other amusements are indulged in 
once each week. Most of the patients enjoy 
the farm work very much, and look forward 
with great interest for the return of the day 
appointed for the weekly entertainment. In 
this way their minds are pleasantly occupied 
with the new subjects, and in many cases ul- 
timate recovery thereby made possible. 

From the report of the superintendent for 
the year ending October 31, 1890, the follow- 
ing data have been obtained: 

Number patients admitted during the year, 
106; discharged restored, 27; discharged im- 
proved, 37; discharged unimproved, 1; total 
discharged, 65; furlouglied,36; returned from 
furlough, 33; died, 33; escaped, 19; returned 
from escape, 17. Total treated during the 
year, 745; number in asylum October 31, 
1891, 629. 

The daily average nunaber present during 
the year was 621, and the cost per annun of 
keeping each patient, $149.71, or $2.87 per 
week. Total expenditures for the year, $130,- 
326.54, of which $5,000 was for permanent 
improvements. 

The total number of patients admitted from 
the beginning of the hospital is 3,678, of 
which number 667 died, 66 escaped, 1,798 
were discharged, 58 furloughed. 

NOKTH TEXAS HOSPITAL FOE THE INSANE. 

This institution is located at Terrell, in 
Kaufman county, and was first opened for the 
reception of patients July 15, 1885. It was 
established in obedience to a general demand 



HI8T0BT 0]<' TEXAS. 



for additional asylum room for the accommo- 
dation of the hundreds of insane persons then 
confined in jails and on poor farms through- 
out the State. 

The buildings are constructed on the latest 
and most improved plan of hospitals for the 
insane, and contain all modern conveniences 
for the treatment of the insane. 

The actual running expenses for the year 
were $95,226.04; cost of maintaining in- 
mates, per capita per year, $170; per week, 
$3.26. The estimated value of the biiildings, 
grounds, furniture and other appurtenances, 
is $261,765. Number of officers connected 
with the institution, 5; employes, 42. 

STATE ORPHAN ASYLUM. 

The creation of an orphan asylum was 
contemplated and provided for by the found- 
ers of our State government, who gave it the 
same land endowments bestowed on other 
charitable institutions. This institution was 
required to be established by an act of the 
Twentieth Legislature, approved April 4, 
1887. The governor was required to appoint 
three commissioners to select a site for the 
asylum. Competition between the various 
towns in the State for the location of the in- 
stitution was invited, which resulted in the 
selection of Corsicana, in Navarro countv. 
The sum of $5,700 was appropriated out of 
the available Orphan Asylum fund for the 
establishment of the institution. Subse- 
quently, at the special session of the Twen- 
tieth Legislature, $15,000 and the available 
fund to the credit of the asylum in the State 
treasury was appropriated for the erection of 
buildings and other improvements. 

The site on wliich the asylum is located 
and the surrounding scenery are unsurpassed 
by any place in the State for their beauty and 



adaptability for such an institution. The 
buildings, which are constructed on the cot- 
tage plan, and have a capacity of about 200 
inmates, were completed and the institution 
formally opened July 15, 1889. 

From the date of the opening of the in- 
stitution, November 1, 1890, 60 children — 
23 girls and 31 boys — had been received into 
the home. Of those two ran away and four 
were returned to friends, leaving 54 in the 
institution. 

The expenses of the asylum for the seven- 
teen months ending October 31, 1890, 
amounted to $13,993.63. 

The asylum is governed by a board of 
managers who are appointed by the governor, 
and have power to prescribe rules and regu- 
lations for the admission of inmates and con- 
trol of the institution. 

All orphan children under the age of four- 
teen years shall be admitted, subject only to 
such restrictions as the board deem necessary 
to the welfare and good government of the 
asylum. 

The superintendent is required to keep a 
list of the names and ages of all children, 
with such data as may be obtainable con- 
cerning their history, subject at all times to 
public inspection. He is also required to 
see that their pro rata of the public school 
fund is set aside, and to provide them with 
proper educational facilities. 

STATE HOUSE OF COKEEOTION AND EEFOEMATORY. 

By act of the Twentieth Legislature, ap- 
proved March 29, 1887, a State house of 
correction and reformatory for youthful 
convicts was provided for, and the governor 
required to appoint a commission to locate 
the same. The institution was located two 
and one-fourth miles northeast of Gatesville, 



HISTORY OF TKXAS. 



Coryell county, and the necessary buildings 
erected there during the summer of 1888. 
Up to date of the last report of the superin- 
tendent §!75.890 had been expended in the 
purchase of land, erection of buildings, and 
equipping the institution. 

The institution has a capacity of about 
100, and was opened January 3, 1889. Up 
to October 31, 1890, 111 persons had been 
received at the institution. 

All persons under sixteen years of age 
convicted of any felony, the punishment for 
which does not exceed five years' confinement, 
are sentenced to the Reformatory. 

The trustees are required to "see that the 
inmates are taught habits of industry and 
sobriety, some useful trade, and to read and 
write, and also supplied with suitable books." 
The white and colored inmates of the insti- 
tution are required to be kept, worked and 
educated separately. 

The institution is conducted on the "cot- 
tage" or family plan. The buildings are 
heated by steam and lighted by electricity. 
Since the institution was opened a farm of 
200 acres and a garden and orchard — about 
600 acres — have been put in cultivation. 

There are six officers and three guards at 
the institution. Expense of the institution 
from March 1 to November 30, 1891, $25,- 
295.48. 

THE PENITENTIAEY SYSTEM. 

The law of 1881 for organizing the State 
penitentiaries provided that the system of 
labor in the State penitentiaries should be by 
lease, by contract, by the State, or partly by 
one system and partly by the other, as shall 
be in the discretion of the penitentiary board 
deemed for the best interests of the State. 
The Eighteenth Legislature in 1883 repealed 



that portion of the law of 1881 authorizing 
the lease of the penitentiaries, and conse- 
quently the contract and State account sys- 
tems only are allowed. 

At this time all of the industriesat both the 
prisons, Huntsville and Rusk, are operated 
on the Slate account system. Between 800 
and 900 convicts are worked on farms, and 
about 463 on railroads, under the contract 
system. Nearly 200 convicts are worked on 
farms on shares, and about 200 on farms 
OM-ned by the State, on State account. 

The organization of the penitentiaries con- 
sists of a penitentiary board composed of 
three commissioners appointed by the gov- 
ernor, a superintendent of penitentiaries, a 
financial agent of penitentiaries, two assistant 
superintendents of penitentiaries, and two in- 
spectors of outside convict camps, all ap- 
pointed by the governor. For each peniten- 
tiary a pliysician and a chaplain are appointed 
by the penitentiary board. The assistant 
superintendent of each penitentiary appoints, 
with the approval of the superintendent, such 
number of under officers as may be necessary 
to preserve discipline and preveut escapes. 
And the superintendent of penitentiaries, 
when the penitentiaries are being operated 
on State account, may, under the direction of 
the State board, employ such number of 
skilled workmen or other employes as may 
be deemed essential to the successful opera- 
tion of the penitentiaries. 

The gangs or forces of convicts worked on 
farms and railroads, whether worked under 
contract or on State account, are each under 
the control of an officer designated as a ser- 
geant, who is appointed by the superintend- 
ent of penitentiaries, and, under the direction 
of tlie said superintendent and inspector of 
outside forces, has charge and control of tlie 
management and discipline of the convict 



UISrOBT OF TEXAS. 



force for which he may have been appointed. 
This sergeant, nnder the direction of said 
otiicers, has the appointing and control of the 
guards necessary to control such force. The 
cntractor has nothing whatever to do with 
the discipline of the convicts. He is only 
entitled to a reasonable amount of labor 
within hours, etc., prescribed by contract and 
provided for in the penitentiary rules and 
regulations. On the contract farms the con- 
tractors feed the convicts as prescribed by the 
rules. At all otiier places the State feeds, 
clothes and furnishes bedding and all medi- 
cines and medical attendance, and pays all 
sergeants and guards. The law provides that 
no contract shall be made by which the con- 
trol of the convicts, e-xcept as to a reasonable 
amount of labor, shall pass from the State or 
its officers, and the management of convicts 
shall, in all cases and under all circumstances, 
remain under control of the State and its 
officers. 

PENITENTIARY INDUSTRIES. 

At the Iluntsville penitentiary there is the 
wagon department, in which are built wagons, 
drays, cane and log wagons, buggies, hacks, 
etc. In the cabinet department are made 
chairs and furniture, mostly of a cheap class. 

In the machine rooms are made engines, 
boilers, hydrants, etc. ; in the foundry vari- 
ous kinds of castings. There is a factory in 
which is manufactured mostly tiie stripes for 
all the clothing for the convicts. In the shoe 
and tailor shops are made convict shoes and 
clothes, and there is also done on order some 
citizens' work. 

Tlie State owns and works on State account 
witli convicts a farm about two miles from 
the Huntsville penitentiary, on which is raised 
cotton for the factory, corn for farm and prison 



consumption, and vegetables for tlie prison. 

At the Rusk penitentiary the principal in- 
dustries are the making of pig iron, manu- 
facture of castings of various kinds, and 
making of cast-iron water and gas pipe. A 
large number of convicts are engaged in 
making charcoal and digging iron ore for tiie 
smelting furnace. 

In connection with the Rusk penitentiary 
some of the land belonging to the State is 
used for raising fruit and vegetables for the 
convicts, and otlier lands have been rented 
contiguous to the prison, on which has been 
raised corn, peas, etc., for prison use. 

Another farm belonging to the State, in 
Fort Bend county, on Oyster creek, and 
known as Harlem, is worked on State account, 
and raises cotton, corn and sugar for the gen- 
eral market. All of these farms are operated 
with second and third class convict labor — 
convicts not fit for much other kind of labor. 

There are two farms worked on the share 
system, by which the State furnishes the 
labor and the owners of the farms the land 
and teams, and crop divided. One of these 
belongs to the estate of J. G. Johnson, about 
seven miles from Huntsville, and employs 
about forty convicts, and the other belongs 
to Colonel John D. Rogers, in Brazos county, 
on which are employed about 160 convicts. 
There is the same class of convicts on these 
share farms as on the State farms. 

The officers of the penitentiaries appointed 
by the governor are: three commissioners, 
constituting the penitentiary board, one su- 
perintendent of penitentiaries, one financial 
agent of penitentiaries, two assistant superin- 
tendents of penitentiaries, two inspectors of 
outside camps. 

The officers appointed by the penitentiary 
board are: two penitentiary physicians, two 
chaplains. 



UIHTOUY OF TEXAS. 



Tlie iiiulor officers appointed by superin- 
tetuleiit of ])onitentiaiios are: tweiity-tive 
t'crpioants of outside forces, six assistant ser- 
geants of outside forces, two stewards of out- 
side forces. 

The under officers appointed by assistant 
iiuperintendents are: two under keepers, 
two night sergeants, two stewards, seven ser- 
geants, two assistant sergeants, eighty-tivo 
guards, etc. 

Tiie under officers or guards appointed by 
sergeants are: 300 guards. 

The foremen and other citizen employes 
employed by superintendents are: seven at 
Uuntsville penitentiary, eight at Rusk ])eui- 
tentiary. 

The clerks employed by financial agents 
are: seven at Huntsville penitentiary, two 
at Rusk penitentiary. 

The outside physicians appointed by super- 
intendents are seven in number. 

Total number paid monthly by the finan- 
cial agent — officers, guards, foremen, and 
other employes — 470. 

The value of State property belonging to 
the penitentiaries is fully set forth in the re- 
port of the superintendent, up to November 
1, 1890, as follows: 

Huutsville penitenliaiy |;7G9,09G.73 

Husk penitenliaiy 720,245.03 

8tate farm, Harlem 200,074.83 

Kogers' sbaie farm 21,002.48 

CoDlract farms 9,702.32 

Railroad trains 10,15-'.27 

State penitentiaries, cash on hand, etc. .. 43,021.28 



Total valuation of penitentiary properly, 

November 1, 1890 .| 1,8 10,955.53 

Total valuation of jienitentiary properly, 

• May 16, 1883 931,140.83 

RELIGIOUS. 
As one might guess from the early history 
of Texas iu a political point of view, the 
Mexicans and pioneers of this region were 



not demonstrative in their l>iety. Down to 
the time of independence Catholic intoler- 
ance prevailed, and the Catholics themselves, 
in Spanish America, were not zealous in 
eeciilar education. 

Prior to the era of independence about 
the only efforts, of which we have record, to 
establish Protestantism in Texae were those 
of the Baptists, who failed to make their in- 
stitutions permanent. In 1837 a Baptist 
church was organized at Washington, Z. N. 
Morrell being chosen pastor, and money was 
subscribed to build a house of worship. The 
first Protestant Episcopal church was estab- 
lished in 1838, at Matagorda, by Caleb S. 
Ives, who collected a congregation, estab- 
lished a school and built a church. During 
the same year R. M. Chapman organized a 
parish in Houston. 

For the purpose of this volume, with refer- 
ence to church statistics, probably the only 
feature that would be of general interest to 
the general public will be the total member- 
ship; for all other statistical matter in regard 
to religious institutions is about in a certain 
proportion to this. Tlie following taljle, 
therefore, gives only the total membership: 

DENOMINATION. MKMBEUSllIP. 

Methodist Episcopal, South 151,533 

Baptist... 127,377 

Episcopal •J,H82 

Methodist Episcopal (North) 25,739 

German Lutheran (1877) 2.270 

Presbyterian 2,414 

Southern Presliytorian (1877) 13,555 

Cumberland rresbyierian 24,257 

Christian 55,000 

Primitive Baptist 1,000 

Seventh- Day Adventists 300 

Universalists 95 

Brethren (Dunkards) 125 



HI8T0R7 OF TEXAS. 



Free Methodists 100 

Catholic 157,000 

Hebrew 300 

Methodist Protestant 6,300 

Colored M. E. Church in America. . 12,162 

African Methodist Episcopal 12,900 

Colored Baptist 100,681 

It must be borne in mind that it has been 
impossible to obtain exact data with ref- 
erence to a few of the above named churches. 



THE PRESS. 

The first printing-press in Texas was put 
into operation at Nacogdoches in 1819, and 
was brought to that place by General Long, 
who established a provisional government 
and a supreme council, which issued a decla- 
ration proclaiming Texas an independent 
republic. The office was placed under the 
management of Horatio Biglow, and was 
used for the publication of various laws en- 
acted and proclamations issued by that short- 
lived government. 

Tlie iirst regular newspaper, however, made 
its initial appearance about 1829, at San 
Felipe, bearing the name, The Cotton 
Plant. Godwin B. Gotten was editor and 
proprietor. In 1832 its name was changed 
to The Texas Republican. 

The second paper was the Texas Gazette 
and Brazoria Advertiser, published in Bra- 
zoria in 1830. In September, 1832, it was 
merged into the Constitutional Advocate and 
Texas Public Advertiser, with D. W. An- 
thony as owner and editor, who died in 
1833, and the paper ceased. 

Next was the Texas Republican, at Bra- 
zoria, by F. C. Gray, in December, 1834. 
This was printed on the old press brought 
into the realm by Gotten, before mentioned. 



In January, 1835, this was the only paper 
published in Texas, and in August, 1836, it 
was discontinued. 

The fourth newspaper was the Telegraph, 
started in August 1835, at San Felipe, by 
Gail and Thomas H. Borden and Joseph 
Baker. A Mexican force seized this in April, 
1836, and threw the material of the office 
into a bayou at Harrisburg, to which place 
it had been moved after the abandonment of 
San Felipe by the Americans. In August, 
that year, the Bordens bought new press and 
material and revived the Telegraph at Co- 
lumbia, and subsequently moved to Houston, 
where the paper was published for many 
years, under the name of the Houston Tele- 
graph. 

After the establishment of Texan inde- 
pendence the number of newspapers in- 
increased rapidly, until now the State has as 
many newspapers as any other in proportion 
to population. 

The first daily paper established in Texas 
was the Morning Star, by Cruger & Moore 
of the Telegraph, between 1840 and 1844. 

The Texas Editorial and Press Association 
was organized September 10, 1873, and after- 
ward incorporated. 

RAILROADS. 

During the last fifteen years railroad sys- 
tems have been established at a compara- 
tively rapid rate. In 1870 there was less 
than 300 miles in operation; in 1876, 1,600 
miles; in 1885, over 7,000 miles; and in 
1890, according to the last census, 8,914. 

In the time of the republic numerous 
ciiarters for railroads were granted, but no 
road was built. It was not till 1852 that the 
first road was commented. That year a pre- 



EISrOUT OF TEXAS. 



lirniiiarj survey was made and some work 
done on what was then called the Buffalo 
Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad, starting 
from Ilarrisbnrg and going westerly; and 
within the same year the first locomotive was 
set to work at Ilarrisburg, the first in Texas 
and the second west of the Mississippi. The 
company was organized June 1, 1850, at 
Ijoston, Massachusetts, by General Sidney 
Sherman, Who may be regarded as the father 
of railroads in Texas. The work progressed 
slowly, and the Colorado was not reached till 
1859, when tlie line was opened to Eagle 
lake, sixty- five miles from the place of be- 
ginning. By 1866 the line had reached 
Columbus, tlie river being bridged at Alley- 
ton. A change in the charter made in 1870 
fixed upon San Antonio as the objective 
point, and since that time it has been known 
as the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio 
Railway, or" SuBset route," but is now in- 
corporated in the great Southern Pacific 
system. January 15, 1877, the road reached 
San Antonio, the citizens of Bexar county 
iiaving voted, in January, 1876, $300,000 in 
county bonds to secure the speedy comple- 
tion of the line. In the same month the 
passenger terminus was changed from Har- 
risburg to Houston by a line from Pierce 
Junction. The line has since been extended 
to El Paso, to connect there with the South- 
ern Pacific, going on to the Pacific coast. 
At that point it also connects with the Mex- 
ican Central. The length of the main line 
is 848 miles, and no railroad in Texas has 
had more influence in the settlement and 
development of the country. 

The next railro:.d commenced in Texas was 
the Houston & Texas Central. The original 
charter was granted in 18-48, by which the 
company was incorporated under the title of 
the Galveston & Red River Railroad Com- 



pany. Their line was to extend from Gal- 
veston to the northern boundary of the State. 
Work was begun in 1853, at Houston, by the 
first incorporator, Ebenezer Allen, and at that 
time the name was changed to its present 
form. The rivalry between Galveston and 
Houston was satisfied by a compromise, under 
which arrangement the two cities were con- 
nected by the Galveston, Houston & Hen- 
derson Road, which was begun at Virginia 
Point, and completed in 1865, and a junction 
was made with the Houston & Texas Central. 
In 1859 a bridge was constructed across the 
bay by the city of Galveston. 

Construction proceeded slowly, only eighty 
miles having been made by the time of the 
breaking out of the Civil war, which com- 
pletely interrupted further building. In 
March, 1873, it reached Denison, forming 
there a junction with the Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas Road, chus opening rail communica- 
tion with St. Louis. 

Houston has become the railroad center of 
the State, having at least ten trunk lines. 

The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe line was 
chartered in May, 1873, as a Galveston en- 
terprise. Construction was commenced at 
Virginia Point in May, 1875, and the road 
opened for traflic as far as Richmond in 
1878. 

Other important systems of late introduc- 
tion are the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, Atchi- 
son, Topeka & Santa Fe, San Antonio & 
Aransas Pass, St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas 
("Cotton Belt"), International & Great 
Northern, Texas & Pacific, etc. 

All the above mentioned trunk lines liave 
of course several branches, so that it can now 
be said in familiar parlance that the State of 
Texas is "gridironed" with railroads, and 
still construction is going on, and many more 
lines are projected. 



niSTORT OF TEXAS. 



149 



The following table shows the number of 
miles of railroad in the State: 



Names of Companios. Mil( 

Austin & Northwestern 

East Line & Red Iliver 

Fort Worth & Denver City 

Fort Worth & New Orleans 

Fort Worth & Rio Grande . . 

Galveston, liarrisbnrg & San An- 
tonio 

Galveston, Houston & Henderson . . 

Houston & Texas Central 

Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 

Gulf, West Texas & Pacific 

Houston East & West Texas 

International & Great Northern. . . . 

New York, Texas & Mexican 

Missouri, Kansas & Texas 

*Sherman, Dcnison & Dallas 

*Dallas & Greenville 

*East Line & Red River 

*Gainesville, Henrietta & Western . 

*Dallas & AVichita 

*Dallas & Waco 

*Trinity & Sabine 

*Taylor, Bastrop & Houston 

San Antonio & Aransas Pass 

St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas 

Southern Kansas & Texas 

Sabine & East Texas 

Texas Central 

Texas Mexican 

Texas, Sabine Valley & Northwestern. 

Texas Trunk 

Texas & Pacific 

Tyler Southeastern 

Texas Western 

Texas & New Orleans 



70.U0 
121.85 
407.34 

40.50 
112.54 

926 30 

50.00 

510.00 

958.25 

111.10 

101.38 

•f647.00 

91.00 

389.39 

9.53 

52.43 

31.76 

70.57 

37.62 

65.57 

66.55 

105.89 

037.20 

554.05 

100.41 

103.47 

288. SO 

178.61 

38.00 

51.00 

1,125.95 

89.08 

52 25 

105.10 



fOnly 250 80 miles are taxed 

♦Operated by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. 



Weatherford, Mineral Wells & North- 
western 20.05 

Central Texas & Northwestern 12.00 

AVichita Valley 51.36 

Totals 8,914.13 

MINERAL RESOURCES OF TEXAS. 

The mineral resources of Texas are too 
varied in their character and too widespread 
in their occurrence to permit more than a 
brief review of the results obtained by the 
investio-ations of the geological survey dur- 
ing the past two years. Previous to the 
organization of the present survey little sys- 
tematic work had been done toward securing 
definite and accurate information of the vari- 
ous economic products of the geology of the 
State. Many mineral localities were known, 
and the qualities of many ores, soils and 
other materials had been tested by analyses. 
A few mines and manufactories scattered 
liere and there over the State had tested some 
of these deposits practically, but there was 
nowhere a statement of such facts concern- 
ing them as would enable the owner or pros- 
pector to form any definite idea of their 
relations or probable values. 

The following statements are based for the 
greater part on the work of Hon. E. T. 
Dumble, State Geologist, and his associates 
of the present survey (although all reliable 
sources of information accessible to them at 
present have been examined), and many of 
the facts will be found stated in much 
greater detail in the various papers accom- 
panying the annual reports of the survey. 

FUEL AND OILS. 

Wood.—Ower eastern Texas the amount ot 
wood suitable for fuel purpo.ses is seemingly 
inexhaustible; but westward it grows less 



U I STORY OP TBXAJS. 



and less, until in many places mesquite roots 
or even tlie " Mexican dagger" are the prin- 
cipal source of supply. The investigations 
of the survey up to the present have been 
confined to an examination of the wood sup- 
• ply of certain counties with reference to the 
manufacture of charcoal for iron sineltincr. 

Lujmte. — Intermediate between peat and 
bituminous coal we tind a fossil fuel known 
as lignite or brown coal. It contains less 
water and more carbon than peat, but has 
more water and less carbon then bituminous 
coal. Lignites are the product of a later 
geologic age than bituminous coal, and the 
bituminous matter has not been so fully 
developed as in the true bituminous coal. 

Lignite varies in color from a brown to a 
brilliant jet black, and occurs in all degrees 
of purity, from a ligiiitic clay to a glossy 
coal of cubical fracture. The greatest amount 
of our lignites, however, are of black color, 
i-lianging to brownish black on exposure, 
(pften with somewhat of a coiichoidal fracture 
and a specific gravity of about 1.22. Lignite 
occurs in beds similar to those of bituminous 
coal, although they are not always as regular 
and continuous. 

The lignite field is by far the largest field 
we have, and the coal sti-ata it contains are 
of much greater thickness than those of 
either of the others. As nearly as we can 
at present mark its boundaries they are as 
f.illows: Beginning on the Sabine river, in 
Sal)ine county, the boundary line runs west 
and southwest near Crockett, Navasota, Led- 
better, Weimar, and on to Helena and the 
iiio Grande, tiience b-ick by rear.-^all, Elgin, 
Marlin, liichland, Salem, and Clarksville to 
la:d river. 

It includes fifty-four counties in whole or 
[.'art, and wliilo we do not know of tlic occur- 



rence of lignite in every one of these, it will 
in all probability be found in all of them 
sooner or later. 

Within the area thus defined lignite has 
been observed at hundreds of localities. The 
beds vary from a few inches to as much as 
twelve feet, which thickness has been ob- 
served and measured in numerous places. 

The lignites have been mined in greater or 
less quantities in several places, among 
which may be mentioned: Athens, Hender- 
son county; seven miles east of Emory, Rains 
county; Alamo, Cass county; Head's Prairie, 
Robertson county; Calvert Bluff, Robertson 
county; Rockdale, Milam county; Bastrop, 
Bastrop county; Lytle Mine, Atascosa county; 
San Tomas, Webb county, and othei-s. 

Of these localities the Laredo "San Tomas" 
coal stands out sharply above the rest. Al- 
though it is classed as a lignite on the 
ground of its geologic occurrence, it is much 
superior to any of the ordinary lignites, ae is 
shown by its analysis. 

The real value of this material as fuel is 
not at all appreciated. Lignite, up to the 
present time, has been regarded as of very 
little value. Two causes have been instru- 
mental in creating this impression; first, the 
quality it possesses of rapidly slacking and 
crumbling when exposed to the air; and sec- 
ond (and perhaps this is the principal cause), 
all who have attempted to use it have done 
so without first studying its character and 
the best methods of burning it, as they have 
in most cases endeavored to use it under the 
same conditions which apply to a bituminous 
coal containing a little water. While lignite 
may not differ materially from bituminous 
coal in weight, its physical properties are 
entirely different. This is due not only to 
tlie amount of water contained in the lignite, 
amounting to from 10 to 20 per cent, of its 



nisTonr of tbxas. 



151 



weight, but also to the fact that itis'tlio prod- 
uct of a diiTerent period of geologic time, 
and it may be that tlie development of the 
bituminous matter differs in some way in 
the two. Therefore, in any intelligent effort 
to make it available for fuel, these considera- 
tions must be taken into account and proper 
allowances made for them. In Europe, 
where fuel is scarcer than here, lignites of 
much poorer quality than our average de- 
posits are successfully used, not only as fuel 
and domestic purposes, but also for smelting. 
The fact that lignites have not been used 
in the United States is taken by some as an 
evidence of their worthlessness, but if we 
turn to Europe we find that their usefulness 
is of the liighest character. Although tlie 
German lignites are inferior to those of 
Texas, as proved by numerous chemical 
analyses, they are in use for every purpose 
for which bituminous coal is available, aiid 
for some to which such coal is not suited. 
Their principal use is, naturally, as fuel. 
They are used in the natural state, or " raw," 
in places for household purposes, and also to 
a very large extent in Siemens' regenerator 
furnaces; and, even in connection with coke 
made from the lignites themselves, as much 
as 40 to 70 per cent, of raw lignite is used 
in the smelting of iron ores in furnaces of 
suitable construction. Kaw lignites are also 
used in the conversion of iron into steel by 
the Bessemer process, but require a small 
* addition of coke for this purpose. 

For general fuel purposes, however, the 
lignites are manufactured into briquettes, or 
coal bricks, of different sizes, by pulverizing 
them, evaporating the surplus water and 
compressing them under presses similar to 
those used in the manufacture of pressed 
brick. Many of the German lignites contain 
as much as 80 to 40 per cent, of water, and 



the heat which is necc-sary to drive this off 
acts on the chemical elements of the lignite 
and develops the bituminous matter suffi- 
ciently for it to serve as a bond or cement 
under the semi-fusion caused by the heavy 
pressure which is applied to make it cohere. 
Such coals as do not form their own cement 
in this way are made to cohere by the addi- 
tion of various cementing materials, such as 
bitumen, coal tar, pitch, starch, potatoes, 
clay, etc. 

Lignites prepared in this way are fully 
equal to ordinary bituminous coal as fuel fur 
all purposes, and possess, in addition, several 
important advantages. They are more com- 
pact, and are in the regular form of blocks 
which can be stored in four-fifths the amount 
of space occupied by the same weight of coa'. 
They are much cleaner to handle, and tlu 
waste in handling, which in the case of bitu 
minous coal is often as ranch as twenty pei 
cent., is very little. Owing to its physical 
structure it burns with great regularity ann 
without clinkers, making it a very desirabU' 
steam fuel. For these reasons it is ofter 
preferred to bituminous coal. 

Coke of excellent quality is made from 
lignites in ovens properly constructed for tin 
purpose. These ovens are of various designs 
suited to different characters of lignite, but 
all accomplish similar results, and the coke- 
thus produced is used for all purposes foi 
which other cokes are adapted. 

Illuminating gas of very superior quality 
is manufactured from lignites, and is in use 
in many German manufactories. 

Lignite also forms the base of many other 
important industries. Up to the time of the 
discovery of the oil fields of America and the 
great deposits of mineral wax, or ozocerite, 
tiie lignite was the principal source of supply 
of parafline and illuminating oil 



jd even 



1S9 



U I STORY OF TEXAS. 



now, although comparatively few factories 
are run solely for their production, as was 
formerly so largely the case, the amount 
niatiufactured as by-products is very large. 
Tliese substances are the results of distilling 
the lignites in the same manner in which gas 
is produced from bituminous coal, and the 
product consists of gas, water, tar, ammonia, 
coke and ash. The tar contains paralfine and 
mineral oils, as well as being the basis for 
the aniline dyes for the production of which 
great quantities are used. 

Powdered coke from lignites is used in the 
manufacture of gunpowder, of blacking and 
for filters, and is substituted in many places 
for the more costly boneblack. 

Finally, lignite is used very successfully in 
the place of boneblack in clarifying sugar. 
In this, as in all uses of lignite, reference 
must be had to the particular kind of lignite 
to be employed. 

Just as bituminous coals vary, and that 
from one locality proves more suitable for 
certain j)urposes than that of another seam at 
nu great distance, so the lignites differ and 
ibe ciiaracteristics of each must be studied 
in order to ascertain for which of these many 
uses it is best adapted. 

With such evidence as this before us— the 
ri-sults of fifty years of experiments and trial 
emling in successful operation in all these 
various uses of lignites — there can remain no 
^lludow of doubt of the adaptability of the 
great lignite fields of Texas, and otiier parts 
• if America as well, to meet the wants of the 
jjci'pie for cheap fuel. 

Tiie ease and cheapness of mining, the 
small cost of preparation, and its value when 
prepared, will enable it to compete with wood 
ill the l)C8t wooded portions of tlie State, with 
cvwii in close proximity to the coal mine, and 



it will prove of inestimable value in tbosp 
localities in which it is the only fuel. 

Bituminous Coal. — The work of the sur- 
vey during the past two years has resulted in 
fully determining the limits of the central 
coal fields, in ascertaining the number, thick- 
ness and dips of the workable seams of coal, 
and in approximately mapping their lines of 
outcrop. 

The coal measures consist of beds of lime- 
stones, sandstones, shales and clays, having 
an aggregate thickness of some 6,000 feet. 
The dip of these beds is very gentle, averag- 
ing less than forty feet to the mile in one 
seam and about sixty-five in another, and Ib 
toward the northwest or west. Very little 
disturbance has been noted in it beyond a 
few slight folds and small faults. These two 
facts — slightdip and undisturbed condition — 
are of great importance in the mining of the 
coal. Two seams of workable coal have been 
found. None of the other seven seams ob- 
served are of sufficient thickness to be of 
economic value. 

The central coal field is divided by a strip 
of Cretaceous south of the line of the Texas 
& Pacific Railway. The two divisions thus 
formed have been named after the principal 
rivers which cross them — the Brazos coal 
field, or Northern, and the Colorado coal 
field, or Southern. In the Brazos coal field 
both of the workable seams of coal are found. 

Coal seam "No 1" first appears at the 
surface in Wise county, some eight miles 
southwest of Decatur. It outcrops in a 
southwestern direction nearly to the south- 
west corner of the county, when it turns 
more sharply west and appears in the south- 
eastern portion of Jack county. It crosses 
into Palo Pinto county near its northeastern 
corner and its outcrops appear in a south- 
southwest direction entirely across this county 



HI 8 TOUT OF TEXAS. 



and down into Erath, until it disappears be- 
neath the Cretaceous hills and is found no 
more. On this seam are located several 
mines and prospects, among which may be 
mentioned those of the Wise County Ccal 
Company, Mineral Wells Coal Company, 
Lal<e Mine, Carson and Lewis, Gordon, 
Johnson, Palo Pinto, and Adair. The out- 
put from these mines is gradually increasing. 

Coal seam "Wo. 7" is first observed out- 
cropping near Bowie, in Montague county. 
From this point it bends southwestward, 
passing north of Jacksboro, between Graham 
and Belknap, when it turns south, running 
just west of Eliasville, by Crystal Falls and 
Breckenridge, to and below Cisco, when it, 
too, passes under the Cretaceous ridge. South 
of this ridge we find it again on Pecan bayou, 
in Coleman county, and from here the out- 
crops extend in a southerly direction, near 
Santa Anna mountain, to Waldrip in Mc- 
CuUoch county. 

On this seam we have the Stephens mine, 
in Montague county, and various prospects 
in Jack county. Considerable work has been 
done in Young and Stephens counties, and 
coal of fair quality mined, but lack of rail- 
way facilities prevents anything like system- 
atic mining. The seam becomes thinner and 
much poorer toward Cisco, graduating into a 
material little better than a bituminous shale. 
Probably the largest amount of work ever 
put on a coal seam in Texas was expended in 
this county, but the whole thing was given 
up at last as impracticable. 

On the southern portion of this seam, or 
that within the Colorado coal field, there 
have been numerous prospecting shafts sunk, 
but no coal of any consequence has been mined 
except for local consumption. The principal 
ones are located north of Santa Anna, on Bull 
creek, Home creek, and at and near Waldrip. 



The thickness of these two seams is about 
equal, each averaging about thirty inches of 
clean coal. They are similar also in having 
at most places a parting of clay, or "slate," 
of a few inches in thickness. While the out- 
crops of the two seams are parallel to each 
other in a general way, they vary from twenty- 
five to forty miles apart. 

In the northern portion the seams are 
separated by some 1,200 feet vertical thick- 
ness of limestones, clays and shales. This 
thickness, however, increases rapidly toward 
the south. 

As has been stated, the dip is gentle; that 
of seam No. 1 will not average over sixty- 
five feet, and that of No. 7 is less than forty 
feet. The average increase of elevation of 
the surface of the country toward the west is 
only a few feet per mile (not exceeding ten), 
and in consequence the extension of these 
beds can he fonnd anywhere within eight to 
ten miles west of their outcrops at less than 
600 feet in depth. 

The linear extent of the outcrops of these 
two seams is fully 250 miles. They are 
probably workable for at least ten miles west 
of their line of outcrops, giving us an area ot 
2,500 square miles of coal lands. Even if 
only two-fifths of this area prove to be fully 
adapted to coal mining, we have 1,000 square 
miles, each of which contains nearly 3,000,- 
000 tons of coal. The roof of these coal 
seams is sandstone, limestone, or a hard clay, 
which makes a good roof. The mines are 
generally dry. 

The quality of the coal varies considerably. 
In some few places it is high in sulphur, in 
others very little is found. It also varies 
greatly in the amounts of ash and moisture 
contained in it, as well as in its fuel constitu- 
ents, but careful selection will result in a fuel 
that will give perfectly satisfactory results. 



niHTOBT OF TEXAS. 



Of its value as a steam coal there can be 
no doubt, for it has been fully tested for rail- 
road and other uses, and is taken as fast as it 
can be mined, leaving practically none to be 
sold for ordinary purposes. 

The quality of coke produced gives every 
promise that, with proper care in selecting 
material and attention to burning, it will pro- 
duce a coke fully adapted for the best metal- 
lurgical uses. 

In addition to this central coal field there 
are others on the western borders of the 
State. A boring made at Eagle Pass, four 
miles from the outcrop on which the Hartz 
mine is situated, reached the Nueces coal at 
531 feet. This coal cokes in the crucible, 
and there is no doubt but that an excellent 
coke can be made from it, if ovens of suit- 
able construction are used. This seam is the 
thickest in the State, averaging nearly five 
feet, and must prove of very great economic 
value. 

A second coal field is that containing the 
deposits in Presidio county between the 
Capote mountain and the Rio Grande. The 
specimens of this coal which have been fur- 
nished for analysis show it to be very high in 
sulphur, but no detailed examination of it 
has yet been made. 

Bitumen or Asphaltum. — This valuable 
material exists in Texas under several con- 
ditions. Its most frequent occurrence is 
probably in tar springs. These are found in 
many places in the Tertiary and Cretaceous 
formations, and occasionally among those 
tliat are older. It is in these cases the seep- 
age from the beds which contain it. So far 
few, if any, of these beds have been exam- 
ined to ascertain their extent or quality, for 
there has been little or no demand for the 
material. Among these may also be in- 
cluded the Sour lakes of llardin and Liberty 



counties, at which both bitumen and gas 
occur in large quantities. In olher places it 
is found as deposits of greater or less extent, 
impregnating the accompanying sands, sand- 
stone and limestone. These have not been 
given much more attention than the springs, 
but some of the localities have been exam- 
ined and specimens of the material analyzed. 

The tar springs are of frequent occurrence 
in certain beds of the timber belt series, 
which stretch across the State in a belt ap- 
proximately parallel to the Gulf coast and 
from 100 to 150 miles inland, and are at 
places connected more or less with deposits 
of oil. They are also found along the belt 
of country underlaid by the Fish beds, or 
Eagle Ford shales, of the Cretaceous, as may 
be seen in the vicinity of Fiskville and other 
localities in Travis county, and still others 
southwest of the Colorado. Similar springs 
are found in Burnet and other counties in 
the older rocks. 

The deposits which have been examined 
most fully are those of Andei-son county east 
of Palestine, where there is an asphalt bear- 
ing sand. This appears to be due to the 
oxidation of the residuum of oil left in the 
sand. Here they are of unknown and some- 
what uncertain extent, as they are apt to run 
into an oil bearing sand. Tiiis is possibly 
the case with many of the deposits of east 
Texas. 

In Uvalde county there are several out- 
crops of bitumen impregnating both sand- 
stone and limestone. The sandstone oyster bed 
is underlaid by eight feet of black asphaltum 
sandstone, from which in warm weather the 
asphaltum exudes and forms small pools. 
This is on the Nueces river fourteen miles 
southwest of Uvalde. The stratum here de- 
scribed is continuous. The stratigraphical 
position is some thirty feet below the San 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



Tomas coal vein (that which is worked above 
Laredo), and Mr. Owen states that the sand- 
stone occurs at nearly every locality where 
its stratigrapliical position was exposed. The 
connection of this asplialtic material and the 
coal seam mentioned over an area exceeding 
1,000 square miles opens one of the most 
profitable fields of fuel industry in Texas. 

Analyses of these asphaltum sands give an 
average of 14 per cent, asphaltum. Beds of 
similar sands are known in Jack, Montague, 
Martin and other counties. Analyses gave 
the following percentages of bitumen: Mon- 
tague county, 8.90 to 10.20; Martin county, 
10.72. Tlie asphaltie limestone found in 
Uvalde county, specimens of wiiich are in 
the State museum, is richer in asphaltum 
than any of the sandstones, the average of 
three analyses giving 20.35 per cent, of bitu- 
men. This gives it the same composition as 
the best grade of asphaltie limestone gotten 
in the Val-de-Travers, Switzerland, of which 
the famous asphalt streets of Paris are made. 
It is a natural mixture of asphaltum and 
limestone in the best proportion for good 
road making. 

Oil is often an accompanying material 
when the tar springs and deposits of bitumen 
are found in the timber belt and Eagle Ford 
beds. Thus, in the counties of Sabine, Shel- 
by, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Ander- 
son, Grimes, Travis, Bexar and others, oil in 
small quantity has been found. Most often, 
it is true, the quantity has been too small to 
be of much economic importance, but in 
Nacogdoches county one of the fields has had 
considerable development and the results are 
satisfactory. Besides these deposits there 
are others in the Carboniferous region, where 
small quantities of oil are secured in wells and 
springs which appear to have a larger quan- 
tity of the higher oils connected with them. 



The only places at which oil is at present 
produced are Nacogdoches and San Antonio. 

In the vicinity of Chireno, Nacogdoches 
county, a number of oil wells have been 
bored, many of which became producers. A 
pipe line was run connecting the wells with 
the railroad at Nacogdoches, and shipments 
of oil have been made from time to time. 
This locality produces only a lubricating oil, 
but it has the property (through absence of 
parafiine) of withstanding very severe cold, 
and is therefore of high market value for 
railroad use where such oils are needed. 

Mr. George Dulnig, when boring on his 
place for water, at a depth of 300 feet struck 
petroleum, and subsequently, in another 
boring at some distance from the first, came 
upon it at 270 feet. The flow is only about 
twenty gallons a day, but is continuous and 
regular. The oil is a superior article for 
lubricating purposes. 

Gas, another economic product accom- 
panying these beds of bitumen and oil, has 
long been known in Shelby, Sabine and 
adjoining counties, and it was found in well- 
boring in "Washington county and elsewhere 
many years ago. Within the last few years 
fresh borings have been made in the vicinity 
of Greenvine, in Washington county, and 
the flow of gas found to be of considerable 
amount. It has been found near San An- 
tonio at depths of from 400 to 800 feet, 
and also at Gordon and other places in 
the Carboniferous area. No attempt has yet 
been made to bring it into use, or even to 
fully test the character or extent of the fields 
thus far determined. 



FERTILIZERS. 



Under this heading might be included 
everything that can be applied to a soil for 
its amelioration or the increase of its fertility. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Tliis would, therefore, in its widest applica- 
tion, embrace even the addition of sands to 
clay soils of such sticky character as our 
famous black waxy. The deposits, however, 
which will be mentioned here are apatite, 
bat guano, gypsum, glauconite (or greensand 
marl), chalk marl, limes and clays. 

Apatite, which is a phosphate of lime, has 
as yet been found only in very §mall quanti- 
ties in Texas. Its value as a fertilizer is due 
to its contents of phosphoric acid, and if it 
can be discovered in any quantity will be of 
very considerable value in connection with 
the greensand and other marls in sandy 
lands low in that essential element. Phos- 
phate of lime is also the chief constituent of 
bone, and any deposits of this character will 
also prove of value. As yet known, no de- 
posits rich in phosphatic material have been 
found in Texas. 

Bat guano, as a fertilizer, occupies a place 
second to notiiiug, except it be the Peruvian 
guano. Its great value as a fertilizer is due 
to its salts of ammonia, potash and phos- 
phorus. It is found in caves in Williamson, 
Tlurnet, Lampasas, Llano, Gillespie, Blanco, 
I'exar and other counties of Texas in great 
quantities. It varies greatly in quality. 
Many of the caves are so situated that water 
has access to the beds, and parts of the 
valuable salts of ammonia are dissolved and 
carried off. In others, fires have by some 
means got started and immense bodies of the 
guano burned. Many analyses have been 
made from different caves, and large quan- 
tities of it have been shipped, but the pres- 
ent lack of railroad facilities in the vicinity 
of the deposits has prevented their successful 
working. 

Analyses of guano from Burnet and Gil- 
lespie counties gave a value of over $50 per 
ton. 



Gypsum, as a top dressing for many crops, 
is of great use, and when ground for this 
purpose is known as land plaster. Ground 
gypsum is also an excellent deodorizer. 

Texas is abundantly supplied with this 
material. Not only does it occur in immense 
deposits in the Permian beds west of the 
the Abilene-Witchita country, but all through 
the timber belt beds it is found along the 
streams and scattered through the clays as 
crystals of clear selenite, often miscalled 
'• mica " or " isinglass." It is of all degrees 
of purity, from the pure selenite to an im- 
pure gypseous clay. So far it has been little 
used for this purpose in Texas. 

Greensand marl is a mixture of sand and 
clay with greensand, and often contains 
quantities of shells. Greensand, or glaucoTi- 
ite, as it is often called, is a mineral of green 
color composed of silica (sand) in chemical 
combination with iron and potash, and usu- 
ally contains more or less phosphoric acid, 
and the shells furnish lime. Where it occurs 
in its original and unaltered condition it is 
is of a more or less pronounced green color, 
due to the color of the greensand in it. 
Where it has been snlgected to chemical 
action the greensand is gradually decom- 
posed and the iron unites and forms hydrous 
oxide of iron, or iron rust. This alteration 
gives rise to a great variety of color in the 
different beds of the material. When it is 
fully altered in this way it forms the red or 
yellow sandstone so much used in east Texas. 

Numerous analyses have been made of 
these marls, both in their original and 
altered conditions. They contain, in all the 
samples tested at least, lime, potash and 
phosphoric acid, just the elements that are 
required to fertilize the sandy soils and to 
renew and increase the fertility of thoae that 
have been worn ont. Tbeee elemeots oeenr 



HItiTOBY OF TEXAS. 



in the marl in variable amounts, and less in 
the altered than in the unaltered material. 
In nearly every instance, however, the 
amounts were sufficient to be of great agri- 
cultural value to every field within hauling 
distance of such a deposit. It often hap- 
pens, too, that these beds of marl lie in 
closest proximity to the very soils on which 
they are most needed, and all the farmer has 
to do to secure the desired results is to apply 
it as a fertilizer. 

If any proof is wanted of the adaptability 
of these marls, and of tlieir great value on 
just this character of soil, it is shown in New 
Jersey, where exactly similar conditions ex- 
ist. In that State there were large areas of 
pine-land soils which were, like ours, of little 
agricultural value, because of tlie small 
amounts of potash, phosphoric acid and lime 
contained in them. There were, however, 
large deposits of greensand marl adjacent to 
them, and its use has been of the highest 
benefit. This is fully attested both by the 
agricultural and the geological reports of the 
State. It gives lasting fertility to the soils. 
No field that has once been marled is now 
poor. One instance was found where poor 
and sandy land was marled more tlian thirty 
years ago and has ever since been tilled 
without manure, and not well managed, 
wliich is still in good condition. Fruit trees 
and vines make a remarkable growth and 
produce fruit of high flavor when liberally 
dressed with this marl. Although the green- 
sand marls of east Texas are not as rich as 
those of New Jersey, they are nevertheless 
rich enough to be of the same use to our 
lands. Nearly 200,000 tons of greensand 
marls are used yearly in New Jersey. 

The first requisite to the best results is 
that the marl should be powdered as finely 
as possible before spreading it on the land. 



The greensand decomposes and is dissolved 
very slowly, and the finer it is powdered the 
more rapid will be its action. It should also 
be spread evenly and uniformly over tlie 
ground. It is ordinarily wet when first dug, 
but after a certain amount of drying it can 
be easily pulverized, or it can be dried more 
rapidly and rendered more friable by the 
mixture of a small amount of quicklime with 
it. It could also be improved by composting 
it with barnyard .manure or guano. Owing 
to the difilculty with whicli the greensand is 
dissolved, the effects are not always so ap- 
parent the fii'st year, but it is a lasting ferti- 
lizer, as is shown by the quotations given 
above. 

The amount required will of course vary 
with the composition of the soil and the 
quality of the greensand. From three to ten 
wagon loads per acre would, perhaps, be the 
usual amount required, although some soils 
might need even more. 

Calcareous Marls. — Lime is already used 
to a large extent in agriculture, and will be 
used more largely still. Its uses are to 
lighten clay soils and to make sandy soils 
more firm, while sour soils or swamp lands 
are sweetened by its application. In addi- 
tion to this the chemical action brouglit 
about by its presence in the decomposition 
and rendering soluble of other constituents 
of the soil is very great, so that its action is 
both chemical and physical. Its use is per- 
haps most beneficial when composted with 
organic manures or the greensand marls. 

WJien the calcareous marls are soft enough 
to be easily powdered they may be applied a^ 
they are, and in this condition the action of 
the lime is much more gradual and of longer 
continuance. When they exist as harder 
rocks they will have to be burned before ap- 
plying them. 



158 



UliiTORT OF TEXAS. 



Among the rocks of the Cretaceous 
are many deposits which are especially adapted 
for use in this way. Localities are nuuierous 
in the divisions known as the Austin chalk 
and the Washita limestone which will ail'ord 
a soft material well suited for the purpose. 

It often happens that in the greensand 
beds themselves there are large deposits of 
fossil shells still in their original form as 
carbonate of lime. Where these occur the 
marl is of great value, as it contains that 
whicli will render it most valuable on such 
sandy lands as ueed it. 

Clays. — Some of the clays of east Te.xas 
will prove of value as fertilizers on account 
of the large amount of potash they contain 
— as high as live and six per cent, in certain 
cases. While it is true that much of the 
potash is in chemical combination with silica, 
and therefore soluble only with difiiculty, if 
composted with quicklime this substance 
will be rendered more soluble and prepared 
for plant food. 

FICTILE MATERIALS. 

Texas has not yet begun to take that place 
among the manufacturers of pottery and 
glassware which the character, quality and 
extent of the materials found within her bor- 
ders render possible. For pottery -making 
there exist clays adapted to every grade, from 
common jug ware and tiling through yellow, 
Rockingham, C. C, white granite or iron- 
stone china, to china or porcelain of tie 
finest quality. Glass sands are also found of 
a liigh degree of purity, and many other 
materials of use or necessity in the manu- 
facture of these various grades of goods are 
found here. 

While the subject of clays has not yet re- 
ceived the attention that it is proposed to | 



give it, numerous specimens have been 
secured and analyzed, with the result of 
proving the facts as stated above. 

Among the clays of the division known as 
coast clays are some that will answer for the 
coarser stoneware, such as jugs, flower pots, 
drain tile, etc., and others which from their 
refractory character are well adapted for the 
matiufacture of charcoal furnaces, and possi- 
bly of sewer pipe. 

The coast region contains beds of light 
colored clays, many of which are pure white. 
These beds of clay not only underlie and 
overlie the middle beds of Fayette sands, 
but are also found interbedded with that 
series. The excellent qualities of these clays 
were first stated by Dr. W. P. Riddell, of the 
first geological survey of Texas under Dr. 
Shumard. His specimens were obtained from 
the Yegua, in Washington county, and in tiie 
vicinity of Hempstead. Since that time many 
analyses have been made of clays of various 
portions of these beds, and while some of them 
are too higli in alkalies or fusible constitu- 
ents, others are well suited to the manufac- 
ture of all grades of earthen ware below that 
of porcelain, or French china as it is called. 
Clays of this character have been secured in 
various localities from Angelina to and below 
Fayette county. There are beds in the Fay- 
ette sands that will be of value in glass- 
making. Some of the beds are composed of 
clear angular quartz grains without tinge of 
iron, having only an occasional grain of 
rounded red or black quartz. 

In the timber-belt beds there are other 
clays and sands well suited to the manufac- 
ture of earthenware and glass. Most of the 
beds of pottery clays of this division ex- 
amiiieil so far in eastern Texas are, however, 
only suited for the coarser grades of earthen- 



HI STORY OF TEXAS. 



ware, bnt in Grimes and Eobertson counties 
(and possibly in others as well) clays of higlier 
grade are fonnd. 

Kaolin. — In Robertson county, not far 
from the town of Mexia, there is a deposit 
of sandy clay which is readily separated by 
washing into a kaolin of excellent quality 
and a perfectly pure quartz sand. This 
kaolin has been tested practically and pro- 
duces a good porcelain. 

Potteries have been erected in various 
parts of the State within the limits of the 
Fayette and timber-belt beds for the manu- 
facture of common earthenware, flower pots, 
etc., and several are now in successful opera- 
tion. Among localities of potteries may be 
mentioned Lavernia, Wilson county; Athens, 
Henderson county; Kosse, Limestone county; 
Burton, Washington county, and others. 

In addition to the kaolin already men- 
tioned in Robertson county, kaolins of excel- 
lent quality are found in Edwards and 
Uvalde counties. These are pure white in 
color, somewhat greasy to the touch, and are 
infusible in the hottest blow-pipe Hame. 
Being practically free from iron, they are 
adapted to the making of the best grades 
of china. They are free from grit and 
every other objectionable impurity. A com- 
parison of the analyses of these kaolins with 
those of established reputation more fully 
show their value. 

Of the other materials needed in the manu- 
facture of pottery, we have deposits of feld- 
spar well suited for glazing; gypsum for the 
manufacture of plaster of paris for molds; 
clays suitable for the saggers, and cheap fuel 
in abundance. 

BUILDING MATERIALS. 

The variety and widespread occurrence of 
the rocks of Texas suitable for construction 



is 60 great that it will be impracticable to 
allude to them in any other than general 
terms. They will therefore be grouped under 
general headings. 

Granites occur in widely separated por- 
tions of the State. The first locality is wl-.at 
has been termed in the reports the central 
mineral region, the second is in the extreme 
west, or trans-Pecos Texas. Tlie granites of 
the first or central region are of different 
colors. The best known is the red granite, 
such as was used in the construction of the 
capitol building. The color is red to dark 
reddish-gray, varying from fine to rather 
coarse grain in structure, and susceptible of 
high polish. The outcrop of the granite, 
which can be quarried to any desired dimen- 
sions, covers an area of over 100 square 
miles. 

There is a quarry now in operation on the 
portion from which the granite was taken for 
the building of the capitol, on account of 
which it was originally opened, the material 
used having been donated by the owners, 
Colonel Norton, Dr. Westfall and George 
W. Lacy. 

Besides this particular granite there are 
many others in this region which will prove 
as useful. In the northern part of Gillespie 
county there is a brownish granite of very 
grain which takes a beautiful polish; and in 
addition there are found in various portions 
of the region granites varying in color from 
light to dark gray, which are well adapted 
for building purposes, and in some instances 
will prove of decided value for ornamental 
and monumental purposes. 

The granites of trans-Pecos Texas, like 
those of the central mineral region, are well 
suited both for building and ornamental pur- 
pofes. The western granites, however, lack 
the variety of color which is found in those 



160 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of the central region, being for tlie most part 
a lighter or darker gray, the feldspar being 
very ligiit-colored in all of them. Tliey are 
adjiicent to railway transportation, however, 
as the Southern Pacilic Kaihvay passes very 
near their outcrop in tiie Quitman mountains 
and directly by them in the Franklin mount- 
ains, near El Paso, and will sooner or later 
come into market. 

Porj)hyries. — Among the most beautiful 
and indestructible of our building stones we 
must place the porphyries. Their hardness, 
however, and the difficulty of quarrying and 
dressing them, often prevent their taking the 
place in actual use that their good qualities 
would otherwise secure for them; but where 
the elements of durability and beauty are 
sought their worth must be properly recog- 
nized. 

Porphyries of almost every shade and color 
abound in trans-Pecos Texas. There are in 
the State museum specimens taken from the 
outcrops in the Quitman Mountains alone, 
which are readily divisible into twenty or 
more shades. These vary through light 
grays, yellows, reds, purples and greens to 
black, and their polished surfaces are espe- 
cially rich. The quantity and accessibility 
to railroad transportation must prove suffi- 
cient inducement for their development. 

Marbles. — The deposits of the marbles, 
like those of the granites, are found both in 
the central mineral region and in trans-Pecos 
Texas. In addition to these deposits there 
occur in numerous places limestones more or 
less altered from various causes which are 
locally called marbles, and are sometimes 
both beautiful and useful when properly 
drocised. Among such deposits may be 
noticed what is known as the Austin marble, 
a stratum of the Cretaceous which has been 
altered until its fossils have been chanced to 



calcite. The body of the stone is, when pol- 
ished, of a light yellow color, and the trac- 
ings of the contained shells in pure calcite, 
which gives a very pretty effect, although 
their fragile character detracts greatly from 
the usefulness of the stone. Other deposits 
of similar semi-marbles of various colors are 
found among the Carboniferous limestones of 
the northern portion of the State. The 
marbles and semi-marbles of the central 
mineral region are the altered limestones of 
the Silurian and older beds, some of which 
are of fine texture and capable of receiving 
an excellent polish. The marbles of the 
Silurian beds found in San Saba, Burnet, 
Gillespie and other counties, which are 
known as " Burnet marbles," are both of 
solid color and variegated. They are found 
in beautiful pink, white, buff, blue and gray 
shades, and although not true marbles, are 
well adapted for many uses. 

The marbles belonging to what are called 
the Texan beds, a formation older than the 
Silurian, are, however, real marbles. They 
are found near Packsaddle mountain. En- 
chanted Peak, and in the Comanche creek 
region of Mason county. They are often 
snowy white in color, of even grain, and 
among the deposits are found strata of me- 
dium thickness. They are not, however, as 
extensive as the deposits of the semi-marbles. 

In trans-Pecos Texas marbles belonging, 
as is supposed, to the same geologic age, 
exist in great abundance, and for beauty in 
color can not be surpassed. 

From the Carrizos to the Quitman mount- 
ains outcrops occur in the vicinity of the 
railroad of marbles which are certain at no 
distant day to become the basis for great 
commercial industry. They are found banded 
or striped and clouded, as well as pure white. 
They are fine grained, and can be quarried 



UI8T0RT OP TEXAS. 



in stone of almost any dimensions. Some 
of tlieni when polished will rival the Aragon- 
ite or Mexican onyx in delicacy of coloring. 

The limestones of Texas which are suited 
for building purposes are abuTidant and 
widespread in their occurrence. The Cre- 
taceous formation which covers fully one- 
fourth of the entire area of the State abounds 
in limestone well adapted for structural pur- 
poses. In addition to this we have the lime- 
stones of the Carboniferous, Permian and 
Silurian systems, so that the total area is 
largely increased. 

The limestones of the Cretaceous occur 
both in its upper and lower divisions. In 
the Austin chalk there are beds which fur- 
nish excellent stone which is quarried for 
use in many places, but a large portion of 
it is too chalky and not firm enough for gen- 
eral use. The best limestone of this forma- 
tion is that contained in the Fredericksburg 
and Washita divisions of tlie Lower Cre- 
taceous. These limestones are of color vary- 
ing from white to yellow, very rarely darker, 
and are often somewhat soft when first quar- 
ried, becoming harder on exposure. 

Among the materials of the Clear Fork 
division of the Permian formation are some 
even-bedded limestones of square fracture, 
tine, even grain and good color, that will 
prove valuable as building material. These 
were observed in the northwestern part of 
Shackelford county, and will also be found 
north and south of that locality along the 
outcrop of these beds. Seymour and Bal- 
linger show buildings constructed of these 
limestones. 

Sandstones and Quartzites. — The sand- 
stones are fully as widely distributed as the 
limestones, being found in nearly all dis- 
tricts in greater or less quantity. In the 
Fayette sands are found beds of indurated 



sands of light color which have bten used in 
various localities along their line of outcrop 
for building purposes. Kock has been quar- 
ried from these deposits for many localities, 
principally at Rockland, Tyler county; 
Quarry Station, on the Gulf, Colorado & 
Santa Fe Railroad; Rock Quarry, on the 
Houston & Texas Central Railway, in Wash- 
ington county, and in various parts of Fay- 
ette, Lavaca and other counties to the soutli- 
west. 

In the timber-belt beds the altered (and 
even the unaltered) greonsand marls are 
sometimes so indurated as to be used for 
building purposes. In addition to this 
many of the hill-cappings of sandstone, 
which at times replace the iron ore, are valu- 
able building stones. 

In the Cretaceous area north of the Colo- 
rado river there are no sandstones of any 
particular value so far as our examinations 
have extended. 

The area of the central coal field abounds 
in excellent sandstone for building purposes, 
some of which has been extensively quarried 
and used in the construction of buildings 
from Dallas west to Cisco. It is of good 
color, quarries well, and presents a handsome 
appearance in* the wall. It is so generally 
found in this district that it is impossible to 
name the localities. 

In the Permian there are some sandstones 
which will be of wide application in the 
buildings of the State. East of Pecos City, 
at Quito, on the Texas & Pacific Railway, a 
company has recently opened a quarry in a 
compact, well jointed red sandstone which 
is probably of Permian age. It is of a beau- 
tiful red color, uniform in texture and color, 
easily worked yet durable, and in every way 
adapted to the best uses in building. The 
company in boring a well at tlie place 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



lifive passed through more tlian 100 feet of 
this reel sandstone, tlius proving its unlim- 
ited quantity. It will compare favorably in 
every way with the sandstones formerly im- 
ported into the State for the fronts and 
trimmings of buildings. 

Dcyond the Carrizo and Diaholo mountains 
there is a line-grained red sandstone which is 
destined to be one of the finest building 
stones of the State. It is a little darker in 
color than the Quito stone, finer-grained, 
firmer, of even texture, and will lend itself 
to almost any character of decoration. 

In this trans-Pecos region there are many 
other sandstones and quartzites which will in 
time come into use for structural purposes. 

Slate. — The two areas in which the older 
recks are found both give promise of fur- 
nishing slate suitable for roofing. In the 
central mineral district several localities have 
t>fen examined which on the surface give in- 
dication of furnisiiing good roofing slate, and 
in the vicinity of the Carrizo mountains. El 
Paso county, similar indications are found. 

It will of course require some actual work 
in opening the quarry sntticiently to ascer- 
tain the condition of the material below the 
surface to fully decide the value of the de- 
posits, but the indications are very favorable 
and warrant such an attempt at development. 

Thus it is readily apparent that in build- 
ing stone there is no lack of variety, as well 
as an ample supply of all that can be made 
useful. 

Clays suitable for brickmaking, terracotta 
and drain tile are found in all the different 
formations occurring in the State. All are 
not of equal value, and indeed the brick 
itiadc from some few are quite inferior, but 
the majority produce good, serviceal)le brick. 
The colors of the brick vary from yellow or 
cream color, such as are made at Austin, 



through various shades of browns and reds, 
according to the character of the clay. In 
eastern Texas, as well as in the carboniferous 
area, the brick are usually mottled from the 
amount of iron in the clays. Selected clays, 
however, in these localities produce brick of 
excellent color. The importance of this in- 
dustry will bo seen by the following state- 
ment of the aggregate of brick production 
for the" year 1889, which was received from 
the operators of the brick kilns in answer to 
inquiries, namely, 95,000,000. 

Many of the clays of the Tertiary ex- 
amined during the past year are well suitid 
to the manufacture of terra cotta and drain 
tile. These are found in the region covered 
by the timber-belt beds, as well as among 
the Fayette clays. Those of the other areas 
have not yet been examined fully enough to 
determine their availability for these ])ur- 
poses, but it is probable that many carbun- 
iferous clays will prove well adaj)t(jd fi^r 
them. 

LithtHjrapliic stone is found in several 
places in Texas, but it is too much fractured 
for use. 

L'uno. — As is well known, the lime ma<ie 
from the rocks of that horizon of the Cretace- 
ous formation known as the Caprina lime- 
stones (which is the most persistent bed ot 
all the formation) is unsurpa-sed for quality. 
The fame of the Austin lime is well estab- 
lished. Other beds of the cretaceous will 
answer well in lime-making, although some 
of them contain too much clayey matter, or 
are otherwise unfitted for this use. Lime is 
also made from the limestone of the other 
deposits, but none of these have been so suc- 
cessfully operated as those above mentioned. 
The reports received for 1889 gave a total 
production of 190,000 barrels. 



HlsrOUY UF TEXAS. 



Cement Materials. — Cements are of two 
kinds, — natural, or liydraulic, and artilicialj 
or Portland. 

Natural, or hydraulic, cement is made from 
certain clayey limestones, which, when burned 
and ground, have the property of setting or 
becoming hard under water. Portland cem- 
ents are of similar character, but are made 
by artificially mixing the limestone and clays 
in the proper proportion. 

Materials for both characters of cement 
exist in abundance within the State. The 
limestones of certain beds of the Cretaceous 
are clayey enough tb make cement when 
properly calcined and ground, and the same 
properties are claimed for some of those 
found in the Tertiary, but our tests have so 
far failed to bear out the claim. Some of the 
limestones belonging to the Clear Fork beds 
of the Permian might answer if the percent- 
age of magnesia was not too great. 

The materials for Portland cement are, 
however, more abundant, and the product of 
so much better quality as to render the 
natural cement a matter of comparatively 
.small importance. The Austin chalk is rather 
widespread in its distribution and adjacent to 
clays of almost any required grade. 

The entire practicability of the manufac- 
ture of Portland cement has been shown by 
the two factories which have undertaken it, 
one at San Antonio, the other at Austin. 
The former supplied much of the cement 
used in the erection of the present capitol 
building, and it was of very excellent quality. 

Plaster of Paris is produced from gyp- 
sum by driving out the percentage of water 
which is chemically combined with it. Its 
manufacture on any desired scale is entirely 
practicable in the Permian region of Texas, 
where many beds of gypsum of great purity 
occur. 



Sand for mortar, plaster, etc., is found in 
many places. The Cretaceous is perhaps the 
area in which it is scarcest, and it can be 
brought in from either side. The locations 
will be more fully discussed in the descrip- 
tions of counties. 

METALS AND OEKS. 

Iron. — Probably the most important of 
our ore deposits are those of iron, which in 
various forms are found in many parte of the 
State. 

Beginning at the Louisiana line with a 
breadth of nearly 150 miles, stretching south- 
west in a gradually narrowing belt and proba- 
bly fading out in Caldwell county or just be- 
yond, there is found a series of hills of 
greater or less elevation which are capped 
with ferruginated material, varying from a 
sandstone with a small amount of oxide of 
iron in the matrix, to limonite ores of high 
grade. Of this division only a few of the 
counties of east Texas have been fully ex- 
amined, but enough has been done to show 
the probability that the greater amount of 
workable ores of this belt lie east of the 96th 
meridian, although there may be localities 
west of that line at which ores of value 
occur. These ores are associated entirely 
with rocks of the Tertiary and later periods. 

In the Cretaceous no iron ores of any con- 
sequence are known except in the extreme 
west, where deposits of ochre seem to occur 
in connection with strata belonging to the 
Fredericksburg division of the Lower Cretace- 
ous series. 

There are only a few ores of any value 
found in the carboniferous area, and those of 
the Permian are not of much importance. 
The central mineral region, however, con- 
tains, in connection with its deposits of older 



HlsrOUY OF TEXAS. 



rocks, lar^rc dejiosits of very valnal)le ores, 
including magnetite, red iieniatite, and vari- 
ous iiydrated ores. Finally, in trans-Pecos 
Texas iron ores of the hematite and magnetic 
types are found iu veins of consideral)le 
tliirkness. 

Tims it will be seen that the distribution 
uf the ores is general, extending entirely 
acroes the State from east to west. 

The ores of east Texas all belong to the 
class of limonites, or brown hematites. They 
have been divided according to their physical 
structure, due to the manner of their forma- 
tion, into four general classes, — laminated 
ores, geode or nodular ores, conglomerate 
ores, and carbonate ores. 

The laminated ores are brown to black in 
color and vary in structure from a massive 
to a highly laminated variety in which the 
lamiiuV3 vary from one-sixteenth to one-quarter 
of an inch in thickness, frequently separated 
by hollow spaces, and sometimes containing 
thin seams of gray clay. The average thick- 
ness of the ore bed is from one to three feet, 
although it may exceed this in places. This 
class of ores is most extensively developed 
south of the Sabine river. The ore bed is 
generally underlaid by a stratum of green- 
sand marl from ten to thirty feet in thick- 
ness, and overlaid by from one to sixty feet 
of sands and sandstones. 

The nodular, or geode ores, which are 
best developed north of the Sabine river, 
usually occur asnodules or geodes, or as sandy- 
clay strata. This ore generally occurs in 
nodules or gcodes, or as honey-combed, 
botryoidal, stalactitic and mammillary masses. 
It is rusty brown, yellow, dull red, or even 
black color, and has a glossy, dull, or earthy 
lustre. Tlie most characteristic feature of 
the ore is the nodular or geode form in whicli 
it occurs. Some of the beds are made up of 



tliese masses, either loose in a eandy-elay 
matrix or solidified in a bed by a ferruginous 
cement. The ore lies horizontally at or nesr 
the tops of the hills, in the same manner as 
the brown laminated ores to the south of the 
Sabine river. The beds vary in thickness 
from less than one foot to over ten feet, the 
thicker ones being often interbcdded with 
thin seams of sand. The ore-bearing beds 
are immediately overlaid by sandy or sandy- 
clayey strata. 

Conglomerate ores consist of a conglomer- 
ate of brown ferruginous pebbles one-quarter 
to two inches in diameter and cemented in a 
sandy matrix. Sometimes a few siliceous 
pebbles are also found. The beds vary from 
one to twenty feet thick, and are generally 
local deposits along the banks and bluffs and 
sometimes in the beds of almost all the creeks 
and streams in the iron-ore region just de- 
scribed. Sometimes they cap the lower hills. 
They are generally of low grade, but could 
be concentrated by crushing and washing out 
the sandy matrix. They usually contiiin more 
or less ferruginous sandstone in lenticular 
deposits, and are much cross-bedded. 

The investigations of the survey in east 
Texas show an aggregate iron-bearing area 
of a thousand square miles. This is not all 
a solid bed of commercial ore, but the area 
within which commercial ores are known to 
exist. If even one-fourth be taken as pro- 
ductive iron land, and the bed be estimated 
at two feet in thickness, both very safe esti- 
mates, we have a total output of 1,500,000,000 
tons of iron ore. The quality of the ores 
varies from that adapted to the manufacture 
of steel, or " Bessemer ores, " to that of low 
grade. 

^The ochres of the Cretaceous are found in 
Uvalde and Val Verde counties, and proba- 
bly elsewhere. From analyses they appear to 



UlsrORT OF TEX.iS. 



he of very high grade, but no examination lias 
yet been made of them by the survey. 

A great quantity of htmatiie ironsfone is 
Imported to occur in the beds adjacent to the 
Waldrip-Cisco division, which, if it equal the 
sample analyzed, is a very valuable ore. 

The iron ores of the central mineral rej^ioii 
are of three classes, magnetites, hematites, 
and hydrous ores, each of which has its own 
placeand mode of occurrence. The magnetites 
lie in tlie northwest trend in the Archsean 
rocks, which for practical purposes may be 
confined between northwest-southeast lines 
drawn through Lone Grove town upon the 
east and through Enchanted Rock upon the 
west. This blocks out a district twenty miles 
wide, and extending perhaps thirty miles in 
the direction of the strike. Within this held, 
however, various structural features have pre- 
vented, in many places, the outcropping of 
the iron-bearing system, so that probably 
two- thirds of the area is not in condition to 
yield ore without removing thick deposits of 
later origin. Assuming that one-tliird of the 
territory, in scattered patches, will siiow the 
Fernandan beds at surface or at depths that 
may be considered workable from an economi- 
cal standpoint, it must be understood that 
only a small fraction of the thickness of these 
strata is iron ore. Keeping in mind also tlie 
folded condition of the rocks, it is evident 
that the chances for mining will be depend- 
ent largely upon the character of the ero- 
sion, it being premised that the iron bed, if 
such it be, is not very near the top of the 
system to which it belongs. 

The general section of this system of rocks 
shows that the magnetite, sometimes asso- 
ciated with hematite, occurs in a bed usually 
about fifty feet thick at a definite horizon in 
it. The investigations of the survey show that 



there are several belts within which valuable 
deposits are known or may be discovered. 

Tlie most eastern of these is the Babyhead 
belt, and the outcrojis follow a line bearing 
southeastward, west of Babyhead postotKce 
and Lone Grove, and coming out southward 
very near the Wolf crossing of the Colorado 
river. Probably the best exposure of this 
belt is the Babyhead mountains, and its north- 
ern boundary does not cross the Llano county 
line. To the southeast good results may lie 
expected as far as Miller's creek. 

A second belt west of this occupies the 
area between Facksaddle and Riley mount- 
ains, and stretches northwestward by Llano 
town toward Valley Spring. Ores of value 
have been found in many places in this belt, 
the surface indications of the underlying 
beds of magnetite being hematite orlimonite. 

The third, or the Iron mountain belt, is 
that on which the greatest amount of work 
has been expended, and in two places in it 
large and valuable masses of magnetic iron 
have been exposed. The bed is most persist- 
ent, and can be traced for miles. At Iron 
mountain a shaft has been sunk down the 
side of the iron outcrop to the depth of fifty 
feet, and across-cut of twenty-two feet cut in 
the lead. The quantity of magnetite and 
hematite exposed here is very great. About 
three miles south of Llano City considerable 
prospecting has been done by drilling with 
a diamond drill, and also opened by a shaft, 
disclosing iron almost identical with the Iron 
mountain product. 

The most western of these belts lies be- 
tween the Riley mountains and Enchanted 
Rock in the south, possibly having also a 
greater width to the northwest. While it is 
covered in places by later rocks, the indica- 
tions are good for the discovery of important 
masses of iron ore in it. 



IJIHTOHY OP TKXAti. 



In quality the mao;notitos are high-grade 
I'cuKeiner ores, being low in silica, phosphorns 
anil sulplnir, and very InVh in metallic iron. 
The lieiiiatite ores seem to be chiefly de- 
rived from alteration of the magnetites. They 
iisnally crop out along portions of the north- 
ern border of the magnetite area, and are 
chiefly segregations in sandstone, and al- 
though notie of the exposures have yet been 
worked, valuable deposits will be found fol- 
lowing the trend of the magnetite beds. These 
segregations are to be found chiefly in the 
red sandstone of tlie Cambrian system. They 
will be of value as Bessemer ores. 

The hydrated iron ores embrace many 
diffe.rent varieties. These appear almost ex- 
clusi\ely in veins, for the most part in the 
older rocks. While they are not abundant 
enough to sustain any industry by themselves, 
they may become valuable in addition to the 
other iron ores. 

Taking the iron ore deposits of the State 
as a whole, and considering their wide dis- 
tribution, their excellent quality, tlieir rela- 
tion to fuel supply and other necessaries for 
smelting and manufacturing them, no doubt 
can remain of tlie magnitude which the iron 
industry is bound to assume in this State, 
and that Texas is destined to become one of 
the great iron and steel producing centers of 
the world. 

The copper ores of Texas are of two char- 
acters. Those of the central mineral region 
and trans- I'ecos Texas occur in veins, while 
the ores of the Permian are found as impreg- 
nations and segregations in the clays. 

The copper ore of the Permian division 
was first described by Ca])tain R. B. Marcy 
in his report on the exploration of Red river 
in 1852, when he found specimens of it in 
Cache creek. In 1804, Colonel J. B. Barry 
sent a party with Indian guides to Archer 



county and secured a considerable amount of 
ore, which was shipped to Austin and part 
of it smelted and used for tlie manufacture of 
percussion caps for the Confederacy, under 
the superintendence of Dr. W. De Ryee. 
After the war several attempts were made to 
develop these deposits, but lack of transport- 
ation facilities and the fact that the high- 
grade ore bodies were in pockets and irregu- 
larly distributed prevented the success of the 
undertaking. Still later General McLellan 
and a strong company made an effort to 
utilize the deposits of Hardeman and adjoin- 
ing counties, but it seems that the true nature 
of the deposits were not fully appreciated, and 
the result was the same as those of earlier 
date. 

As has been stated, these ores occur as im- 
pregnations or segregations in the clays at 
certain definite horizons in tlie formation. 
They are not in veins, therefore, but in beds, 
and are not to be mined by sinking shafts to 
lower depths, but more after the manner of 
coal deposits. There are three (and possibly 
a fourth) of these horizons, one in each di- 
vision of the Permian. The Archer county 
deposits belong to the lower or Wichita beds, 
the California creek bed to the Clear fork 
beds, and the Kiowa Peak stratum or strata 
to the Double mountain beds. The general 
manner of occurrence is the same in all. The 
ores are found in a bed of blue clay from 
three to four feet thick. It is sometimes found 
in a pseudomorphic form after wood, in which 
case the oxide of copper has replaced the ma- 
terial of the woody fibre in the same manner 
as is done by silica in ordinary petrified wood. 
In other places it occurs in rounded nodules 
of different sizes, " like potatoes in a bed, " 
as it is graphically described. In addition to 
this the stratum of clay is impregnated witli 
copper to the extent of forming a low-grade 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



167 



ore in places. Analyses from various locali- 
ties of average specimens of these copper 
clays yield from 1.6 to 4.5 per cent, of cop- 
per. In any successful attempt to utilize 
these ores the work must he undertaken with 
a view of recovering the copper from the 
copper clays by li.xiviation as the principal 
object. The extent of the deposits and amount 
of copper contained in them in places seem 
to warrant this character of development, 
and the probability of finding many rich 
pockets, such as have been found in nearly all 
the workings so far attemptod is additional 
inducement for the erection of such works. 
Some of these pockets have yielded as much 
as 6,000 pounds of ore assaying sixty 
per cent, copper. 

The general lines of the outcrop of copper 
clays are as follows: The lower bed appears 
at Archer, and from there northeast to the 
mouth of Cache creek, the original place of 
discovery. The next bed is found in a line 
running from Paint creek, in Haskell county, 
northeast through the northwestern part of 
Throckmorton county, and crossing Baylor 
county west of Seymour, and Wilbarger 
county east of Vernon into Indian Territory. 
The upper bed appears at Kiowa and Buz- 
zard Peaks, and passing through the north- 
western part of Hardeman is finally found 
on Pease river west of Margaret. 

In the central mineral region copper ores 
are known principally from the surface in- 
dications of carbonates and sulphides, which 
are found in outcrops and scattered through 
the rocks in various localities. The principal 
outcrops are confined to the Babyhead district, 
extending westward from the Little Llano to 
the head of Pecan creek. A few others are 
found still further westward in Mason coun- 
ty, and some in Llano, but all are apparently 
connected with the same series of rocks. 



The ores at the surface are largely carlion- 
ates, both Azurite and Malachite occurring, 
but the latter predominating. Tetrahedrite 
is more or le-s common, at:d sometimes car- 
ries considerable silver. Chalcopyrite is also 
present in small quantities, and in some 
places Bornite occurs. 

The various prospecting works which are 
scattered through this area, beginning at the 
Houston & Texas Central Railway diggings 
on the east, includes many trial shafts and 
pits sunk by Captain Thomas G. McGehce 
on Little Llano, Yoakum and Wolf creeks, 
Hubbard Mining Company on Pecan creek, 
others by the Houston Mining Company on 
Wolf creek, and the Miller mine, also on 
Pecan. Further west in Mason county sim- 
ilar prospecting works are found. In addi- 
tion to these some prospecting has been done 
in the vicinity of Llano, and also southeast 
of that city. Specimens taken from the dif- 
ferent localities by different members of the 
survey assayed all the way from one per cei\t. 
to forty-five and six-tenths per cent, copper, 
in silver from nothing to 107.8 ounces per ton, 
and of gold from nothing to one-filth ounce. 
There have been several attempts at devel- 
opment, but there are no mines in successful 
operation at present. The work that has 
been done on the different outcrops has not 
been carried sufficiently far, nor has it been 
of such a character, as to make it possible to 
speak with certainty regarding the existence 
of extensive bodies of copper ore in the dis 
trict. What has been done, however, takei 
in connection with the outcrops and assays 
and our knowledge of the geological forma- 
tion of the country, suggests the accumula 
tion of ores of considerable importance below, 
and will justify a much larger e.xpendituro 
for the purpose of developing them than has 
yet been made. 



n I STOUT OF TEXAS. 



The copper ores of trans-Peco8 Texas have 
been known for many years, and considoral)le 
prospecting lias been done on them. There 
is, liowevcr, only one mine in operation at 
present — the Hazel mine in the J)iabolo 
monntains, near Allamore, El Paso county. 
This mine is situated at the foot of the Sierra 
Diabolo on a lime-spar lead cutting through 
a red sandstone. The principal ore is copper 
glance or sulphide of coj)per, at times carry- 
ing a good deal of wire silver, and occasion- 
ally rich pockets of grey copper. This pay 
streak runs in a vein from a few inches up 
to ten feet in width, in a gangue of strongly 
siliceous limestone, which is also impreg- 
nated with the ore. The width of this 
gangue is in some places as much as thirty- 
tive feet, and the material is a low grade ore 
of about $15 per ton. 

In the Carrizo mountains and further 
south in the Apache or Davis mountains are 
other good copper prosjjccts, in addition to 
th'; many outcrops in the Quitman mount- 
ains and Sierra I'lanca region which show 
copper at the surface. 

Lead and Zinc. — While many finds of 
lead ore have been reported in many portions 
of the State, all tliose outside of the central 
mineral region and trans-Pecos Texas have 
proved to be merely float specimens. In the 
central mineral region the lead ore occurs 
f^paringly in veins in the older rocks, under 
similar conditions and within the same area 
as niai-ked out for the copper ores, but it is 
principally found in the rocks of the Cam- 
brian or Silurian age under circumstances 
similar to those in whicii it is found in 
Missouri. 

I'crhaps the most extensive "digging "on 
any of the veins of galena was tliat of the 
Sam Houston Mining Company, who worked 
iu the Riley mountains. This shaft, which 



followed the irregular course of the vein, was 
160 feet, or possibly more, in depth. There 
was a string of galena, sometimes widening 
out and sometimes almost entirely missing, 
but enough ore was not secured to satisfy tiie 
owners and work was stopped. 

The deposits which occur in the horizon of 
an age apparently corresponding to that of 
the Missouri galena ores have been pi-os- 
pected, chiefly in Burnet county. The 
principal work is at Silver Mine Hollow. 
The galena is not only scattered through the 
sandy, ferruginous vein material, but is 
found abundantly in the adjacent dark gray 
to green magnesian limestone. Its original 
source is probably the " cavern limestone" 
of the Silurian, but up to the present time 
there has not been snftieient develo])ment to 
make it possible to speak with any degree of 
certainty regarding the exact locality of the 
ores. 

No zinc ores at all are known iu the cen- 
tral mineral region. 

In trans-Pecos Texas ores of both lead and 
zinc are very abundant and contain silver 
and gold in variable quantities. The pros- 
pects of the Quitman mountains and vicinity 
are the best known. These mountains are 
crossed by numerous vein outcrops and indi- 
cations of ore, and wherever prospecting 
boles have been sunk there are promising 
indications, and even distinct veins of lead- 
carrying silver, most of them at least having 
traces of gold. Occasionally, also, tin is 
present. The outcrops are generally com- 
posed of iron silicates, with probably some 
carbonate and oxide of iron, usually contain- 
ing a little silver; a few feet below the sur- 
face the copper stain begins; deeper down 
the quantity of copper increases and traces 
of lead appear with the cop|iei-. This be- 
comes stronger the lower the shaft is sunk 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



aud shows zinc and bismuth in greater 
depths. The zinc sometimes amounts to 30 
per cent, of the whole, and even pure argent- 
iferous zinc ores are found. One fact ob- 
served is that on the northeast slopes of the 
mountains uranium is found in connection 
with the ores, while on the southwest slopes 
this metal gives place to molybdenum even 
on the same vein traced across the crest of 
the mountain. 

There are a number of shallow prospect 
holes scattered over this region, but very few 
of them reach a depth of fifty feet. 

Several mines have, however, made ship- 
ments of ore, the principal being from 
the Alice Ray and Bonanza mines, both of 
which are on the same vein. Their ores 
have an average value of $60 to $65; but 
owing to the fact that they contain 25 to 30 
per cent, of zinc and that the El Paso smelt- 
ers are not prepared to properly treat such 
ores, it has not been found possible to work 
them profitably after paying for roasting the 
zinc out of the ores in place of receiving pay 
for it. The Bonanza is the best developed 
mine in the Quitman range. The lead runs 
about east and west, dipping almost verti- 
cally in a contact between granite and por- 
phyry. A shaft ninety-five feet deep is sunk 
to a drift below, running on the vein and 
about 350 feet in length, which shows a seam 
of galena from two to ten inches in thick- 
ness. This carries an average of about thirty 
ounces of silver, although it sometimes 
reaches as high as sixty ounces, to the ton. 
The shipping average of this ore is about 30 
per cent, of lead, 25 to 30 per cent, zinc, and 
thirty ounces of silver, to the ton, and about 
500 tons have been shipped. From the drift 
a winze is sunk 110 feet deep. 

On the Alice flay claim, at a distance of 
3,000 feet from the Bonanza, a tunnel is run 



into the same lead. This mine is 5,095 feet 
above the sea level, which, when compared 
with the deepest body of the Bonanza, sbows 
an ore body 450 feet in height by about 
4,000 feet long. The ore body of the Alice 
Bay, like that of the Bonanza, is a well de- 
fined vein of galena, running from two tc 
eight and ten inches in width. 

There are many other valuable prospects 
in this district, which are more fully described 
in the reports. 

Besides the ores of this district, ores are 
found in districts on the east and south. The 
Chinati region is, however, the only other 
one in which much prospecting has been 
done. Here thert are a great many pros- 
pecting shafts, as well as some well devel- 
oped mines. The ore on the river side is 
galena, the outcrops being strongly ferru- 
ginous streaks, similiar to those of the 
Quitman mountains. Some outcrops show 
carbonates and sulphides containing both 
bismuth and silver. An assay of one of these 
outcrops gave silver ten ounces, bismuth 
three and five-tenths, lead forty and five- 
tenths per cent. On "the eastern side thecon- 
tacts between the porphyries and crystalline 
limestones are very cleai-ly marked, and it is 
on these that the most satisfactory prospect- 
ing work has been done. These yield both 
fine milling silver and galenas. 

In the other ranges examined to the south 
and east similiar ores also exist, but they are 
at present so difficult of access that little 
work has been done on them. 

Oold. — The precious metals occur in con- 
nection with the ores of copper, lead, and 
zinc, as has already been stated under those 
heads. They occur also in a free state. Small 
amounts of free gold have been found by 
panning in the Colorado river and in some 
parts of Llano county, but the amount found 



niSTORT OF TEXAS. 



is too small for profitable working. In the 
Qiiitniau mountains some of the quartz and 
ferruginous outcrops show traces of gold, 
and by using the pan colors of gold are fre- 
quently found in the gravel and sand. A 
small piece of quartz found near Finlay as- 
sayed eleven ounces of gold to the ton. Tak- 
ing this evidence, with the general geologic 
features of the Quitman and surrounding 
mountains, the presence of gold is established, 
although the probable quantity is still uncer- 
tain. Free gold has also been observed in 
certain ores received from Presidio county. 
The best developed mine in this region is 
generally known as the Shafter or Bullis 
mine, and is owned and operated by the Pres- 
idio Mining company, who are now working 
two mines — the Presidio and Cibolo. In the 
former, which was discovered in 1880, the 
mine consists of pockets and bunches of ore 
of irregular shapes and sizes, generally iso- 
lated from each other, imbedded in a lime- 
stone country rock, thus forming chamber 
deposits. 

The Cibolo has the same general character, 
but, in addition, has an ore body situated in 
a well defined fissure, and is a contact deposit. 
This company work their own mill and ship 
their product as bullion. The mill, which 
is of ten stamps of the common California 
pattern, is located on a hillside, so that the 
ore from the crusher falls to the automatic 
feeder at the stamps, from which the pulp is 
lifted to the amalgamators. The amalgam is 
freed from the excess of quicksilver by strain- 
ing, as usual, when retorted and fused. This 
mill averages from thirty to thirty-five tons 
of ore per day, which yields from forty to 
forty-five ounces of silver per ton. The mo- 
tive power is an eighty-horse power engine. 
There is an ample water supply in Cibolo 
creek to permit an increase in the size of this 



mill and the erection of others as well, and 
there is also good opportunity to build stor- 
age reservoirs along it. There are otlier 
locations being worked np, many of which 
promise good returns, and there is no doubt 
that this district must soon become one of 
the centers of the mining industry in Te.xas. 
Silver — Native silver has not yet been re- 
ported. In trans-Pecos Texas, however, the 
conditions are more favorable; and there are 
two mines now working a free-milling silver 
ore in Presidio county, and many trial shafts 
have been put down in the surrounding region. 
A considerable amount of silver bullion has 
already been produced, and shipped to San 
Francisco. 

Tin. — The occurrence of tin was reported, 
doubtfully, in the central mineral district in 
1889, and it was also found in connection 
with lead ores in trans-Pecos Texas. In No- 
vember, during the examination of specimens 
collected by members of his party. Dr. Com- 
stock found some excellent pieces of cassi- 
terite, or oxide of tin, and made a special trip 
to decide the reality and manner of its occur- 
rence. This resulted in the discovery that it 
occurred not only as cassiterite, but in small 
quantities in connection with other minerals 
in the rocks of a certain portion of the Bur- 
netan system extending from the western 
part of Burnet to the eastern part of Mason 
county, a distance of fifty miles, and having 
a width of eight to ten miles. In this belt 
the tin ore has been found at four or five lo- 
calities. It occurs in a quartz of somewhat 
banded appearance, and when pure may often 
be recognized by its weight, being of greater 
specific gravity than the iron ores. 

Near the divide between Herman creek 
and tributaries of the San Saba river, in Ma- 
son county, are the remains of two old fur- 
naces, and considerable slag which carries 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



tin in little globules scattered throngli it. 

"While it is impossible to speak positively 
of the probable quantity of ore, the indica- 
tions are favorable for its existence in amounts 
suflBcient to be of economic value. 

In trans-Pecos Texas tin has been found in 
connection with some of the ores of the 
Quitman range. 

Mercury. — Like tin, this metal has been 
reported from several localities, but up to the 
present we have not succeeded in verifying 
any of the reports or of finding any traces 
of it. 

Manganese. — The only workable deposits 
of manganese yet defined by tlie survey are 
those of the central mineral region. These 
deposits are both in the form of manganese 
ores and of combinations of iron and manga- 
nese ores in different proportions. The Spiller 
mine, south of Fly Gap, Mason county, is the 
only known occurrence of the manganese ore 
on an extensive scale anywhere in the region, 
although surface croppings were traced, 
which seemed to indicate companion belts to 
the one which has been opened at the locality 
mentioned. 

The ore is rather siliceous psilomelane, with 
patches of pyrolusite and more or less black 
wad, filling cavities and crevices in the vein, 
which is three or four feet wide. The ore 
seems to lie as an interbedded vein, and nu- 
merous borings were made on it with a dia- 
mond drill, presumably for the purpose of 
prospecting in the direction of its dip. 

Manganese ores are found under similar 
circumstances in the region between Pack- 
saddle and Riley mountains, and specimens 
are reported both from Gillespie and Blanco 
counties. Manganese also occurs as an in- 
gredient of the various limonitic ores, and in 
one instance such an ore was found to con- 
tain as much as eleven per cent, of this metal. 



in the form of dioxide. These deposits, how- 
ever, are not likely toprove of much economic 
value. 

Bismuth occurs in small quantities in con- 
nection with the ores of the Quitman range, 
and in one vein examined in the region of the 
Chinati mountains as much as three and one- 
half per cent, of this metal was found in the 
ore (galena). 

ABKASIVE8. 

Buhrstone. — In the Fayette sands are 
found stones of excellent quality for use as 
millstones. In Jasper and other counties 
millstones which have given perfect satisfac- 
tion in use have been cut from certain hori- 
zons of these sands. 

Gtindstones. — Certain sandstones in the 
Carboniferous and older formations furnish 
excellent materials for grindstones, but up to 
the present they have been utilized only 
locally. 

No whetstones have yet been manufactured 
in Texas, although excellent material exists 
for such a purpose. The Fayette sands 
probably furnish the best of the material, 
and some specimens from Fayette county are 
now in the State museum. Other material 
suitable for the purpose is found in the cen- 
tral mineral region and in the central coal 
field. 

Several localities of deposits of infusorial 
earth are known in Hopkins, Leon, Polk and 
Crosby counties. Very little has been mined 
for shipment. 

OKNAMENTAL STONES AND GEMS. 

Among the gem stones may be mentioned 
beryl, smoky quartz, rose quartz, silicified 
wood, garnet, agate, moss agate, amethyst, 
jasper, sardonyx, tourmaline, and others. 



EIBTOSy OF TEXAS. 



'^Crystal" Quartz. — The clear white vari- 
ety, wliich is known ae crystal, is sparingly 
fonnd in masses of a size suitable for use. 
Clusters of ci-ystals are found which form 
handsome ornaments, but the greater part 
are stained or milky. 

Smoky Quartz. — The central mineral re- 
gion produces fine crystals of smoky quartz 
of deep color. Barringer Uill, Llano county, 
is one of the best localities. 

Rose Qicartz. — Beautiful shades of rose 
quartz are found in Llano and Gillespie 
counties. 

Amethyst. — Gillespie county furnishes some 
amethysts of fair color, but the deeper- 
colored ones have so far been found only in 
the Sierra Blanca or Quitman region. 

Thetis Hair Stone. — This variety of lim- 
pid quartz, with tine needles of actinolite 
scattered through it, is fonnd in the northern 
part of Gillespie county, near Enchanted 
Rock. 

Beryl. — Some very large, fine crystals of 
beryl have been found in Gillespie county, 
and occasionally in Llano county. 

Garnets are abundant both in the central 
mineral district and in trans- Pecos Texas. 
Fine cabinet specimens showing both large 
and attractive crystals are in the museum, 
but no systematic work has been done in 
working the deposits. There are several 
colors — brown, black, and green — and they 
occur in abundance. Among the localities 
may be mentioned Clear Creek valley on the 
Burnet and Bluff ton road, Babyhead, King 
mountains, .and similar areas in Llano and 
Gillespie counties, in the Quitman mountains 
and other localities in trans-Pecos Texas. In 
Llano county fine crystals are also found of 
idocrase, or Vesuvianite, which is near the 
garnet in character. 



Black toitrmaline is abundant in certain 
granites of Llano county, and will be useful 
for all purposes for which it can be em- 
ployed, although there is no prospect of 
specimens of value for cabinet purposes 
being found. 

Chalcedony. — Some fine specimens of chal- 
cedony have been found in Travis county in 
the neighborhood of the disturbances caused 
by the Pilot Knob eruption. They alfo 
occur in Presidio county and other portions 
of west Texas. 

Carnelians have been found in the vicinity 
of Van Horn, El Paso county. 

Sardonyx. — Beautiful specimens of sar- 
donyx are found in the trans-Pecos region in 
El Paso or Jeff Davis counties. A number 
of specimens are now in the State museum. 

Jasper. — In this same region are found 
handsome varieties of plain and banded jas- 
per, but, like the other deposits, there has 
been no attempt at development, and only a 
few specimens have been collected by per- 
sons happening on them. Pebbles of jasper 
are also abundant in the drift as far north as 
the Staked Plains. 

Agate. — The occiirrence of this beautiful 
stone has been mentioned in the former re- 
ports of this survey. It is found aJtundantly 
in several parts of west Texas and occasion- 
ally in the river drift of the Colorado. In 
west Texas they are found in a schistose ma- 
terial and scattered over the surface in large 
quantities, from fragments to boulders of 
considerable size. The colors are rich, and 
the banded and fortification agates show 
beautiful bandings and stripes. Moss agate.- 
are also plentiful, and there is ample room 
for the establishment of an industry in this 
material, even if they are only collected for 
shipment abroad. The average price paid 
for rough agate for manufacturing purposes 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



at Idar, Oldenburg, Germany, one of the 
principal manufacturing cities of this ma- 
terial, is about 25 cents per pound, and the 
beauty of the varieties occurring in Texas 
would add materially to that price. 

Pudding Stone. — Of equal beauty with 
the agates are some varieties of metamor- 
phosed pudding stones brought from the 
lower mountains by Prof. Streeruwitz. They 
take fully as fine a polish, and the variety of 
color and shape of the inclusions are very 
pleasing. 

Serpentine. — Some of the serpentines of 
west Texas will be valuable as ornamental 
stones. So far no " precious serpentine " has 
been found, but some of the red and green 
varieties will come into use as the region is 
developed. Central Texas also affords varie- 
ties which may be utilized. 

Alabaster. — Alabaster of fine grain and 
translucency occurs both among the rocks of 
the Cretaceous formation and in the gypsum 
region of the Permian. Its uses in vases 
and statuary are well known, and material 
suitable for any of these purposes can be 
secured in any desired quantity. 

Pearls. — Texas is one of the principal 
pearl-producing States of the United States. 
Mr. Kunz, in "Gems and Precious Stones," 
mentions one from Llano valued at $95, 
which was sold in New York. The pearls 
are found in the Unios, or fresh-water mus- 
sels, which abound in the Colorado, Llano 
and Concho rivers, and many other streams 
in Texas. They have been collected in large 
numbers, and in collecting them great num- 
bers of the shell-fish have been destroyed. 
In order to avoid this wholesale destruction 
and leave the animal to propagate more val- 
uable progeny, it is recommended that in- 
struments similar to those used in Saxony 
and Bavaria be introduced here. One of 



these is a flat iron tool, the other a pair of 
sharp-pointed pliers, both fashioned for the 
purpose of opening the shells for examina- 
tion without injury to the animal, which, if 
no pearl is found, is replaced in the shoal. 

Silicified Wood. — While the greater part 
of the silicified wood of the State is not of 
much value as an ornamental stone, there are 
certain horizons in the Fayette beds in which 
the wood has been opalized and presents a 
pleasant variety of color and banding. These 
will probably be used quite largely for vari- 
ous purposes in ornamental work so soon as 
their beauty is properly shown. 

j 

EEFKACTOEY MATEEIiLS. ' 

Refractory materials, or those which will 
stand very high degrees of heat without in- 
jury, are of the highest importance in manu- 
facturing. They enter into the construction 
of all furnaces for iron, or steel, or pottery, 
or glass, or the various other products of 
high temperatures, and are an absolute neces- 
sity in the proper development of such man- 
ufactures. Of such substances fire clay is 
doubtless the most important. The essen- 
tials for a good fire clay are not so much the 
proportions of silica and alumina, although 
the larger the percentage of silica the greater 
its refractory power seems to be, but its free- 
dom from materials such as lime, soda, pot- 
ash, magnesia, or oxide of iron, which could 
unite with the silica and form a glass, and 
thus cause fusion. 

Fir^e Clays. — Of our Texas fire clays only 
two or three have had any decided or exten- 
sive trial. These are from the beds found in 
Henderson, Limestone and Fayette counties. 
The first two are found in connection with 
the timber-belt beds, the third in the Fayette 
beds. In use the brick made at Athens from 



niSTORT OP TEXAS. 



the Henderson county clay have proved to be 
of excellent quality. They have stood the 
severe test of the iron furnace at Eusk and 
of some of the lime kilns, and are highly 
recommended for their good qualities. The 
brick from the beds of Limestone county are 
also of good quality, and proper care in tlieir 
manufacture will make them fully equal to 
any. Tiie Fayette clays wliich have come 
under my notice, which are classed as lire 
clays, seem to be somewhat high in fluxing 
constituents, but more careful selection of the 
clays may entirely obviate this difficulty. 

The fire clays are found usually in connec- 
tion with the lignite beds, and in the central 
coal field directly underlying the coal seams. 
They are therefore found scattered over a 
wide area of the State, but only a few of 
them have been examined by the geological 
survey. These are nearly all from eastern 
Texas, and were collected during one 
field season. "While they have not yet been 
fully studied, numerous analyses have been 
made, and it is found that nuiiiy of them are 
too "fat," or contain too niucli alumina for 
use in the state in which they are dug, but 
require a large mixture of sand to correct 
the excessive shrinkage that would otherwise 
take place in drying them, amounting in 
some specimens to one- fourth of their origi- 
nal bulk. Others, however, are of excellent 
quality, and careful selection of localities for 
mining will yield very favorable results, and 
clays be secured suitable for brick for fur- 
naces, kilns, ovens, fire-boxes, retorts, saggers, 
and the many other similar articles. 

Graphite or Plumbago. — In the central 
mineral region are deposits of limited extent 
of an impure graphite in shales and schists. 
In view of the larger deposits of pure ma- 
terial in other localities it is not probable 
that this will be of much value. 



Soapstone. — This highly infusible stone, 
which is used as firestone in stoves, hearths 
and furnaces, is found in large quantities. 
One of the best exposures is about two miles 
south of west from Smoothing-iron mount- 
ain, and the most favorable districts for its 
further occurrence are that between House 
and Smoothing-iron mountains and the King 
mountains, and to the west of that area in 
Llano and Mason counties; also southeast in 
Llano, Gillespie and Blanco counties. As a 
lining for furnaces and other purposes which 
do not require a very firm texture this ma- 
terial is fully adequate, and it can be cut or 
sawed into blocks or masses of any desired 
shape, with a perfectly smooth surface if 
desired. 

Mica. — While mica is a very abundant 
mineral in both the central and trans- Pecos 
regions, it is not commonly of such trans- 
parency and size as to be commercially valu- 
able. Specimens are in the museum, how- 
ever, from both localities which combine 
these requisites, and it is entirely probable 
that workable deposits may be found. It .is 
used in stove fronts, lanterns, etc, also in the 
manufacture of wall paper and as a lubricant. 

Asbestos. — Asbestos has often been re- 
ported from the central region, and many 
specimens have been received bearing that 
name. Upon examination this is found to 
be fibrolite, and may answer for many pur- 
poses for which asbestos is used as refractory 
material, but not for the finer uses in the 
manufacture of cloth, etc. 

EOAD MATERIALS. 

Among the various materials suited for 
road-making are the large gravel deposits 
which are found in many portions of the 
State; some of the quartzitic sandstones 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



which occur in the Fayette beds (coast re- 
gion, from the Sabine to the Kio Grande, 
and from 40 to 150 miles wide); the eroded 
flints of the Cretaceous; some of tlie firmer 
limestones of the lower divisions of the Cre- 
taceous and the Carboniferous areas; the 
basalt of such areas as Pilot Knob in Travie 
county; some of the sandstones or siliceous 
iron ores of the iron region of east Texas; 
tlie granites and other tough rocks of the 
central region are especially valuable, and 
similar rocks and the quartzites and por- 
phyries of west Texas will' also prove of 
value when transportation charges will admit 
of their use. 

The occurrence of asphaltum in various 
portions of the State has already been noticed, 
and its use as paving material is well known. 
For the construction of sidewalks, in ad- 
dition to the material above mentioned, flag- 
stones are found in various localities. 



MATEKIAL8 FOE PAINTS. 

Graphite has already been mentioned under 
refractory substances. 

Oclire is a hydrated oxide of iron, usually 
containing more or less clay or sand and 
giving various shades of yellow, red and 
brown. The most valuable is that which on 
preparation furnishes the color called Indian 
red. Ochres are found in connection with 
the geode and nodular ores of east Texas, 
forming centers of the geodes, and also de- 
posits of limited extent. It is reported at 
many localities in the area covered by the 
timber-belt beds. In the Cretaceous area 
good ochres occur in Uvalde and Val Verde 
counties, in the latter of which one locality 
has been developed to some extent and the 
material shipped. Other deposits have been 



opened and worked very slightly for local 
use in different parts of the State. 

Barytes is found in Llano county, but has 
not been put to any use at all as yet. 

OTHER ECONOMIC MATERIALS. ') 



^M^/^Awn— Specimens of native sulphur of 
a high degree of purity have been received 
from Edwards county, but up to the present 
no detailed examination has been made to 
ascertain its quantity or the condition of its 
occurrence. 

Salt. — Like many of the other valuable de- 
posits of Texas,the occurrence of common salt 
is widespread. Along the coast to the south- 
west are lagoons or salt lakes from which 
large amounts of salt are taken annually. 
Besides the lakes along the shore many others 
occur through western Texas, reaching to 
the New Mexico line, while northeast of 
tLese in the Permian region the constant 
recurrence of such names as Salt fork. Salt 
creek, etc., tell of the prevalence of similar 
conditions. In addition to the lakes and 
creeks from which salt is secured by solai- 
evaporation we have also extensive beds of 
rock salt. 

That which is at present best developed is 
located in the vicinity of Colorado City, in 
Mitchell county. The bed of salt was found 
by boring at 850 feet, and proved to have -a 
thickness of 140 feet. A vein of water was 
struck below it which rises to within 150 
feet of the surface. This is pumped to the 
surface and evaporated, and the resulting 
salt purified for commerce. 

In eastern Texas there have long been 
known low pieces of ground called "salines," 
at which salt has been manufactured by sink- 
ing shallow wells and evaporating the water 
taken from them. At one of these, Grand 



n I STORY OP TEXAS. 



Saline, in Van Zant county, a well was sunk, 
and at 225 feet a bod of rock salt was struck, 
into which they have now dug 300 feet with- 
out getting through it. Many other similar 
salines are known in eastern Texas and west- 
ern Louisiana, and the great deposits of rock 
salt developed at Petit Anse and Van Zandt 
under practically similar circumstances is 
certainly warrant enough for boring at the 
other salines for similar beds. Some of these 
localities are in Smith and Anderson counties. 

In the Carboniferous area many of the 
wells yield salt water, sometimes strong 
enough to render them unfitted for any 
ordinary purpose, but no attempt has been 
made at their utilization. There are also 
brine wells in limited areas in central Texas. 

Alkalies. — The source from which the 
ialts of potash and soda can be obtained in 
fexas are: The alkali lakes, where there is a 
Urge percentage of sulphate of soda (Glauber 
saUs) deposited by the evaporation of tlie 
wat.'r. Its impurities consist of some sul- 
pliato of lime, or gypsum, and common salt. 

N~Xre, or saltpeter, was made from bat 
guanu during the late war, but, the necessity 
for its manufacture ending, it was abandoned. 

Alum. — Tlie best material for the manu- 
facture of alum is found in the clay of the 
lignitic portion of the timber belt, or Fayette 
beds, which contain both pyrites and lignitic 
matter. Nearly all the material used in the 
production of alum in this country is im- 
ported. 

Strotdin.— Two minerals having this earth 
as a base (celestite and strontianite) are found 
in the lower magnesian rocks of the Cretace- 
ous of central Texas. It is found at Mount 
Bonnel near Austin, and in the vicinity of 
Lampasas, and can be expected to occur 
wherever the proper horizon of the Creta- 
ceous rocks containing it are found at the sur- 



face. It is not only used in the form of 
nitrate for fireworks, but also in the manu- 
facture of sugar. 

li'jhsomite. — Crystalline masses of Epsom 
salts are found in the same series of beds 
that contain the strontianite and celestite. 
It is extremely doubtful, liowever, whether 
it can be made commercially valuable. 

THE ARTESIAN WATER CONDITIONS OF TEXAS. 

Artesian water is rain water which has 
fallen on some porous bed or stratum of 
earth and has followed the sloping course of 
this bed between other beds, which were 
sufliciently impervious to confine it until it 
has found an opening to the surface, either 
natural or artificial, at a lower level than its 
original source, through which it rises and 
flows off. When this opening is a natural 
one, it is a spring; when artificial, it is an 
artesian well. 

The artesian-water conditions of a region 
are dependent upon its geology, topography 
and its rainfall. The geologic conditions are 
that there shall be a continuous porous 
stratum enclosed between two strata that are 
impervious. Topographically it is necessary 
that the exposed portion of this porous 
stratum — the " catchment " basin — be at 
sufficient elevation above that of the mouth 
of the wells to force a steady flow of water 
by hydrostatic pressure; and finally the rain- 
fall must be sufticient within the area cov- 
ered by the catchment basin to secure the 
steady supply of water. Unless all of these 
conditions be favorable there can be no con- 
stant supply of flowing water obtained. 

For the purpose of this discussion, Texas 
is readily separable into three divisions, — - 
the Gulf Slope (Cenozoic), the Central Basin 
(Paleozoic) and the Western Mountain system. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



177 



The area covered by the Gnlf Slope in- 
cludes all tlie region east and south of the 
western and northern boundary of the Grand 
Prairie plateau, which stretches southward 
from the lied river to the Colorado, and 
thence westward to the Rio Grande. In area 
tliis comprises fully one-half of the State and 
by far the most thickly settled portion. 

The Central JBasin includes all that por- 
tion of the State west and north of the Grand 
Prairie, extending to the Gaudalupe moun- 
tains on the west. 

The Western Mountain System covers the 
remainder of trans-Pecos Texas. 

The Gulf Slope is in a certain degree a 
continuation of the topographic and geologic 
features of the States eastward which border 
upon the Gulf, but in some ways its differ- 
ences are as pronounced as its resemblances. 
Thus, with the exception of a little marshy 
ground in the southeastern corner, there is 
none along the entire coast. Differences in 
amount and character of rainfall and of tem- 
perature have also resulted in the production 
of a somewhat different topography, especial- 
ly toward the Rio Gratide, and the soils of 
certain formations are of far greater fertility 
than those derived from rocks of similar age 
in the other States, owing to peculiar condi- 
tions of formation. 

The different sediments which now appear 
covering the surface of this area were laid 
down by the waters of a great sea, which in 
its present restricted basin we call the Gulf 
of Mexico. 

Beginning at the coast in low and almost 
level prairies the ascent is gradual toward 
the interior, in many places not exceeding 
one foot per mile for the first fifty miles. 
Through this comparatively level plain, which 
comprises the exposure of the strata em- 
braced under the general name of " coast 



clays, " the streams move sluggishly in tor- 
tuous channels, and for the most part through 
an open prairie country, the only timber be- 
ing along such water courses and in scattered 
motts or islands. As we pass inland this is 
succeeded by other belts which, having been 
longer subjected to erosion, show a surface 
more and more undulating as we recede from 
the gulf. The ascent is also more rapid, and 
some elevations of as much as 700 feet 
are found, as at Ghent mountain, Chero- 
kee county; but such are unusual south of 
the Grand prairie. This character of country 
is continuous from the gulf to the western 
scarp of the Grand prairie, east of the Brazos 
river. West of the Colorado river the undu- 
lating country ends at the foot of the south- 
ern scarp of the Grand prairie, which is a 
line of elevations known as the Balcones, 
from the top of which the Grand prairie 
stretches away north and west to the Rio 
Grande. The eastern portion of these belts 
is heavily timbered, but throughout the 
greater portion — west of the ninety-sixth 
meridian — the quantity of timber rapidly de- 
creases and the prairie conditions become 
almost universal. The general elevation east 
and south of the Grand prairie is less than 
500 feet. 

The Grand prairie itself is a great plateau, 
preserved in its present extent by the resis- 
tence to erosion afforded by its capping of 
limestones, and is a marked topographic fea- 
ture of the State. Beginning at Red river 
it extends in a gradually widening belt to the 
south, until its western border meets the 
Colorado in Lampasas county, from which 
point it is contracted rapidly until it finds its 
narrowest exposure in crossing the river in 
Travis county north of Austin. From this 
point west it broadens rapidly, until it is 
mero-ed into the mountainous trans-PecoB 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



'e;^ion. Its lieiglit above the country on 
eitlier side is variaMe. On its eastern border, 
from Red river to the Brazos, there is not 
tliat abruptness of separation wliich distin- 
fjiiishes it at other places from the upper 
and lower formations. In the northern por- 
tion this plateau begins with an elevation of 
from 000 to 1,200 feet above sea level. "West 
of tlie Colorado its northern edge reaches a 
height of 2,300 feet in the ridge which forms 
the divide between the ^vater flowing into the 
Colorado and that flowing south. The south- 
ern border is, however, hardly ever more than 
700 feet in height, and usually not so high. 
The western and northern edge of the Grand 
prairie is, generally speaking, topographically 
higher than the eastern and southern, and the 
dip of the beds is very gentle toward the 
southeast. 

The break between the Grand prairie and 
the Central Basin region is equally as decided 
as that between the undulating country and 
'■ l^alcones' country " on the south, and were 
it not for its intimate relations, geologically, 
with the " Coastal Slope, " the topographic 
features of the Grand prairie would entitle it 
to be considered a division by itself. 

Both topographically and geologically this 
area presents a gradual fall from the interior 
loward the gulf coast, but the average slope 
of the surface toward the southeast is less 
than the dip of the strata in the same direc- 
tion, and as there has been no disturbances of 
sutlicient magnitude to complicate the geology 
except the uplift which Itrought up the Bal- 
cones (and that of I'ilot Knob and similar 
areas if it be later, as it possibly is), we find 
t he outcropping edges of the beds of earlier and 
earlier age as we pass from the coast to the 
interior. These various beds are e.xposcd in 
bands of less or greater width, which are, in a 
general way,parallel wi th the presen t gul f coast. 



The coast clays, which are the most recent 
of these, and which form a part of the pres- 
ent floor of the gulf, are very impervious, 
variously colored, calcareous clays, which 
often form bluffs along the bay shores and 
river banks. The level belt of this formation 
varies from 50 to 100 miles in width. 

The Orange sands underlying these are 
mottled red and white sands which are well 
exposed below Willis, on the International & 
Great Northern Railroad, and at other places. 
The Fayette beds, which underlie these, are 
made np also of sands and clays, but of 
entirely different character and structure. 
The sand greatly predominates, especially in 
the center, where great beds of sand and 
sandstone and millstone grit occur. 

The clays, instead of being massive, are 
usually thinly laminated and of very light 
color wherever exposed to the air, and are 
found both underlying and overlying the 
sands, as well as interbedded with them. 
They extend along the line of the Houston 
& Texas Central Railway from Waller to 
near Giddings. A study of these beds in 
the vicinity of Ledhetter showed nearly 400 
feet of sandy strata included between the two 
series of clays. 

The dip of the strata toward the gulf is 
not much greater than that of the suiface of 
the country. For this reason the exposure 
of the sand-bed on the surface is very wide— 
a circumstance of greatest importance, as it 
gives an immense catchment area for the 
rain-water. 

These Fayette sands form a range of hills 
and give rise to the most striking topo- 
graphic feature of the coast region. Every 
river in its passage to the gulf pays tribute 
to and is deflected by them. Many smaller 
streams have their course entirely determined 
by them, while the coast rivers, of which the 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



San Jacinto and Buffalo are types, liave their 
origin on their southern slope. At Rock- 
land, in Tyler county, and along the various 
railroads that cross the area of these sands, 
as shown upon the map, typical sections can 
he seen. The base of these beds are sandy 
clays and sands, with some lignite. 

The strata often contain carbonate of lime 
iti appreciable quantities, and sulphur and 
j,^ypsuin are of frequent occurrence. 

The timber-belt beds are composed of 
siliceous and glauconitic sands with white, 
brown and black clays, and have associated 
with them lignite beds sometimes as much 
as twelve feet in thickness; iron pyrites, 
gypsum and various bituminous materials 
also occur. Carbonate of lime is also widely 
disseminated throughout the beds, sometimes 
as limestone, but more often as calcareous 
concretions or in calcareous sandstones. 

The basal clays are, as the name implies, 
beds of stratified clays and contain masses 
of concretionary limestone and large quanti- 
ties of gypsum. 

The Upper Cretaceous is composed in its 
upper members of great beds of clay some- 
what similar to the basal clays above, which 
were doubtless derived from these. This is 
underlaid by the Austin chalk, below which 
we find another series of clay shales over- 
lying the lower cross timber sands. 

The rock formation of the Grand prairie 
belongs to the Lower Cretaceous series, and 
consists of a great thickness of limestones 
and chalks — maguesian, arenaceous and even 
argillaceous in places— which is underlaid by 
a great bed of sand and conglomerate, known 
as the Trinity Sands. 

We have in these formations, therefore, 
well marked and definite sandy or porous 
beds, which are enclosed liy others practically 
impervious. Some of these are the Orange 



sands, the middle portion of the Fayette beds, 
the lower cross timber sands and the uppor 
cross timber or Trinity sands. On the lower 
Rio Grande there occurs a rock known as 
the Carrizo sandstone, the geologic age of 
which is not yet exactly determined, but 
which must be included among the other 
water-bearing beds. 

That these beds are indeed " catchment " 
basins and fully capable of supplying tlie 
belts nearer the gulf with flowing water has 
been amply verified by actual and successful 
boring. In the coast-clay belt artesian water 
has been secured in many places, as at 
Houston and vicinity, at Galveston, at Ve- 
lasco, at Corpus Christi, and at various other 
points. The shallowest of these wells is at 
Yorktown, De Witt county, where artesian 
water was secured at a depth of a very few 
feet. At Houston water is obtained in wells 
from 150 to 400 feet deep, and the water is 
practically free from mineral matter. At 
Galveston, fifty miles southeast, the wells are 
from 600 to 1,000 feet deep, and yield water 
carrying salt, etc., in small quantities. The 
flow at Velasco is reported to be good, but at 
Corpus Christi it is highly charged with min 
eral matter. The quantity of mineral matter 
contained in the water seems to vary witli 
the depth and distance from the outcrop of 
the " catchment " basin. 

It can be stated, therefore, from our pres- 
ent knowledge that throughout the coast- 
clay district artesian water can be obtained 
where the topographic conditions are suit- 
able, but that it may be more or less in:preg- 
nated with mineral matter leached out of the 
containing stratum. 

While the timber-bett beds are not classed 
as artesian beds, it is nevertheless the fact 
that favorable conditions exist in numerous 
localities, and, although no great flows have 



niSTOUT OF TEXAS. 



been secMircd, still flowing water lias been 
fniind in several places; for example, various 
JDcalities in Robertson county and at Liv- 
in<;ston, Folk county. 

The lower cross timbers form the second 
"catchment" basin, but from their location 
h.ave not been found to yield as good a flow 
as can be obtained by going deeper, to the 
Trinity sands. 

The Carrizo sandstone outcrops along a 
lino drawn at a point on the Nueces river 
south of the town of Uvalde to a point ten 
miles west of Carrizo Springs, and ten 
miles north of that point, on the ranch of 
Mr. Vivian, produces a stream of excellent 
water four inches in diameter from a well 
175 feet deep. This stratum of sanclstone 
ought to be reached at Laredo at a depth of 
from 500 to 000 feet. 

The third and possibly best explored col- 
lecting area is that of the Trinity sands. 
This bed, the Trinity or upper cross timber 
sands, is the base of the Lower Cretaceous 
system, and is the great water-bearing bed 
cast and south of the central basin. In its 
Miany exposures and from the material 
liiought up from it in boring, its composi- 
tion is shown to be clear white grains of 
quartz, slightly rounded to much worn, con- 
taining a few grains of red and black chert. 
It is for the most part practically free of 
soluble mineral matter, and the water derived 
from it is often of excellent quality. From 
its position, character and extent it forms a 
most important meml)er in the geology of 
Texas. The water which falls upon the ex- 
])osed edge of this belt is carried under the 
limestone of the Grand prairie plateau, and 
part of it breaks forth in a system of great 
springs which extend frotnWiiliamson county 
by Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels, 
toward the I'ecos. These springs are natu- 



ral artesian wells, which owe their existence 
to the fault lines caused by the disturbances, 
already alluded to, which formed the Bal- 
cones. The remainder of the water con- 
tinues its course below the overlying forma- 
tions, and can bo reached at almost any point 
east and south of the Grand prairie to the 
border of the basal clays of the Tertiary. 
Wells are very numerous and vary in depth 
with distance from catchment area from 100 
to 2,000 feet. They can not be nained in 
detail here, but the principal boring has been 
at Fort Wortli, Dallas, Waco, Austin, Taylor, 
San Antonio, and in Somervell, Coryell, 
Hood and Bosque counties. These prove 
that artesian conditions exist, and there can 
be no doubt that wells bored in suitable 
localities will prove successful. 

West of the Grand prairie plateau we find 
the central basin region, which is principally 
occupied by strata of the Paleozoic forma- 
tions. The eastern and southern border of 
this area is plainly marked by the scarp of 
the Grand prairie. Its western border is not 
determined further than that in Texas it is 
terminated by the Guadaloupe mountains in 
El Baso connty. In its topography it shows 
a gradual elevation toward the west, most 
usually, however, in a series of steps which 
rise one above the other, having the ascent 
facing toward the southeast and a long gentle 
slope toward the west, the average rise being 
less than eight feet per mile. 

At the edge of the Staked Plain, which is 
a newer formation snperimposed upon these, 
there is an abrupt elevation of from 200 to 
300 feet in places, and a continued rise 
toward the west to a height of 3,100 feet. 
West of the Pecos the rise is much more 
rapid, being about fifteen feet per mile. The 
dip of the strata, which on the east is toward 
the northwest not exceeding forty feet to the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mile, is reversed, that is, it is to tlie south- 
east, and brings the edges of the strata to the 
surface again after crossing the river. In 
the southeast corner of this region we find 
tiie Archiean area of Llano couiUy, around 
which the upturned edges of the older ptileo- 
zoic rocks are exposed at a considerably 
greater elevation than that of the basin north 
of them, giving the overlying rocks of the 
basin itself a northward dip. 

The western extension of this southern 
border has not been e.xamined. We fiTul the 
northern border of our basin in the Wichita 
mountains in the Indian Territory, where the 
edge of the Silurian rocks is again exposed 
at a higher altitude than the interior portion 
of our region. This region is, therefore, of 
a basin form of structure, with the exposed 
edges of its lower members and the under- 
lying rocks topographically higher on the 
northern, western and southern borders than 
on the east or in the center. 

The formations which occupy this basin, 
if we except some overlying cretaceous and 
the plains formation, are almost entirely con- 
fined to the Carboniferous and Permian sys- 
tems. These consist of beds of limestone, 
sandstone, sands, clays and shales, with coal, 
gypsum and salt as associated deposits. The 
general dip of all the strata in the eastern 
portion of the basis is to the northwest, but 
its elevation along the eastern border is less 
than in almost any other portion of it; conse- 
quently there can be little hope of finding 
artesian water from any catchment area on 
this side, although some of the strata (the 
lower sandstone and shales) are well adapted 
for carrying water, and where suitable topo- 
graphic conditions exist do furnish artesian 
water. An instance of this is found in the 
flowing well at Gordon, but such cases are 
the exception and not the rule. Tlie same 



series of sandstones and sliales are exposed 
on the southeastern border, and the flowing 
wells at and around Trickham and AValdrip 
find their supply in them. The conditions 
are very favorable in the valley of the Colo- 
racio and some distance north, between the 
99th and 100th meridians, for similar wells 
Tiie rocks of this age are covered by later 
deposits in the Wichita mountains, and it is 
therefore impossible to judge of the possibil- 
ity of their water-bearing character there. 
Similar rocks are exposed on the western 
border of this basin, in the vicinity of Van 
Horn and further north in the Guadaloupe 
mountains. They are reached by a well 832 
feet deep at Toyah, some seventy miles east 
of Van Horn. This well has an abundant 
flow. We liave, therefore, in the lower mem- 
bers of the Carboniferous rocks of this basin 
water-bearing strata, the exposed edges of 
which on the southeast and west are suffi- 
ciently elevated to furnish artesian water to 
portions of the basins in their immediate 
vicinity. 

We do not know what interruptions to the 
subterranean flow may exist in the way of 
dikes or fissures, and therefore the areal ex- 
tent of this portion favorably situated cannot 
be given imtil the topography and geology 
are better known. The quality of the water 
from every well thus far secured in this 
basin, which has its origin in this series of 
rocks, is highly saline, and it is safe to 
assume from this and from the character of 
the deposits that no fresh water can be ob- 
tained from this source. Therefore, if the 
supply be general over the entire region, it 
will only be adapted for limited uses. In 
addition to this, this water-bearing bed can 
be reached in the greater portion of the 
region only after passing through the entire 
series of Permian strata and those of the up- 



Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 



permost Carboniferous, amounting in all to 
2,000 or 3,000 feet, or even more in places. 
If there be any otlier hope for an artesian 
water supply in tliis region, the catclunent 
arei must be either in the pre-Carboniferous 
rucks of the central mineral region and the 
Wichita mountains or in the Guadaloupe and 
c<iiin3cted ranges. Tliat such a catchment 
area exists on the south is fully proved by 
the powerful springs at Lampasas and in San 
Saba county, all of which have their origin 
l)olow the rocks of Carboniferous age. Some 
of tiiese springs, such as the Lampasas, have 
their vent through rocks of this period, but 
they belong to the very lowest strata, and 
the temperature of the water proves that it 
comes from still greater depths. All such 
water is highly mineralized, but much of it 
feems suitable for general uses after exposure 
to the air has dispelled the sulphuretted hy- 
drogen. Others of these springs, like that 
at Cherokee, San Saba county, spring through 
rocks below the Carboniferous, and these fur- 
nish water of an excellent quality. The dip 
<if these rocks is much greater than the over- 
lying Carboniferous, and the water supply 
woidd therefore be rapidly carried beyond 
the depths of ordinary artesian borings. The 
conditions of outcropping strata are similar 
in the Wichita mountains to those of Llano 
and San Saba counties, but we have no such 
evidence in the way of springs to prove their 
value, and no boring lias l)een carried far 
enough to test the matter, although prepara- 
tions are now under way to do so. No rocks 
of similar age have been observed in the 
(Tua/laloupes. We must therefore conclude 
that while the artesian conditions of the cen- 
tral basin are not unfavorable, the probabili- 
ties are against securing an adequate supply 
of water sutHciently free from mineral matter 
to be of use for general purposes, unless it 



bo from the sandstones of the Guadaloupe 
mountains, which would require sinking to 
impracticable depths in most places. All ex- 
ceptions will be of purely local extent and 
will require much local topographic and geo- 
logical work for their designation. 

There still remains the area of the Staked 
Plains formation to be discussed, but our 
knowledge of its geology is too limited to 
permit anything but the most general state- 
ment. The upper portion of these plains is 
composed of strata of later Tertiary or possi- 
bly Quaternary age, underlaid by a conglom- 
erate and sandstone of earlier date than the 
Trinity sands, dipping soutlieast. It is this 
bed that furnishes the surface water of the 
plains, and from it gush the headwaters that 
form the Colorado, Brazos, and Red rivers 
The beds underlying this are probably Per 
mian on the southern border, but newer for 
mations may intervene toward the north. It 
is possible that this conglomerate bed may 
yield artesian water near the western border 
of the State, and it is said that one sucli 
well has been secured. It is the opinion of 
the State Geologist, however, based on such 
knowledge as he can obtain, that t!ie 
probabilities of artesian water on the plains 
are rather unfavorable than otherwise. It 
will require a considerable amount of work 
in western New Mexico to decide the matter 
finally. 

The well at Pecos City most probably be 
longs to the series newer than that described 
under the Grand prairie region, and there- 
fore gives no clue to the area north of it. 

The trans-Pecos mountain district from the 
Guadaloupe mountains to the Rio Grande 
consists of numerous mountain ranges and 
detached peaks which rise from comparatively 
level plains. These plains are composed of 
loose material which has been derived from 



Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 



the erosion of the mountains and sometimes 
has a thickness of over 1,000 feet, as is proved 
by the wells along the Texas Pacific & South- 
ern Pacific railways. Tlie geologic formations 
of the mountains themselves consist of granites, 
sandstones, schists, and quartzites and Siluri- 
an, Carboniferous, and Cretaceous limestones. 
The whole ai-ea is faulted, broken, and cut by 
intrusive porphyries, basalts, granites, and 
other eruptives. 

These conditions of structure prevent any 
other than a general unfavorable report on 
the district, although in certain Idealities 
conditions may, and probably do, exist favor- 
able to the securing of artesian water. 

Mineral springs are to be found every- 
where in the world, the financial success at- 
tending the management of them depending 
mainly upon advertising and equipment. It 
is therefore unnecessary to detail here the 
springs and wells that are frequently visited 
for medicinal purposes. The mineral ele- 
ments of such waters generally comprise com- 
mon salt, sulphur, magnesia, soda, iron, salts 
of lime and potash and traces of a few other 
minerals, and often of organic matter. More 
or less of these elements are also to be found 
in nearly all artesian water. 



Caves are very numerous in the limestones 
of the Carboniferous, and some of them are 
very extensive. Very few of them have been 
explored for any purpose other than idle 
curiosity. "I entered only one of them," 
says a member of the geological staff, "and 
traversed it about three-fourths of a mile. 
Sometimes the roof would be high overhead, 
and then again to crawl upon our hands 
ind knees. There were lateral openings 
at different places, but the main opening. 



Most of the way the bottom was dry. 
but here and there a pool of water would 
be found ptanding in a basin of calcareous 
rock. Stalagmites covered the floor and 
stalactites hung from the top. We came 
to a place where there was a descent of the 
bottom of the cave for several feet, and, low- 
ering our candles into the opening, found on 
account of the gas they would not burn; so 
we retraced our way to the entrance. Thi-^ 
cave is in the massive limestone, three miles 
down the Colorado river, on the west side 
from the Sulphur Spring, and just below the 
month of Falls Creek." 

Other caves have large quantities of guano 
in them, deposited by the bats. Some of these 
deposits are twenty feet thick, and are of un- 
known extent. These caves will, in the nenr 
future, no doubt, be fully explored, and their 
valuable beds of guano put upon the market. 

PETRIFACTIONS. 

Some magnificent specimens of petrifac- 
tion are found in several places in the State. 

TRANS-PECOS TEXAS. 

That portion of western Texas lying west 
of the Pecos river is called "trans-Pecos 
Texas." The mineral deposits of that region 
are proved to be extensive and of great 
richness: 

1. By their extensive outcrops, the many 
assays of which show the almost universal 
presence of the precious metals in them. 

2. By the prospecting and work already 
done. 

The advantages offered the miners and 
prospectors are: 

1. The ease with which the outcrops may 
be distinguished. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



2. Tlie proximity to railroad transporta- 
tion and case of access by wagon roads. 

3. The healthy climate and freedom from 
ft-ar of Indian depredations. 

4. Little need of timbering for mines. 
The disadvatitages are: 

1. The present clouded titles of certain 
districts. 

2 The lack of definite land lines, mark- 
ing exact boundaries between surveys. 

3. The lack of surface water. (This can 
be supplied by reservoirs or can be found in 
the mines themselves.) 

4. Tiie demand for a yearly cash payment 
on each claim in addition to the amount of 
work required. 

All of these disadvantages except the third 
can be removed by proper legislative action, 
and the country opened to prospectors in 
earnest, and as easy terms offered as those by 
Mexico and other sister States. When this 
is done, and not sooner, may we expect to see 
trans- I'ecos Texas take that position among 
tiie mining countries of the world which the 
richness of her deposits so surely warrants. 

While western Texas has been regarded as 
perfectly valueless, and its value doubted even 
now, because it is not settled by farmers and 
stock-raisers, and the fact is that it is not and 
will not be fit for farming and stock-raising 
without water reservoirs and irrigation, there 
are in the mountains mineral districts of un- 
common value. The question arises, why 
have these resources not been developed? 

This can be answered by simply hinting at 
*lie circumstances as they existed in western 
Texas up to a few years ago. In former 
years the want of water, added to the danger 
of Indians, prevented the settling of western 
Texas; and even travelers hurried through 
parts of the country, as the Sierra de los Do- 
lores ("the Mountains of Misery," now Quit- 



man and surrounding mountains), with its 
Puerta de los Lamentaciones ("Gate of 
Lamentations"), and nobody stopped long 
enough to examine the mountains for their 
mineral resources; or if perchance some one 
did stop he did so at the peril of his life, as 
is proved by the numerous graves which are 
found in the mountains. 

Up to ten or twelve years ago military de- 
tachments were kept at stage stations on the 
road to Fort Davis and El Paso, to protect 
these stations from the Indians. Under such 
circumstances travelers were not inclined to 
lie over at the station houses, which were 
uninviting, and to make geological examina- 
tions of tlie hills and mountains, or try to 
ascertain their ore- bearing character. 

The daring pioneers who prospected and 
who began the development of other mineral 
districts of the United States had not suffi- 
cient inducement to undergo like hardships 
and risk their time and life in Texas, for this 
State had no mining law granting to pros- 
pectors any right to discoveries they may 
have made. The Mexicans living along the 
Rio Grande were farmers, — very indolent, too 
poor to buy arms, too timid to make explora- 
tion trips to the mountains without arms. 

In 1883 the legislature of the State passed 
a mining law, but its contents and ruling 
were not very tempting. Very few persons 
in Texas knew, and nobody outside the State 
suspected, that there was really a mining law 
at all. It was quite natural that no mineral 
resources were expected in a State which did 
not deem it worth while to pass sensible 
mining laws. 

The railroads made traveling through 
trans- Pecos Texas easier and quite dangerless. 
They brought mountain ranges which wer.> 
hardly accessible in former times in easi. r 
reach; and in 1889 the legislature of thr 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



State passed a new mining law. The terms, 
however, under which this law grants mining 
rights to prospectors are not as inviting as 
those of the mining laws in force in the 
mineral districts in other States of the United 
States or Mexico. There are very few actual 
prospectors who are able or willing to pay 
the locating and recording fees, and in addi- 
tion to their work make a payment annually 
of $50 in cash on each claim, some of which 
they may not wish to patent, thus entailing 
a loss of both work and money. This feature 
of the law encourages capitalists to locate and 
secure mineral lands for speculation, and 
discourages, or it may even be said excludes, 
the actual prospector. This law does not 
prevent persons from erecting corner monu- 
ments of fictitious mineral claims wherever 
they think good indications might be found, 
which will at least serve to prevent other 
honest prospectors from locating on them. 
There are numerous such bogus locations, 
which have neither been surveyed bj' the 
authorized surveyor, nor recorded in the 
land office, nor the assessment work done, nor 
the cash payments made on them. There is 
nobody in the mineral districts to watch and 
prevent such work, even if it were prohibited 
by law. The required annual payment of 
$50 on each claim location would certainly 
benefit the school or university funds if 
locations were made under the law; but under 
the circumstances very few locations will be 
made. Most of the alternate sections, as well 
as larger tracts of school and university land, 
in West Texas in their present condition can 
not be sold at a reasonable price; they can 
not be rented out as farming or grazing land ; 
they therefore bring no revenue through 
taxation, and they are, and evidently will 
remain, dead capital ULtil the mineral re- 
sources are developed in the mountains, and 



water found or provided for in the flats; and 
the present mining law should be made as 
favorable as is possible to secure this develop- 
ment. But this is not the only drawback. 

The titles to some of the lands of west 
Texas are clouded by large Mexican or Span- 
ish grants, covering hundreds, and some of 
them (as, for instance, the E.ongnillo grant) 
thousands of square miles of the best mineral 
and prospective farming lands. Prospectors 
who are able and who are willing to submit 
to the terms of the mining law are afraid to 
risk time and money without knowing on 
whose land they are locating, or which party. 
State, railroad, or grantee, has a right to 
grant them the rights. 

In other parts of the trans- Pecos region, 
where there are no Spanish or Mexican grants 
clouding the titles, the prospector can, in 
very few cases only, be perfectly certain 
whether his claim is located on State or 
railroad land, even though the location be 
made by the authorized surveyor, who knows 
or professes to know the lines. The terms 
which are offered by the railroad are for the 
most part so exacting that in fact it is almost 
impossible for a prospector to accept them. 
Thus, instead of offering sufficient induce- 
ments to secure a greater amount of pros- 
pecting, everything is against the prospector, 
and helps to prevent the development of the 
mineral resources of the State. 

The scarcity of water, also a drawback to 
the development of the mineral and other 
resources of west Texas, can be overcome by 
storage reservoirs, and will be partially over- 
come by the water found in deeper mines. 
The scarcity of mining timber is not severely 
felt, for little timbering is required in the 
solid material of the western mountains. 

The scarcity of fuel is a drawback, the 
greater because it prevents the utilization of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the poorer grade of ores which can not stand 
shipment, and also in less degree on account 
of its need for use under steam boilers for 
iioisting, pumping, and ventilating machin- 
ery, ijut poorer ores might be stored until 
tlie coal deposits of Texas are snfBciently 
explored and developed to furnish cheap fuel, 
or until the unjustified prejudice against the 
excellent brown coal of the Tertiary is over- 
come sufficiently to bring it into use. 

The railroads will no doubt find it to their 
interest to make cheaper freight rates for 
coal and ore to and from trans- Pecos Texas. 

The mineral resources, like those of the 
Quitman district, will and must attract atten- 
tion, and will be appreciated and utilized as 
soon as a more liberal mining law makes them 
acceptable to prospectors, as soon as the title 
clouds are removed, and as soon as it is pos- 
sible to determine the exact location of the 
claims. The advantages for mining are fully 
as great as the disadvantages that have been 
mentioned, the proximity of the railroad to 
most of the mountains being by no means the 
least. The communication from the mount- 
ains to the railroad is easy, the roads either 
good or capable of being made so at nominal 
cost. The climate is healthy, and there is not 
the slightest danger of Indian outbreaks or 
other disturbances so common in many other 
mining districts. 

I ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 

The practical man desires a knowledge of the 
useful minerals and other natural resources, 
and he, therefore, often fails to appreciate the 
necessity for such determinations as have been 
laboriously worked out for the geological 
reports. But experience has clearly shown 
that haphazard methods of development 
are not only ruinous to individuals and 



corporations engaged in mining, but also 
detrimental to the legitimate industrial growth 
of any region. Little as it may be realized 
by those who have suffered from ill-advised 
speculation in mining property, and undesir- 
able as the revelation may be to those who 
live by preying upon the credulity of invest- 
ors, it is certainly true that there are no 
isolated cases of marvelous subterranean 
wealth. If a bonanza in gold, silver, copper, 
lead, iron, or manganese exists anywhere in 
central Texas, it is because certain causes 
have acted to produce it; and if one such 
occurrence he known, others of the same kind 
probably exist in the same region. Still, it 
does not follow that the discovery by accident 
of one ore body necessitates a similar method 
for acquiring knowledge of others. Nothing 
is now more firmly established than the close 
relations of geologic structure and mineral 
deposition. Every competent mining engi- 
neer is a structural geologist, or he is wofully 
unfitted for his profession, however well 
trained he may be in other very necessary 
directions. The really practical miner is 
often the best judge of the proper means of 
attacking a special problem in excavation, 
provided that it requires no knowledge be- 
yond the range of his own experience. But 
whenever any person, of whatever training 
and experience, assumes to pass an opinion 
upon values after simple inspection, without 
such knowledge of the structure and of the 
chemical composition as can come only from 
varied experience and thorough tests, he is 
arrogating to himself powers beyond the 
capacity of any human being. 

No industry can be built upon such a foun- 
dation. Whatever may be the future of our 
district, its development will depend upon its 
resources as they are, not as they are estimated 
by any individual, although correct statements 



Ul STORY OF TEXAS. 



of fact will aid inaterially in attracting atten- 
tion from capitalists. Unfounded hopes and 
guesses of inexperienced persons, if converted 
into cash, may produce a temporary artificial 
excitement, which will certainly result in 
eventual disaster. The money which has 
already been lioncstly expended in the Cen- 
tral Mineral Region by well-meaning enthu- 
siasts, often without competent advice, would 
have sufficed to determine the value of the 
resources of the tract if it had all been under- 
standingly applied. The amount actually 
expended in unnecessary work in one investi- 
gation would have given a fair knowledge of 
the economic value of a vast area had it been 
used in a different manner. That this is not 
idle talk, but hard business sense, is proved 
by the fact that the writer has already been 
able in several instances to predict accurately 
the results of explorations in advance of the 
work, simply from his familiarity with the 
geologic structure, as outlined in the first 
part of the second geological report. 

AGRICULTUEE. 



The origin of all soils is from the decom- 
position of the rocks, clays, shales, and other 
material going to make up the crust of the 
earth. When any part of the earth's crust 
is exposed to the influence of the rain and 
dew, the cold of winter and the heat of sum- 
mer, no matter how compact that material 
may be, it gradually decomposes and the 
particles wash down and make the soils of 
the valley below. 

Then again the lichens, although in many 
instances they are of microscopic size, fasten 
themselves upon the rocks and there secrete 
an acid which gradually decomposes the rocks, 
and the particles go to make up the soils. 



The clays and other soft materials are more 
easily broken up and washed down by the 
rains, and they too enter into the composition 
of the soils. Again, growing upon this newly 
made soil will be plants which in turn will 
die, and the material of which they are com- 
posed will combine with the rock material 
and form a soil somewhat different from that 
of purely mineral origin. The difference in 
the soil is often observed in the color of the 
two; the last, or that on top, is usually darker 
than that below, caused by the large amount 
of vegetable matter contained therein. 

The material from which most soils are 
derived has been subjected to this disintegra- 
tion several times since it was first deposited 
as rock material. The sandy soils are mostly 
made up from the sandstones of the different 
formations, which were in turn derived from 
the granites and other igneous rocks and 
deposited along the shores of the former 
oceans. The calcareous soils have their origin 
fi-om the limestones, and the limestones were 
deposited in the bed of the old ocean, the 
material coming from the worn-out shells of 
the bygone times. A perpetual round of 
disintegration, mixing, and redeposition has 
been going on since the beginning, our soils 
being the work of all the ages. In the clas- 
sification of the soils some writers have dis- 
tinguished them as sedimentary soils, being 
those which are in the immediate vicinity of 
the rocks from which they were formed, and 
the transported soils, being those which have 
been brought from a distance. This classifi- 
cation will be well enough if the fact be kept 
in mind that nearly all the stratified rock 
material has itself been brought from another 
locality by the very same forces that are now 
transporting and depositing the other class 
of soils. There is no soil that has not at one 
time been rock. 



II I STOUT OP TEX AH. 



There are fifteen principal chemical ele- 
ments composing all soils, aside from many 
otlier elements that occnr only in small quan- 
titles. Tiiese elements are: 1, hydrogen; 2, 
carbon; 3, oxygen; 4, nitrogen; 5, silicon; 
6, chlorine; 7, phosphorus; 8, sulphur; 9, 
aluminum; 10, manganese; 11, potassium; 
12, calcium; 13, sodium; 14, magnesium; 
15, iron. Besides these elements soils often 
contain other ingredients which are, when in 
excess, quite deleterious to plant life. 

These elements are contained in the prim- 
itive or granitic and metamorphic rocks, 
with little or no admixtnre of the elements 
or combinations caused by the admixture of 
tlie acids with the basic elements. As tliere 
arc no primitive or metamorphic rocks in tliat 
part of the State to which this report relates 
it will be unnecessary to discnss the question 
of the mode of occurrence and the combi- 
nation of these elements in the primitive 
rocks. The soils of this part of the State are 
derived from the sandstones, limestones, and 
clay and shale beds found in the district. 

These stones and beds were originally 
formed by the disintegration of the material 
of the primitive rocks. The materials of the 
limestone were brought down by the rivers 
into the sea, and were finally deposited with 
the comminuted shells of the ocean in the 
deep, quiet ocean in beds as they are now 
formed. These limestones are composed 
principally of calcium, carbon and mag- 
nesium, with iron, silica, clay, bitumen, and 
other substances as impurities. 

The sandstones were deposited along the 
sea beach, and are composed principally of 
silica, being notliing more than fragments of 
quartz. This material is bound together by 
clay or lime, and sometimes by iron. 

The clay bods were formed in the shallow 
seas and along the estuaries and moutiis of 



rivers, and are principally aluminum silicate 
and carbonate of lime. 

Soils are largely indebted to vegetable life 
for their fertility and for tlieir ability to 
receive heat and moisture and to transmit it 
to the growing crops. This vegetable material 
after it has reached a certain state of decay is 
called liuinua. This material has no fixed 
chemical constituents, owing to the effect 
produced and the combination formed with 
other substances in the process of decay. 
Many soils owe their dark color to this 
material. It renders a soil more susceptible 
to heat and moisture. It also causes the 
undissolved particles of rock material re- 
maining in the soil to disintegrate and give 
up their unused material to form a part of 
the soil. 

Texas justly lays claim to greater variety 
and richness of soil than any State in the 
Union. The black waxy, black sandy, black 
pebbly, hog wallow, gray sandy, red sandy, 
sandy loam and alluvial soils are each to be 
found in the State, the majority of them in 
greater or less quantities in each section. 
About the best evidence of the richness and 
fertility of these various soils that can be 
offered is the fact that commercial fertilizers, 
now so common in the older States and con- 
stituting as much a fixed charge on the agri- 
cultural interests of those sections as the 
seed necessary to plant the ground, are not 
used at all in Texas. Another fact worthy of 
mention in this connection is that there are 
thousands of acres in cultivation in this 
State that have been cultivated continuously 
for more than thirty years, which now yield 
as much per acre as they did when first 
planted. The principal soils of Texas are 
the black waxy, black sandy and alluvial 
lands of the river bottoms. The other varie- 
ties are minor divisions, and for the purpose 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of this report a brief description of these only 
will be given. 

The black waxy soil, so called from its 
color and adhesive qualities, is the richest 
and most durable of the soils of the State. 
It constitutes a large percentage of the prai- 
rie region, and is better adapted to the 
growth of grain crops than other soils of the 
State. It varies in depth from twelve inches 
to many feet, the average depth l)eing about 
eighteen inches, and is not appreciably affected 
by the washing rains so injurious to looser 
soils. 

One of the largest bodies of upland black 
prairie in the United States extends from 
Lamar county, on the Eed river, southwest 
in an irregular manner to a point south of 
San Antonio, in Bexar county, with a width 
of 140 miles on the north end, 100 in the 
middle, and about sixty on the south end, 
and embracing twenty-three and parts of 
twenty-six counties. 

The hlacJc sandy soil covers a very large 
area of the State, and is very productive and 
easily cultivated. It is highly esteemed for 
gardening purposes and fruit-growing. It 
is very loose and requires care and attention 
to prevent deterioration from washing away 
the surface. Portions of the timber region, 
counties bordering on the timber belt of east 
Texas, and also the Cross Timbers, contain 
more or less sandy land. 

The alluvial soils of the river hottoms 
vary in quality according to the territory 
drained by the streams on which they are 
located. Kiver soils east of the Brazos river 
partake more of the waxy character and are 
stiffer than those on the Brazos and streams 
westward that drain the sandy lands of the 
northwest. The Brazos river bottom is re- 
garded as the most valuable in the State, on 
account of its fertility and comparative im- 



munity from overflows. The lower Brazos 
is in the heart of the sugar-growing belt, and 
its bottom lands in that section are consid- 
ered equal to the best in the sugar-producing 
region of Louisiana. , 

The variety of crops that Texas soils are 
capable of profitably growing is as yet un- 
known. For information in regard to the 
products that are grown, and the yield per 
acre of the soils here described, the reader is 
referred to the reports of the various counties 
under the head of "Agricultural and General 
Statistics." 



TIMBER GEOWTH. 



The area of timber in Texas is much 
greater than it is generally supposed to be 
by persons not familiar with the country. 
By many people outside of the State it is re- 
garded as a vast "treeless" plain; but this, 
like many other opinions of the State formed 
at a distance, is wide of the mark. In the 
prairie region the bottoms along the streams 
and ravines are skirted with timber, and in 
most places there is that happy admixture of 
prairie and timber land that so delights the 
heart of the farmer. Besides this, eastern 
and southeastern Texas is covered with a 
dense forest of fine timber, embracing nearly 
every variety grown in the South. The re- 
ports to the State Agricultural Department 
show that there are 35,537,967 acres of timber 
land in the State. 

The "Cross Timbers" is the name given 
to two irregular belts of timber varying in 
width and entering the State on the Red 
river on the north and running in a southerly 
direction across the prairie region. 

The "Lower Cross Timbers" run from a 
point on Red river north of Gainesville, in 
Cooke county, south to the Brazos river, in 



niaroJiY of tux as. 



McLennan county, a distance of about 135 
miles, and has an average width of from ten 
to fifteen miles, interspersed at irregular in- 
tervals with small prairies. 

The "Upper Cross Timbers" leaves Red 
river at a point further west, passing south 
through Montague county, at the lower edge 
of which it divides, the eastern portion pass- 
ing south through Wise and i'arker counties 
to the Brazos river, the wostei'n veering 
farther west and extending south into Erath 
county. 

The timber growth of the Cross Timbers 
is principally post and black-jack oaks. On 
the streams and lowlands ash, hackberry, 
pecan and cotton wood trees are found. 

On the gray sand hills in eastern Texas 
the timber growth is mainly scrubby post 
and black-jack oaks. On the black sandy 
land the timber is generally of the same kind, 
but of more perfect growth. The red lands 
are covered with hickory, red and post oaks, 
with a few sweet and black gum and elm 
trees interspersed. 

In Newton, Jasper, Tyler, Orange, Hardin, 
and parts of Sabine, Angelina, Trinity, San 
Augustine, Nacogdoches, Polk, San Jacinto, 
Shelby and Panola counties, long-leaved pine 
grows in great abundance. 

Short-leaved pine, interspersed with hick- 
ory and the various oaks, is found from 
Bowie county, on the Bed river, south along 
the eastern edge of the State, finally mergincr 
into the long-leaved pine region. The area 
of the pineries, both long and short leaved, 
is estimated at 25,000,000 acres, capable of 
producing 64,587,420,000 feet of merchant- 
able lumber. Along the streams, especially 
the larger ones, walnut and ash timber is 
abundant. In the southern part of the State, 
near the gulf, and west, bordering on the 
plains, the live oak is a prominent growth. 



It is found singly or in clumps on the prai- 
ries and in the edges of the bottoms. 

The mesquite is a tree found more gener- 
ally in western Texas than any other. It is 
a common growth on the prairie. A prairie 
with a growth of mesquite six or eight years 
old resembles a peach orchard very much in 
appearance. The mesquite is a small, scrubby 
tree, and produces a bean similar in size and 
appearance to the common cornfield bean. 
It is very nutritious and highly prized as 
food for horses and cattle. It has spread 
rapidly over the prairies within the last few 
years, and now furnishes firewood in many 
localities where a few years ago there was 
not a stick of any kind of fuel to be found. 
Cedar of stunted growth also forms a large 
part of the timber north and west of the 
Colorado river, and it is usually found on the 
sides and apexes of the hills and mountains. 

The pecan tree, which produces the deli- 
cious pecan nut, is found on nearly all the 
streams, but more abundantly in southern 
and western Texas, where there are numerous 
pecan groves in the valleys and on the up- 
lands. Gathering and marketing the pecan 
crop forms no inconsiderable adjunct to the 
industries of that section. The pecan crop 
of 1887 was estimated at 9,000,000 pounds, 
valued at $540,000. 

West of the one hundredth meridian the 
timber growth is very limited, being almost 
exclusively confined to the ravines and water- 
ways until the outlying ridges of the Rocky 
mountains are reached. 

The mesquite tree is a species of gum- 
Arabic tree (Acacia), has very durable wood 
that shrinks but little in drying, and is thus 
well fitted for posts, rails, certain parts of 
wagons, carriages and furniture. The bean 
is nutritious, fattening live-stock. This tree 
is taking possession of prairie tracts and 



UmrORT OF TEXAS. 



gradually rendering the land more valuable. 
The whole body of the wood is also rich in 
tannin, time rendering it a good tanning 
material. It is said, indeed, to be better 
rlian any of the old popular materials, as it 
jetter preserves the leather. 



AKBOR DAT. 



In response to a growing public opinion 
in favor of forest planting, and to encourage 
and promote that object, the Twenty- first 
Legislature passed an act designating Febru- 
ary 22 of each year as " Arbor Day." If it 
sliall result in arousing a greater interest in 
preserving from unnecessary destruction the 
magnificent forests in the eastern part of the 
State and the planting and cultivating of 
forest trees on the bare prairies of the West, 
it will become a monument to the wisdom 
and foresight of the Legislature more en- 
during than any ever made of marble or 
brass. And this is the main purpose to be 
subserved by the setting apart of one day in 
the year for planting out trees. The number 
of trees planted out on such occasions is in- 
considerable compared to the requirements of 
any community needing the influence exerted 
by forest areas on the climate. Eut a be- 
ginning must be made and the people grad- 
ually educated up to a proper appreciation of 
the importance of tree planting on a scale 
conunensurate with the importance of the 
work. The beneficial influence of forest cover 
in precipitating rainfall and preserving moist- 
ure is now acknowledged by the best authori- 
ties on the subject. The effect is seen in this 
State in the greater average rainfall in the 
timbered regions of east Texas as compared 
with the prairie regions of the west. The 
situations of the two sections with reference 



to other conditions of rainfall, such as prox- 
imity to the gulf, topography, etc., are sub- 
stantially the same. 



As will be seen by the reference to the 
summary of totals published elsewhere, the 
cotton crop of 1890 amounted to 1,692,830 
bales — an increase of 119,424 bales over the 
crop of 1889. The average production per 
acre was .41 of a bale, the largest number of 
bales ever reached in the State, and exceed- 
ing that of any State in the Union. 

A fact worthy of note in this connection 
is that Texas has the largest acreage in cotton 
of any State in the Union, and would, under 
equal conditions of soil, climate and seasons, 
fall below the average production per acre of 
other States. On the contrary, however, as 
the above figures show, the average yield in 
this State exceeds that of any of the cotton- 
growing States, and thus the superiority of 
our soil and the adaptability of the climate 
in the production of the fleecy staple are 
clearly established. It may be stated with- 
out fear of contradiction, that no fertilizing 
materials were used by any Texas farmer, ex- 
cept in cases where experiments were being 
carried on, while in most, if not all, of the 
other cotton-producing States commercial fer- 
tilizers enter largely into the expense account 
of the cotton producer. 

During the past four years the average 
yield per acre for each year has been as fol- 
lows: 1887, .34 of a bale per acre; 1888, 
.38; 1889, .41, and 1890, .41. The average 
value of an acre of cotton, including cotton 
seed, for 1890 was $16.64. It will also be 
seen by reference to the previous reports of 
this department that there has been a con- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



stant and steady increase in the acreage de- 
voted to tiie cultivation of cotton. This is 
partly due to the abandonment of wheat- 
growing in portions of north Texas hereto- 
fore devoted to the growth of that cereal, and 
partly to the opening of new cotton farms in 
the southwestern and western parts of the 
State, hut not entirely. The increase in the 
cotton acreage has been much greater than 
the increase in population, showing con- 
clusively the tendency to an expansion of the 
cotton acreage to the exclusion of other crops 
on farms in cultivation during that period. 

The fact that this has been going on in 
the face of strenuous efforts on the part of 
the agricultural press and some of the lead- 
ing farmers of the country to induce the 
farmers to diversify crops and raise more 
grain and less cotton, would indicate that the 
average farmer thinks he knows best what 
crop is suited to our soil and climate and 
will yield the greatest return for the capital 
and labor invested. It is true there are other 
crops that yield a larger average money value 
per acre in cultivation, but as a rule they 
enjoy only a limited market, and are sure to 
entail loss on producers when the demand is 
exceeded by production. Sugarcane is about 
the only exception to this general rule in this 
State, but the heavy expense necessary to the 
manufacture of sugar prohibits a rapid de- 
velopment of the agricultural interests of the 
State in that direction. Another very im- 
portant consideration in accounting for the 
steady increase in the acreage in cotton is the 
fact that it is a sure money crop, and can be 
realized on at any time, even in markets re- 
mote from the great marts of trade, for its 
value at the tnills, less the cost of transporta- 
tion; but the producer retains l)ut little 
money in his hands after paying the cost of 
production. 



Much time and attention is being devoted 
to the discovery of the cause of cotton blight, 
or root rot, which damages the crop and en- 
tails considerable loss on farmers every year. 
So far no satisfactory conclusions have been 
reached upon the subject. While this sub- 
ject offers a wide field for investigation and 
research, and one worthy of the best efforts 
of the scientists, a more important question 
to the cotton-growers of Texas is the dis- 
covery of a cheap and efficient agent for the 
destruction of an insect commonly called iiio 
boll worm. The value of a remedy for tiit, 
boll worm wiU be better understood by tuti 
following carefully prepared estimate of losseo 
from that source for three years: 

Years. Bales. Value. 

1887 297,499 $11,897,960 

1888 342,560 13,359,840 

1889 428,572 17,578,832 

Total 1,068,631 $42,836,632 

The boll worm destroys cotton in all stages 
of growth, from the formation of the bud 
and appearance of the bloom to the boll ready 
to open, and is equally destructive in its effect 
at all times. 



In 1890 there was a decrease of 135,655 
acres in corn compared with the area of 1889. 
This is accounted for by the low prices at 
which the crop of that year was marketed. 
In many places farmers could find no sale for 
their surplus corn at all, and it was left at the 
mercy of the weevil, which injures the crop 
more or less every year, especially in the 
middle and southern portions of the State. 
A heavy corn crop is usually followed by a 
decrease in the acreage in corn the following 
year and a corresponding increase in the aero- 



BISTORT OP TEXAS. 



age in cotton. The average production per 
acre was 14.38 bushels, which is an average 
yield during an unseasonalile year, when we 
consider that Texas is not classed among the 
corn-producing States as a source from whence 
the demand for maize may be supplied. The 
average production in the corn-growing States 
for years, according to the National Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, was 24.2 busliels per 
acre. 

The estimated annual consumption for the 
past ten years was 28 bushels per capita. 
On this basis the account of the State, so far 
as it relates to the item of corn, would stand 
as follows: Bushels produced, 41,812,904; 
bushels necessary for home consumption, 
62,594,644; deficit, 20,781,780. 



The returns for 1890 show a slight decrease 
in the acreage of wheat compared with 1889. 
The acreage in wheat for the four years past 
has been as follows: In 1887, 520,219; in 
1888, 386,120; in 1889, 402,154, and in 
1890, 359,440. There has been a constant 
decrease in the acreage in wheat in the north- 
ern portion of the State, where formerly the 
bulk of the wheat grown in the State was 
produced. This decrease has, in a measure, 
been compensated for by the opening of new 
farms in the Tanhandle, which is fast be- 
coming the granary of the State. The soil 
and climate of that section are admirably 
adapted to wheat-growing, and with favorable 
meteorological conditions that section will 
supply the demand for home consumption 
and furnish a large surplus for exportation. 
The Secretary of Agriculture, in his report 
for 1890, estimates the consumption of wheat 
at 4| bushels per capita. On this basis of 



consumption the account of the State on the 
item of wheat for 1890 stands as follows: 
Bushels necessary for home consumption, 
10,432,442; bushels produced in the State, 
2,365,523; bushels imported for home con- 
sumption, 8,060,917. 

The value of the wheat imported, at 65 
cents per bushel, the average value of the 
crop, amounted to $5,243,496.05, which is 
approximately the sura sent out of the State 
for flour during the year. 

The average production per acre is quite a 
decrease from the previous year, being 6.58 
bushels, against 13 for 1889. There was a 
material decline in the average price per 
bushel, it being 65 cents, as against 71 for 
the previous year. The tendency to lower 
prices and consequent diminution of gross 
returns per acre in wheat has been very 
marked during the past ten years, as shown 
by the reports of the Secretary of Agriculture 
for 1890. The decline has been from |13 
per acre to $9.97. 



There was a large decrease in the acreage 
in oats in 1890, attributable to putting oats 
land in cotton. The average value per bushel 
of oats in the United States in 1889 was 22.9 
cents, and the average value per acre was 
$6 26. In this State the average for 1890 
was $9.46 per acre, and 48 cents per bushel. 
Owing to the fact that there is no means of 
knowing what the average annual consump- 
tion per capita of oats is, it is impossible to 
determine exactly whether the supply ex- 
ceeds the demand or not. The vast amount 
of open range and enclosed pasture land cur- 
tails largely the annual consumption of oats 
in this State. 



UISroRY OF TEXAS. 



Rye is Bown mostly for pasturage in tliis 
State, there being little if any demand for it 
in local markets. The average yield per acre 
in the United States for 1888 was 12 bushels, 
and the average value per bushel 58 cents. 
The crop of 1889 in this State averaged 14 
busliels per acre, and the average value per 
bushel was 85 cents. 



The barley crop is of small importance in 
this State. In fact the yield is not a fair 
average of what might be produced under 
ditierent conditions. Most of the barley 
sown is planted for pasturage, there being 
little or no demand for it except for seed. 
The yield, therefore, represents what is har- 
vested after the pasturing season is past, and 
gathered mainly for seed. 



Upon this crop the language used in the 
report of 1888 is still appropriate: 

"Under this heading is included sorghum 
cane cut for hay, cidtivated hay, millet and 
prairie hay, standing in value per acre in 
order above presented. Sorghum cane hay 
is most profitable, showing the highest aver- 
age yield per acre. It is affected less by 
drouth than any other cultivated product, and 
in favorable seasons two croi)S can be easily 
grown. The acreage in cultivated hay indi- 
cates the extent to which farmers are turn- 
ing attention to the various varieties of 
grasses that must soon become a part of the 
crop on every well conducted farm." 

The average value j)er acre of the different 



hay croj)s was as follows: Sorghum cane 
hay, $17.75; cultivated hay, $10.88; prairie 
hay, $5.27; millet, $12.87." 

POTATOES. 

Sweet Potatoes. — There was a decrease in 
the acreage in sweet potatoes as compared to 
1888, and a decrease in the average yield per 
acre. The average value per acre of this 
crop in 1889 was $57.50, and for the past 
four years was 157.83. The average yield 
per acre for the past four years was 123.11 
bushels. The demand for the pure yellow 
yam has never been fully supplied. While 
not so prolific as other varieties, it bears a 
higher market.value and can be readily sold. 

Irish. — There was an increase in the acre- 
age in Irish potatoes in 1890. Owing to the 
inability of preserving them for any consider- 
able length of time in this climate, the pro- 
duction of Irish potatoes for the general 
market is not undertaken at all. The local 
markets are supplied with them when the 
crop first matures, but beyond this their pro- 
duction is adjusted to the demands of the 
farm on which they are cultivated. Our soil 
is admirably adapted to the production of 
Irish potatoes, and the average yield per acre 
is considerably above the national average. 
The average annual yield per acre in the 
United States for the ten years ending in 
1888 was 87.7 bushels, while in this State 
the average annual yield per acre for four 
years past (which is as far back as we have 
an accurate record) was 101. G7 bushels. 

SOKGIIUM CANE. 

The large decline in the acreage of sorghum 
cane devoted to the production of sorghum 
cane syrup is not easily accounted for, unless 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



it be on account of low prices and the grow- 
ing tendency to supplant sorghum cane syrup 
with syrup made from sugar cane. It is 
partly accounted for from the fact that here- 
tofore more of the acreage in sorghum cane 
should have been credited to the hay crop, 
having been planted for that purpose alone. 
Sorglium cane syrup is not so generally used 
as formerly, and in time it will doubtless be 
practically eliminated as a syrup crop. 

SUGAR CANE. 

One of the most promising fields for de- 
velopment is the vast area of alluvial soil in 
the middle, eastern and southern part of the 
State adapted to the growth of sugar cane. 
This territory is variously estimated at from 
500,000 to 1,000,000 acres. From informa- 
tion collected in this office the conclusion has 
been reached that there is not less tiian 1,- 
000,000 acres in south Texas alone where 
sugar cane can be successfully grown every 
year, and on the river bottoms and along 
many of the smaller streams, as high as the 
33d parallel, it is successfully grown for the 
manufacture of syrup. 

The total value of the sugar and syrup 
crops amount to 11,260,650, and the value 
per acre $88.62. As stated in previous re- 
ports, only a small portion of the area in 
sugar cane is devoted to sugar-making, owing 
to a want of facilities for manufacturing 
sugar. The larger part of the crop is con- 
verted into syrup, which is less profitable 
than sugar, and consequently the value of 
the crop per acre is thereby considerably 
reduced. 

The following observations in the report 
of 1887 are still true: 

"Estimating the area in which sugar cane 
can be profitably grown at a half million 



acres, and valuing the product at $100 per 
acre, a fair idea of the possibilities of de- 
velopment in this industry may be gained. 
It would yield a crop annually worth $50,- 
000,000— a sum greater by $1,500,000 than 
the present value of the cotton crop of the 
State. It is as staple an article, and less 
liable to fluctuation in prices. The supply 
in the United States is far below the demand, 
and there is, therefore, an unlimited market 
for the product. 

"The only difficulty in the way of the 
rapid development of the industry is the cost 
of machinery necessary, which practically 
limits the advantages presented to men of 
large means, the cost of a plant ranging from 
$00,000 to $100,000. Co-operation has been 
suggested by some as a remedy for this, while 
others have thought that the purchase by the 
large mill owners of the cane grown by small 
planters would solve the problem." 

Messrs. Cunningham & Miller, of Sugar- 
land, Fort Bend county, have recently refined 
a quantity of gianulated sugar, as good as 
any in the market, but their efforts have been 
cramped by opposing trusts. 



Flax has been raised in Texas as fine as 
any in Ireland. It will produce here about 
two tons to the acre, worth about $-15, while 
it costs less to market it than cotton. 



The production of honey has received but 
little attention in the State, although it pays 
more to the capital invested than any other 
business. Unlike the interest on money, 
which silently piles up the indebtedness of 
individuals, bees, with but little attention, 
day after day, store away hundreds of pounds 



niHTORY OF TEXAS. 



of lioin'y, which not only add many dollai's 
to tlie jmrse, but they furnieli the talde witli 
a luxury which cannot well be dispen&ed 
with. 

In 18U0, 145,542 stands produced 2,316,- 
889 pounds, valued at $236,466, which was 
more than 10 cents per pound. 

HOKTICULTURE. 

As stated in previous reports under this 
head, it is intended mainly to record the 
number of acres in orchards and note the 
proffress made from year to year in extend- 
ing the area devoted to the fruit-growing in- 
dustry. The total acreage in orchards in the 
State is 62,835, and the value of the fruit 
crop in 1890, estimated at current market 
prices, was 11,227,791. 

We take this occasion to repeat the language 
of the report of 1888 commendatory of the 
work of the State Horticultural Society 
in promoting the interests of horticulture 
throughout the State, which was as follows: 

" Within the past few years the State Horti- 
cultural Society has done a great work in de- 
veloping and cultivating an interest among 
the people of the State on the subject of horti- 
culture. Local societies have been formed 
in various parts of the State, and local fairs 
held at which the horticultural products of 
the iininediate section in particular and the 
State in general were exhibited, thus practi- 
ce I ly educating the people upon this most 
important branch of agriculture, and stimu- 
lating an interest in the adoption of the best 
methods of work and the attainniont of a 
more scientific knowledge of the subject. 
As a result of the impetus given to fruit- 
growing by these various associations, can- 
neries for the preservation of the surplus 
crops of fruits and vegetables have been 



started in different sections of the State. The 
fruit crop of the State is therefore getting to 
be quite an item in summing up the State's 
sources of revenue. The climate and soil are 
admirably adapted to the growth of peaches, 
pears and all the smaller fruits. Largo quan- 
tities of peaches, grapes and strawberries are 
shipped North in the early part of the season." 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

In addition to the foregoing data, we have 
the following items from the last census: 

Av. value 

Number. Value, per h'd. 

Horses and mules 1,439,716 $40,843,176 $28.30 

Cattle 7,r,84,6i)7 45,733,699 6.03 

Jacks and jennets 26,205 748,757 2S.53 

Sheep 4,070,225 5,639,705 1.38 

Goals 384,324 275,849 .72 

Hogs 1,060,226 1,350,755 1.27 

Total 14,565,413 $94,589,941 

1888. 1889. 1890. 

Number gins 4,110 4,506 4,500 

No. sheep sheared . . 3,860,034 3,754,069 2,813,173 

No. lbs. wool clipp'd 18,721,093 18,345,638 13,531,196 

Total val. wool clip'd $2,907,314 $3,319,155 $3,466,625 
Miles of telegraph 

lines in the State.. 9,475 10,120 10,323 
Miles of street rail- 
road In the State . . 202 *84 244 
Number physicians . 3,024 3,513 8,750 

Number lawyers 2,662 3,106 3,1.50 

Number marriages ... 22,856 23,596 24,593 

No. divorces granted. 1,520 1,466 1,853 
No. persons incarcer- 

ated in county jails. 12,867 13,274 13,274 
No. of convicts rec'd 

in State penitentiary 1,113 1,045 f695 

"GKASSHOI'I'Er" kaids. 

The famous western "grasshoppers," or 
migratory locusts, made their first appearance 
in Travis and adjoining counties in the fall 

♦Difference in mileage caused by its rendition as 
personal property, 
t August 1, 1891. 



UISTOUY OF 'lA'XA-i. 



of 1848, in swarms from the north, lighting 
and depositing their eggs everywhere, and 
preferring sandy land for the deposit of eggs. 
After eating all the garden products, whicli 
they would do in a short time, they disap- 
peared, no one knowing whither they went. 
The warm sun of the following March again 
brought the little hoppers out, which sud- 
denly consumed every green thing and fled 
northward. Tlie crops were again planted 
and the season proved favorable. 

In October, 1856, they came again, as be- 
fore, with the early north winds. After 
eating the blades off the wlieat and deposit- 
ing their eggs, they disappeared. During 
the next spring myriads of young hoppers, as 
before, about the size of large fleas, issued 
from the ground, and did but little mischief 
until about three weeks old, when they were 
half grown. They then moulted and started 
northward on foot, preserving as much regu- 
larity and order in their march as an army of 
well drilled soldiers. Exercise had of course 
a marked effect upon their appetites, which 
impelled them to be ravenous, preferring the 
young cotton to everything else, next the 
youno- corn, etc. When one was killed or 
wounded, he would be immediately devoured 
by his fellows! In their march they had no 
respect for the dwellings of human beings or 
animals, but would march right along through 
them without fear. At the age of six weeks 
they moulted again and were full-grown 
grasshoppers. In a few days their wings 
were ready for a prolonged flight, which they 
took, northward. 

The ensuing autumn they were here again, 
acting as before. The next spring the young 
came forth again, but this time there were 
added to their already immense numbers 
another horde which had been driven back in 
their march by a heavy norther. These latter 



had been bred between the Colorado and the 
gulf. After remaining long enough to con- 
sume nearly all that the native locusts had 
left, they resumed their migration. In the 
fall of 1858 the pests were again seen, high 
np in the air, passing southward. 

In their flight their wings glitter in the 
sun, so that the sky seems to be overcast by 
a shining snow flurry. They come with the 
north wind in the fall, and return with the 
south wind in the spring. 

PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. 

The Patrons of Husbandry, or Grange, is 
the oldest farmers' organization of State-wide 
influence in the State, and according to the 
estimate of lion. A. J. Rose, Master of the 
State Grange, numbers between 10,000 and 
15,000 active members, and has a non affili- 
ating membership approximating 100,000 in 
the State. The order has been the means of 
accomplishing great good in behalf of the 
farming population of the State, mainly by 
constantly keeping before the agricultural 
classes the necessity of a strict observance of 
the principles of economy in the management 
of the farm, avoiding extravagant, useless ex- 
penditures, and producing as far as possible 
all necessary supplies at home. Farmers who 
practice the principles of the Patrons of Hus- 
bandry do not contribute to the annual out- 
flow of money from the State for the pur- 
chase of bacon, lard, molasses and other farm 
supplies that can be produced on Texas soil, 
and are not in debt to the money-lending 
classes. The Grange numbers among its ad- 
herents in this State some of the most intel- 
lio-ent, thrifty and conservative farmers of the 
State — men who would be an honor to any 
organization, and whose names are a guaran- 
tee of success in any enterprise with which 
they may connect themselves. 



IIISTOHY OF TEXAS. 



The Texas State Farmer, located at Dallas, 
is the organ of tlie State Grange. 

TEXAS CO-Ol'ERATIVE ASSOCIATION OF THE 
PATRONS OF UUSBANDRY. 

This organization is the outgrowth of the 
Grange movement in the State, and has for 
its oliject the purchase of supplies and gen- 
eral merchandise for farmers, and the sale of 
products of the farms of the membership, 
though its business transactions are not con- 
tincd to members of the order. The associa- 
tion consists of central and branch organiza- 
tions. The central organization conducts a 
wholesale and the local organizations a retail 
business. The central or wholesale branch is 
located in Galveston, and is supported by 
about 130 associations located in various 
parts of the State; and in addition to the 130 
associations above mentioned, there are about 
('iJO individual shareholders. Membersliip, 
alwut 9,000. 

The institution is chartered with an author- 
ized capital stock of $100,000. 

farmers' ALLIANCE. 

This State enjoys the distinction of having 
given hirth to the above named institution, 
which is now the strongest and most active 
furnicrs' organization in the State. No farm- 
ers' move has ever taken sncii deep root in 
the hearts of the agricultural classes, and 
spread throughout the State and nation with 
sncli rapidity, as has the Farmers' Alliance 
movement, and its phenbtnenal growth still 
continues, its progress being marked by con- 
linual acquisitions to old Alliances and the 
formation of new ones in various parts of 
the State. State Alliances have sprung up 
in several States, and a national organization 
has ijcen perfected. 



The following facts relating to the origin 
of the oi'ganization were gleaned from a 
"History of the National Farmers' Alliance 
and Co-operative Union of America," by 
W. L. Garvin and S. O. Daws, of Jacksboro, 
Texas. 

The name Farmers' Alliance was assumed 
by an association of farmers in Lampasas 
county in 1875, who had organized for self- 
protection against persons who drove off their 
stock and otherwise harassed them with a 
view of preventing the further settlement of 
the country. In 1878 it had spread over 
Lampasas and adjoining counties, but, be- 
coming entangled with politics through de- 
signing men, was broken up. 

In 1879 W. T. Baggett, of Coryell county, 
a member of one of the old organizations, 
moved to Parker county and settled near 
Poolville. He had in his possession one of 
the constitutions of the order as it existed in 
Coryell county, and organized the first Alli- 
ance at Toolville, July 29, 1879. 

In this organization the political features 
which had destroyed the Alliance of Lampasas 
and adjoining counties in 1878 were stricken 
out of the declaration of principles, and the 
order placed on a non-political basis. 

The following is the original declaration of 
principles, with the exception of the second 
and seventh articles: 

1. To labor for the education of the agri- 
cultnral classes in the science of economical 
government, in a strictly non-partisan spirit. 

2. To endorse the motto, "In things 
essential unity, and in all things charity." 

3. To develop a bettei- state, mentally, 
morally, socially and financially. 

4. To create a better understanding for 
sustaining civil officers in maintaining law 
and order. 



HISrORT OF TEXAS. 



5. To constantly strive to secure entire 
liarmony and good will among all mankind 
and brotherly love among ourselves. 

6. To suppress personal, local, sectional 
and national prejudices, all uniiealtliful 
rivalry and all selfish ambition. 

7. The brightest jewels which it garners 
are the tears of widows and orphans, and its 
imperative commands are to visit the homes 
where lacerated hearts are bleeding, to as- 
suage the sufferings of a brother or a sister, 
bury the dead, care for the widows, and edu- 
cate the orphans; to exercise charity toward 
offenders; to construe words and deeds in 
their most favorable light, granting honesty 
of purpose and good intentions to otliei's, and 
to protect the principles of the Alliance unto 
death. 

Its laws are reason and equity, its cardinal 
doctrines inspire purity of thought and life, 
and its intentions are "peace on earth and 
good will to men." 

The first meeting of the State Alliance 
was held at Central, Parker county, Te.xas. 
Twelve sub-alliances were represented. 

The membership of tlio order in Texas is 
now estimated at 250,000. 

farmers' institutes. 

The legislature appropriated §500 for the 
encouragement of the movement, to be used 
by the board of directors of the Agricultural 
and Mechanical College as they might direct. 
By direction of the board the college authori- 
ties have arranged for holding an institute in 
each congressional district in this State, at 
which lectures on subjects relating to agri- 
culture, stock-raising and other subjects of 
practical utility to the farmers will be de- 
livered by the professors of the college and 
such other persons as they and the local com- 



mittee at the place of holding the institute 
may determine. The products of the farm 
are also exhibited, and results of the best 
methods of work in all departments of farm 
labor are shown. 

Farmers' institutes have been held at sev- 
eral points in the State, and in every instance 
they were attended with great interest and 
enthusiasm among the people. With more 
liberal encouragement on the part of the legis- 
lature they would become powerful agencies 
in awakening a deeper interest among the 
people in improved methods of farming, and 
directing public attention to the importance 
and value of the work now being done at the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College in in- 
structing the youth of the State in the science 
of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 

Farmers' institutes are open and free to all 
who choose to attend them, and thus afford a 
means of interchanging ideas and opinions 
among the agricultural classes, unencum- 
bered by any conditions whatever. 

CLIMATE. 

To convey a correct idea of the climate of 
any section by giving a statement of "mean 
temperatures" by the year or month, or even 
by the day, is misleading, from the fact that 
the mean temperature of great extremes may 
be the same as that of slight variations. For 
example, the mean between zero and 100 
(fifty) is the same as that between forty and 
sixty, which also is fifty. To give a correct im- 
pression of climate one needs to state the 
number of times the temperature reaches 
certain extremes in each year for a number 
of years, with accompanying statements of 
the wind and moisture prevailing at the same 
times. A table giving all these items is too 
tedious for the ordinary reader to scan, and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Fcientista always go to the original reports of 
trained observers for tlieir information. 

Texas has variety in her climate as well as 
other things. A very large portion of the 
State is swept by the gulf breezes, which 
dispense life to vegetation and health to the 
iniiabitants wherever they reach. The long 
summers characteristic of this latitude are by 
them rendered not only endurable but enjoy- 
able. -So marked is the influence of the gulf 
winds on the climate of the State that the 
average temperature along the gulf coast and 
for many miles inland is much lower during 
the summer months than it is in the higher 
latitudes of the north. The same influence 
neutralizes the cold of winter and makes the 
winters of the southern and southwestern part 
of the State the mildest and most delightful 
of all States in the Union. 

The extremes of temperature in Texas 
range from about zero in the northern part of 
tiie State to 100° and 112° in August. The 
iiir being pure, the extreme heat is far more 
iMiduraide than a temperature of only eighty- 
live, with such impure air as generally pre- 
\ails in the cities. Most of the year the 
temperature is comfortable, and averages 
I etter than anj' other State in the Union. 

The amount of rainfall at Austin varies 
from twenty-three to forty-four inches per 
annum, generally ranging from twenty-eight 
to thirty- six inches. The exact average from 
1857 to 1874 inclusive was found to be 33.93 
inches, with signs of increase; that is, the 
flrstfive years the fall was 148.08, tlie second 
Ave IGfi 55, and the third five 178.88. 

During the same period the hijihost ther- 
mometer was 96° to 107° in the shade, and 
the lowest 0° to 28° above zero. 

The following table of rainfall, for the 
years named, is interesting and is of easy 
reference: 



1882... 
1SS3... 
1884... 
18&-.... 
18S« . . . 
18X7... 
18SS... 



The most notaljle floods of the Colorado 
since the settlement of Austin have occurred 
as follows: February, 1843, river rose about 
thirty-six feet; March, 1852, thirty-six feet; 
July, 1869, forty-three feet; and October, 
1870, thirty-six feet. 

The following circumstance is illustrative: 
Colonel Merriani,of the Twenty-fourth United 
States Infantry, with his family and an escort, 
encamped on the Concho river Sunday, April 
24, 1S70. This river is formed by the junc- 
tion of a number of small streams from 
springs, but at its head it is so small that a 
man can step across it. The tops of the 
banks are usually about twenty-five feet above 
the water. 

Fatigued with their journey, the party 
were pleasantly resting, when early in the 
evening Colonel Merriam saw signs of a 
coming storm. The tent was fastened and 
made as secure as possible, and about nine 
o'clock a hailstorm burst upon them and 
lasted until about eleven o'clock, the stones 
being of the size of hens' eggs and striking 
the tent with a noise like incessant musketry. 
The colonel, who was not ignorant of the 
sudden and extreme overflows to which the 
mountain streums of Texas are liable, went 
out into the darkness as soon as the storm 



UISTORr OF TEXAS. 



had ceased, to see what effect had been pro- 
duced on the rivulet. To his amazement he 
found, in the previously almost dry bed of 
the creek, a resistless torrent, filled with 
floating hail, rolling nearly bank full, white 
like niilk and as silent as a river of oil. He 
at once saw the danger and rushed back to 
the tent, shouting at the same time to the 
soldiers and servant to "turn out." He 
placed Mrs. Merriam and their child and 
nurse in the ambulance, and with the aid of 
three men started to run with it to the higher 
ground, a distance of not more than sixty 
yards. Scarcely a minute had elapsed from 
the time the alarm had been given before the 
water began to surge over the banks in waves 
of such volume and force as to sweep the 
party from their feet before they had traversed 
thirty yards. The colonel called for assist- 
ance upon some cavalry soldiers who had just 
escaped from the United States mail station 
near by, but they were too terror-stricken to 
take heed. 

Colonel Merriam then gave up the hope of 
saving his family in the carriage, and tried 
to spring into it, intending to swim out with 
them; but the icy torrent instantly swept 
him away. Being an expert swimmer, he 
succeeded in reaching the bank 200 yards 
below, and ran back to renew the attempt to 
save his dear ones, when he received the 
awful tidings that the moment he was borne 
away by the stream the carriage, with all its 
precious freight, turned over and went roll- 
ing down the flood, his wife saying as she 
disappeared, "My darling husband, good- 
byl" The little rill of a few hours before, 
which a child might step across, had become 
a raging river nearly a mile in width, from 
thirty to forty feet deep and covered with 
masses of driftwood. The bereaved husband 
procured a horse ^roni one of the cavalry and 



rode far down the river, but could see noth- 
ing distinctly in the darkness, while nothing 
could be heard but the wild roar of the 
waters. 

Thus passed the long, wretched night. 
Before day the momentary flood had passed 
by, and the stream had shrunk within its 
accustomed limits. The search began. The 
drowned soldiers and servant, four in num- 
ber, were soon found, and the body of the 
wife was taken from the water three-fourths 
of a mile below. Tlie body of the child was 
not found until three days afterward, four 
miles down the stream and a long distance 
from the channel. The carriage was drifted 
by the current about a mile, and lodged in a 
thicket. 

The storm had been frightful, beyond de- 
scription. The beaver ponds at the head of 
the Concho were so filled with hail that tiie 
fish were killed, and were washed out and de- 
posited on the surface of the surrounding 
country in loads. Three days after the storm, 
when the searching party left the Concho, the 
hail lay in drifts to the depth of six feet. 

Heavy indeed was the heart of the husband 
and father when he commenced his melan- 
choly march to the post of the Concho, fifty- 
three miles distant! 



PUBLIC LANDS. 

Under this head are included all the lands 
owned by the State or held in trust for any 
of its public institutions. 

There are about 5,000,000 acres of unap- 
propriated public domain belonging to the 
State. This may be acquired by the pro- 
visions of the law relating to homestead do- 
nations. 



ni STORY OF TEXAS. 



HOW TO ACQUIRE HOMESTEAD DONATIONS, ETC. 

Every head of a family without a home- 
stead sliall he entitled to receive a donation 
from the State of 160 acres of vacant unap- 
propriated public land, and every single man 
of the age of eighteen years or upward shall 
be entitled to receive from the State eighty 
acres of vacant and unappropriated public 
land. The applicant must apply to the sur- 
veyor of the district or county in which the 
land is situated, in writing, designating the 
land he claims, stating that he claims the 
same for himself in good faith, etc.; that he 
is without any homestead of his own; that 
he has actually settled on the land, etc., and 
that he believes the same to be vacant and 
unappropriated public domain. The survey 
to be made within twelve months after date 
of application. When the terms of the law 
have been complied with, and proof of such 
fact, together with the proof of three years' 
continuous occupancy, is filed with the com- 
missioner of the general land ofEce, patent 
will issue to the claimant or his assignee. 
(Title LXXIX, Ch. 9, Revised Statutes.) 

By virtue of an act passed March 29, 1887, 
and amended April 5, 1889, "To provide for 
the sale of such appropriated public lands, 
situated in organized counties, as contain not 
more than 640 acres," it is provided that any 
person desiring to purchase any of such ap- 
propriated lands situated in any of the or- 
ganized counties of the State as contain not 
more than 640 acres, appropriated by an act 
to provide for the sale of a portion of the un- 
appropriated public land, etc., approved July 
14, 1879, may do so by causing the same to 
be surveyed by the surveyor of the county in 
which the land is situated. The person de- 
siring to purchase shall make application in 



writing, describing the land by reference to 
surrounding surveys. Tlie land must be sur- 
veyed within three months from date of aj)- 
plication, and within sixty days after said 
survey the surveyor shall certify, record and 
map the same in his office, and within said 
sixty days return the same to the general 
land office, together with the application. 
Within ninety days after the return to and 
filing in the general land office the applicant 
must pay into the State treasury the purchase 
money at the rate of $2 per acre; patent to 
be issued by the commissioner of the general 
land office when the treasurer's receipt is tiled 
in his office. Failure to make the payment 
within ninety days forfeits the right to pur- 
chase, and the applicant cannot afterward 
purchase under the act. (Chapter 80, Acts 
of Twentieth Legislature, pp. 61 and 62.) 

COMMON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY AND ASTLCM LANDS. 

The act of April 1, 1887, and the act 
amendatory thereof of April 8, 1889, pro- 
vide for the sale of all lands heretofore or 
hereafter surveyed and set apart for the bene- 
fit of the public free schools, the university, 
and the several asylums, amounting in all to 
about 30,000,000 acres. 

All lands under this head must be classi- 
fied by the commissioner of the general land 
office into agricultural, pasture, and timber 
lands, and valued according to classification 
before being placed on the market When 
classified and valued the land commissioner 
is required to notify the county clerks of the 
counties where the lands are situated of the 
value of each section of land offered for sale 
in their respective counties and counties at- 
tached for judicial purposes, which notifica- 
tion said clerk must keep on record for pub- 
lic inspection. 



^ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Lands classified as agricnltnral are sold to 
actual settlers only, in quantities of not less 
than eighty, and in multiples thereof not 
more than 640 acres, provided tliat where 
there is a fraction of less than eighty acres 
of any section left such fraction may be sold. 
Where two quarter sections are purchased 
tliey must constitute a given half of some 
section. Lands classified as purely pasture 
lands, and without permanent water thereon, 
may be sold in quantities not to exceed four 
sections to the same person. Parts of two 
sections cannot be purchased without taking 
the whole of one section. No sales are made 
to a corporation, foreign or domestic, and all 
sales to a settler are made on express condi- 
tion that any sale, transfer, or conveyance of 
such land to a corporation, either immediate 
or remote, shall ipso facto terminate the title 
of the purchaser and forfeit the land to the 
State. No watered portion of any section 
shall be sold unless there is permanent water 
on or bordering on the part of the section re- 
maining unsold. 

The minimum price of lands sold under 
this act is %2 per acre. Lands having per- 
manent water thereon or bordering thereon 
are sold at not less than $3 per acre. Tim- 
bered lauds are sold at not less than $5 per 
acre. By timbered lands is meant lands 
chielly valuable for the timber thereon. The 
timber on such lands may also be sold at the 
discretion of the commissioner of the general 
land office, for $5 per acre, cash, except where 
land is sparsely timbered, then for not less 
than 12 per acre, the purchaser to have five 
years from the date of purchase to remove 
the timber therefrom, after which, if not re- 
moved, it reverts to the State without judi- 
cial ascertainment. 

Agricultural and pasture lands are sold on 
forty years' time, at 5 per cent, per annum 



interest. One-fortieth of the aggregate pur- 
chase money must^ie paid in advance, and an 
obligation, duly executed, binding the pur- 
chaser to pay to the State treasurer, on the 
first day of August each year thereafter, until 
the whole is paid, one-fortieth of the pur- 
chase money and the interest on the whole of 
the unpaid purchase money. Within one 
year next after the expiration of three years' 
residence on the land the purchaser must 
make proof by his own affidavit, corroborated 
by the affidavits of three disinterested and 
credible citizens of the county, certified to by 
some officer of the court, that he has resided 
on the land three years. Upon receipt of the 
fortieth payment by the treasurer, and the 
affidavit and obligation required to be filed 
with the application for the land, the sale is 
held effective. 

All purchasers have the option of paying 
in full after they have resided on their land 
three consecutive years, proof of which must 
be furnished the commissioner of the general 
land office. Purchasers may sell their lands 
any time after three years, the vendee or sub- 
sequent vendees to become subject to all the 
conditions of sale to the original purchaser. 

If the interest due on the first day of Au- 
gust of any year is unpaid the purchaser 
shall have until the first day of January 
thereafter to pay said interest, and for said 
default shall pay 50 per cent, penalty on said 
interest past due. Failure to pay said past 
due interest and penalty on or before the said 
first day of January any year works a forfeit- 
ure of the land without the necessity of re- 
entry or judicial ascertainment, except where 
the purchaser dies, in which event his heirs 
have one year after the first day of August 
next after such death in which to make 
payment. 

Timbered lands are sold for cash. 



HISTOHT OF TEXAS. 



All applications for the purchase of land 
must be forwarded to the commissioner of 
the general land ofHce at Austin, accompanied 
hy an affidavit stating in effect that the appli- 
cant desires the land for a home, and has in 
good faith settled thereon; that he is not 
acting in collusion with others for the pur- 
pose of buying the land for any other person 
or corporation, and that no other person or 
corporation is interested in the purchase save 
himself. 

The commissioner of the land office may, 
at his discretion, lease any of the public lands 
not in demand for actual settlement, for a 
period of not over five years, at 4 cents per 
acre per annum in advance. 

Applications to lease shall be made in 
writing to the commissioner of the land office, 
and shall specify and describe the land de- 
sired. If satisfied that it is not detrimental 
to the public interest, the commissioner may 
execute under his hand and seal, and deliver 
to the lessee, a lease for the time agreed upon 
of any land applied for. 

Grazing lands are not subject to sale during 
the term of the lease. Lands classified as 
agricultural shall be leased subject to sale, 
the lessee to give immediate possession when 
such lands are sold, and allowed a pro rata 
credit upon his next year's rent, or the money 
refunded to him by the treasurer, as he may 
elect; provided, that no such sale shall be 
effected of a section where the lessee has 
placed improvements of the value of $100 
thereon; and provided further, that no actual 
settler purchasing land within a leasehold 
shall be permitted to turn loose therein more 
than one head of cattle or horses for every 
ten acres of land purchased by him and en- 
closed, or in lieu thereof four head of sheep 
or goats. Each violation of this proviso sub- 
jects tlie violator to a fine of $1 for each head 



of stock so turned loose, and each thirty days' 
violation constitutes a separate offense. 

Failure to pay the annual rent due for any 
year witliin sixty days after the same shall 
have become due, subjects the lessee to for- 
feiture at the discretion of the land commis- 
sioner. The State retains a lien upon all 
improvements on leased lands to secure pay- 
ment of rents. Leaseholds are exempt from 
taxation. 

It is unlawful for any person to fence, use, 
occupy or appropriate, by herding, line- riding 
or other means, any portion of the public 
lands; and the attorney-general is authorized 
to bring suit for the recovery of such land 
and damages for its use and occupation, and 
such suits may be brought in the district 
court of Travis county. 

Fences on grazing lands must not be con 
structed for more than three miles lineal 
measure, running in the same general direc- 
tion, without a gateway in the same. 

Patents to lands are issued by the com- 
missioner of the general land office when the 
receipt of the State treasurer {to whom all 
payments are made) for all payments due on 
the land is presented at the land office and 
the patent fees thereon paid. 

Patent fees are as follows: 

320 acres of land or less flOO 

Over 320 acres and up to 640 acres GOO 

Over 640 and up to 1,280 acres 10 00 

Over 1,280 acres and up to one-third of a league. 12.50 
Over one-third of a league and up to one league 

and labor 15.00 

One league and labor 20.00 

Each set of field notes filed for less than one 

league and labor 1.00 

Each set of field notes filed for more than one 

league and labor 2.00 

The number of acres of school lands located 
in each county is given in connection with 
the statistics of the counties, and represents 



HIHTORT OF TEXAS. 



the amount of unsold public scbool land in 
the county July 4, 1888. 

Four leagues of scbool land have been set 
apart for each county in the State, to be used 
for educational purposes. Said lands are in 
the control of the commissioners' courts of 
the several counties, to whom purchasers 
should apply. Many counties have already 
leased or sold their lands. 

Any person desiring to purchase or lease 
public lands can procure blank applications 
suitable for each class of land for sale or 
lease by applying to the commissioner of the 
general land office at Austin. 

Divisions of land in this State are made 
according to Spanish land measurement, by 
varas, labors and leagues, and distances are 
given in linear varas. 

1 vara 833^ inches. 

1 acre 5,640 square varas — 4,840 sq. y'ds. 

1 labor 1,000,000 square varas— 177 acres. 

}4 league 8,333,333 square varas— 1,476 acres. 

1 league 35,000,000 sq. varas— 4,438 acres. 

1 league and labor. 26,000,000 sq. varas— 4,605 acres. 

NUMBER OF FARMS IN THE STATE. 

In procuring information on this subject 
much depends upon the standpoint from 
which inquiry is directed. One farm may 



cover half of a county, and yet be tenanted 
by hundreds of people, each having to him- 
self a separate, distinct area of cultivation. 
A farm may also be a body of land enclosed 
and separated from other land. Therefore, 
there may be many farms owned by the same 
person and each adjoining the other. An- 
other difficulty in ascertaining the number of 
farms in the State is in determining how 
small a tract of land may constitute a farm. 
In the census of 1880 all bodies of four acres 
and over were regarded as farms, which is 
misleading, for on this basis half the market 
gardens would be called farms. What are 
generally known in a community as "farms" 
are reported under that head in this office. 
There are 142,437 farms in the State. 

In 1889 the number of tenant farmers in 
the State was 87,991; in 1890 the number 
was decreased 512 in one year. This decrease 
indicates the rapidity with which the State is 
being settled by farmers from other States, 
as most immigrants rent land the tirst year 
of their residence in the State. 

In 1889 the number of farm laborers was 
58,918, and in 1890 57,321. By farm 
laborers is meant tliose who worked for wages 
on the farm. The average wages per month 
paid each laborer was $13.38. 




HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



THE COUNTIES. 

Tlie following table States the names of tLe counties of tte State, for whom named, from 

what taken, when created, when organized, area in square miles, county seats, 

and population in 1890. 



Auptin 

Baudura . . 
Baetrup... 

Bailey 

Baylor 

Bee 

Bell 

Bexar 

Blanco 

Borden . . . 
Botquo — 

Brazoria... 
Brazos — 
Brewster.. 
Briscoe.... 
Brown.... 
Buchel .... 
BurlcsoQ . 
Bnrnet... 
Caldwell.. 
Calhoun... 
Callahan. 
Cameron.. 

Cass...'.'.'.". 



Chambers 

Cherokee 

Childress 

Clay 

Cochran 

Colte., 

Coleman 

Collin 

Collingsworth 

Colorado 

Comal 

Comanche 

Concho .... 

Cooke 

Coryell 

Cottle 

Crockett 

Ilallam '.'.'. 

Dallas 

Dawson 

Deaf Smith.. 

Delta 

Denton 

DeWitt 

Dickens 

Dimmit 

Douley 



Kenneth L. Amlcrso; 
Uichiird Andrews . 
AnRclina River 

Hnmch T. Archer... 

Atascosa River .. . . 
Stephen F.Aiictiu.. 

Bandera Pass 

Baron de Bneimp... 

Bailey 

Henry W. Baylor . 
Bernard E. Bee, Sr. . 

Governor P. H. BeU 

Duke of Bexar 

Blanco River 

Gall Borden 

Bopqne River 

James Bowie 

Municipi.lity of Brai 



Andrew llriseoe 

Henry S. Uruwu 

Col. Buchel, of Con. army. 
General Edward Burleson. 
President David G. Burnet 

Matthew Caldwell 

.lohn C. Calhoun 

James M. Callahan 

Ervin Cameron 

J. L. Camp 

S. P.Careon 

Lewis CasB 

Henry Castro 

Thomas J. Chambers 

Cherokee tribe of 



iUlrei 



JudKe .liHu.s CuDiuKHWi 
Municipality of Coloradi 

Comal River 

:ianche tribe of Indii 
cho River 



Steph> 



G.M. Dallas 

Nicholas Dawson 

Prom its location and shape. 

John B. Denton 

Green De Witt 



Judge Stockton P.Donley. 



Original 

Buruet, Hays, Gillespie, and 
Comal. 

Bexar 

McLennan 



Counties Created from. 



San Patricio, 

Refugio. 
Mila- 



and Robertson. 



Travis and Comanche 

Presidio 

Milam and Washington 

Travis, Williamson, and Bell 
Gonzales 

Bosque, Travis and iSexar. .. 

Vv^\i\it'\\'.'.'.''.'.'.'.'.V.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 

Bexar 

Bexar 

Bexar 

Liberty and Jefferson 

Nadogdoches 

Fannrn 

Bexar 

Trnvis and Brown 



Original 

Bexar, Travis, and Gonzales. 
Coryell and Bosque 

Fainiiii '.'.'.".'.'.'. '.!.'.'."!."...'.'!!!, 
McLennan and Bell 



Tom Green. 
Bexar 



Robertson and Nacogdoches 

Bexar 

Bexar 

Hopkins and Lamar 

Gonzales, Victoria, and Go- 
liad. 

Bexar 

Bexar, Webb, Uvalde, Mav- 
erick. 

Bexar 



24, 1S46 

21, 1S76 
22.1846 
18, 1871 

22, 1858 
21, 1876 
25, 1856 
17, 1H36 
26,1866 
17, 1836 



21, 1876 
4,1854 
17, 1840 
17, \m 
30, IM 

21,' 1876 
27, 1S66 
15, 1SS7 
24,1846 
5, 18-i2 
6, 184.S 



July 13,1840 
Unorganized 
July 13, 1846 

July 27, 
Mar. 8, 18!)0 
Aug. 4, 185r 

183^ 

Mar. 10, 18.i6 
Apr. 8, 18:i7 
Unorganized 
Apr. 13, 187H 
July 25,1858 



Aug. 



, ISiO 
18.37 
Apr. 12, 1858 



— 1K41 

1837 

Feb. 6, 1843 
Feb. 26,1887 
Uuorganized 
Mar. 2, 1857 
Unorganized 
July 13, 1846 
Aug. 7, 18.54 



Aug. 7, 1848 

'nly 13, 1846 

1, lS58JJuly 8, 1877 

19,lS4«Ang. 7,1848 

6, 1874, June 20, 1874 

21, lR-,f,'jaue 26, 1888 

2.5, 1846jJuly 13, 1816 

21, 1876Pec. 23, 1H91 

12, 1858 Aug. a, l.H.-,8 

11, 1846|jaly 13, 1«46 

11, isrr, Apr. 11, 1H87 

"1, 1---N'mV -M, IWI 



:i. i-ii, .Inlv i:t, 1816 
-.il, is,n ^ept. 3(1, 18»0 

ir, 18;«| 1837 

24. 1846 July 18, 1846 
25, 18.56 Mar. 17,1866 

1, 18.58 Mar. 11, 1879 
20, 1848 Mar. 10,1849 

4, 1854 Mar. 4, 1854 
21, lK7KlUnorKanized 
26, 1887 Unorganized 
2e, 1875 July 14, 1891 
21, 1876 Sept. 11,1886 
21, 1876 Sept. 9, 1891 
80, 1846 July 13,1846 

1,18.58 Unorganized 
21, 1876pec. 1, 1.89t 
29, 1870 Oct. 6, 1K70 
11, 1846 July 13, 1816 
24, 1846 July 13, 1846 



21, 1876lMar. 22, 18S2 



Homer 

Rockport 

Archer. 

Claude 

Pleasanton. .. 

Bellville 

Bandera. 

Bastrop 

Unorganized . 

Seymour 

Beeville 

Belton 

San Antonio.. 
Blanco 



Durham 

Meridian 

Tcxarkana . . . 
Brazoria 

Murphyville.. 
Uuorganized . 
Brownwood... 
Uuorganized . 

Caldwell 

Buruet 

Lockhart 



Indi! 

Baird 

Brownsville . 
Pittsburg 



Henrietta 

Uuorganized . 
Robert Lee . . 

Coleman 

Mc Kinney. 
Aberdeen.. 
Columbus ... 
New Braunfei 
Comanche 



, Roek. 



Dallas 

Unorganized . 

La Plata 

Cooper 



6,449 

17,786 
3,778 
.■0,592 



.33,'.-89 
50,145 
4,635 



14,120 

20,27:j 

11,474 

,603 



5,422 
13,080 
6«0E 



2,037 
6,086 

3! ..4 
'.3.57 

19,470 
6,411 

16,194 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Edwards.... 
Ellis 

El P.IBO... . 

Encinal 

Erath 

Falla 

Fannin 

Fayette. ... 

Fisher 

Floyd 

Foard 

Foley 

Fort Bend.. 
Franklin.... 
Freestone.. 

Frio 

OalTeeton... 

Gaines 

Garza 

Gillespie.... 
Glasscoclc. . 

Goliad 

Gonzales . . 

Gray 

Grayson 

Gregg 

Greer 

Grimes 

Gnadalnpe . 

Hale 

Hall 

Hamilton... 



Hardin... 

Harrison. 
Hartley.., 
Haskell... 

"Tiih 

Hidalgo.. 



Heraiihlll. 



[ill. 

Hockley 

Hood 

Hopkins 

Howard 

Hoaston 

Hunt 

HutchlDBon.. 

Irion 

Jack 

Jackson 

Jasper 

Jefl DbtIs 

Jefferson 

Johnson 

Karnes 

Kaufman .... 

Kendall 

Kent 

Kerr 

Kimble 

King 

Kinney. 

Knox .. 

Lamar 



The Dnval family 

W. M.Eastlaud 

GeuernI Mat Ector 

Haydun Edwards 

Diehard Ellis 

Taken from The Pass.. 

Spanish name— Oak Gr 

George B. Eroth 

Falls on Brazos River.. 

James W. Fannin... , 
eneral La 
. S. Rhodes 

. D.Floyd 

. Robt. L. Foard 

. Family named Foley 

. A fort on the Brazos River. 

. B. C. Franklin 

. Kind of Stone 

. Frio River 

. Count de Galvez 

. James Gaines 

The family of Garzas 

. Captain R. A. Gillespie 

. George W. Glasscock, Sr... 

. Municipality of Goliad 

. Raphael Gonzales 

. Peter W. Gray 

. Peter W. Grayson... 

. General John Gregg 

. John A. Greer 

. Jesse Grimes - 

. Guadalupe River 

. Lieutenant J. C. Hale , 

. Warren D.C.Hall 

James Hamilton 

. John M. Hansford 

. Two brothers— Bailey and I. , 
Hardeman. 

. William Hardin 

. John R. Harris- 

. A pioneer named Harrison. 

. Q. C. and R. K. Hartley 

. Charle Haskell 

. Captain Jack Hays 

. Judge John Hemphill 

. Governor J. P. Henderson.., 

. Guadalupe Hidalgo 

. George W. Hill 

. Adj. Gen. G. W. Hockley... 
. General John B. Hood ... . . , 

A pioneer family 

. Volney E. Howard 

. Sam Houston 

. Memucan Hunt 

. Anderson Hutchinson 

. Irion 

W. H. and P. C.Jack 

, Andrew Jackson 

. Sergeant Jasper 

. Jefferson Davis 

. Jefferson Beaumont 

. M.T.Johnson 

. Dr. Anson Jones 

. Henry Karnes 

David S. Kaufman 

George W.Kendall 

R. Kent 

James Kerr 

Kimble 

William King 

H. L. Kinney 

Knox County, Ohio 

M. B.Lamar 

Lieutenant Lamb 

Lampasas River 



General Robert E. Lee. 



Couutlos Created from. 



Navarro 

Hc.xur 

Wubl), Starr, and Nueces. 

Coryell and Bosque 

Milnm and Limestone... 

RcdRivLT 

Colorado and Bastrop.... 

Bexar 

Bexor 

Presidi( 

Titus..'.!!'. 
Limestone 

xar, Atascosa, and Uvalde, 
d Liberty 



D,King,Cottle,Knox 



Brazoria 
Bexar ... 

Be.xar and Travif 

Tom Green 

Original 

Original 



Fannin 

Upshur and Rusk 

Clay 

Montgomery 

Gonzales and Bexar 

Bexar 

Bexar 

Comanche, Bosque, Lampa- 



Liberty and Jefferson . 



Shelby 

Fannin and Milam. 



Houston and Nacogdoches. 

Cameron 

Navarro 

Bexar 

Johnson 

Lamar and Nacogdoches... 

Nacogdoches 

Nacogdoches and Fannin.. . 

Bexar 

Tom Green 

Cooke 

Original 

Original 

Presidio 

Original 

Navarro and McLennan . . . . 

Bexar and Bosque 

Bexar, De Witt and Goliad . 

Henderson 

CO and Kerr 

Bexar 

Fannin'.'..'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.*.'.'.'.!'.!!." 



in and Bell 

Bexar and Webb 

Gonzales, Victoria, Jackson, 

Fayette and Colorado. 
Burleson, Bastrop, Fayette 

and Washington. 



1, 18.58 Nov. 7, 1876 

1,1858 Dec. 2,1873 

26, 1887 Jan. 6, 1891 

1, 1858 Apr. 10, ias3 

20, 1849!Aug. 5, 1850 

3, 1850 May 7, 1871 
1, 1858 Unorganized 

25, 18.56!Aug. 4, 18.56 



14, 1837 
21, 1876 
21, 1876 

3, 1891 
15, 1887 
29, 1887 
8, 1875 
6, 18.50 
1,1858 

15, 1838 
21, 1876 
21, 1876 
23, 1848 



— 1836 
21, 1876 
17, 1846 
12, 1873 
8, 1860 
6,1846 
30, 1846 
21, 1876 



22, 18.58 
- 1836 
28, ia39 
31, ' 
1, 

1, 1848 
21, 1876 
ar, 1846 

24, 1852 
7, 18.53 

21, 1876 

2, 1866 

25, 1846 




Dec. 31 

Aug. 2, 18.58 

1837 

June 18, 1842 

Feb. 9, 1891 

Jan. 13, 1885 

Aug. 7, 

July 5, 

July 13, 1846 

Aug. 7, 1853 

May 14, 185f 
Unorganized 

Dec. 25, 1866 

July 13, 1846 

June 15, 1&H2 



1S37 
i July 13, 1846 
Unorganized 
Apr. 16, 1889 
27, 1856 July 7, 1857 



15, 1887 
— 1836 
4, 1854 Aug. 

June 13, 1881 

4; lS54|Feb. 27, 1854 
B, 184S|Ang. 



26, 1856, Mar. 23,1856 

22, I8.58lJan. 3, 1876 

21, 1876,June 25, 1891 

■' 187' 



1, 18,6,J 

B. 18501- 



20, 

17, 1840[ 1841 

21, 1876 Unorganized 
1, IK16 Mar. 10, 185( 
1, 1858 Nov. 2, 1880 
6, 1846Jnly 13,1846 



Apr 14, 1874 June 2, 1874 



El PUBO 

Unorganized , 
Stepbenville. 



Mt. Ver 



Fairfield 

Pearsall 

Galveston 

Unorganized . 
Unorganized . 
Frederickburg 
Unorganized . 

Goliad 

Gonzales 

Unorganized . 

Sherman , 

Longview , 

AndersoB, 



Hardin 

Houston 

Marshall 

Hartley 

Haskell 

San Marcos. 
Canadian... 
A the 



[idalgo 

Hillsboro 

Unorganized . 

Granbury 

Sulphur Spr'p 
Big Springs.. 

Crockett 

Greenville.... 
Unorganized. 

Sherwood 

Jacksboro. ... 
Edna 



900 Unorga 
1,188, Kcrrvlll 
1,.303'junctio 



930 Paris 

1,080 Unorganized . 

8.58'Lampa8a8 

1,512'Cotnlla 

l.OWjHallettsville.. 

60SGidding» 11,310 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



Naniud for— 



Counties Croiitu 



Couuty ScuL -g 



Mnrtin 



Mitchell.. 



Montague 

Muutgbmery. . 
Moore 

Motley..'.'.!!!! 
NacogdocliLB. 



Parmer- 
Pecos . . , 
Pollc.... 



Sabine 

San Anenetlne. 
San Jacinto 



Shackelford.. 

Shelby 

Sherman 

Smith 

Somervell 

Starr 

Stephens 

■sterling. 



Stonewall., 

Sutton 

Swisher...- 
Tarrant 



Alonzo de Leon 

Municipality of Liberty., 
Limestone ontcrops 



Robertson. 
Original... 
Roberteou . 



Wvly Martin (prcs. Consnita 

tion). 
raptain Mason, of U. 8. Army, 
aicipality of Matagorda... 

S. A. Maverick 

McCulloch 

Neil McLennan 

John McMuUen 



Bexar . 
Bexar . 



Aug. 4, 1856 
Aug. 4, ISM 
Unorganized 



Limestone, Milam and Ka- 
Ataecoea, Live Oak and 



2,1856 
27, 18.-)6 
22,1850 



12,1848 
22, 185S 
4,1885 



John I 

Two brothers, A. and E. Mitch- 
ell 

Daniel Montague 

eral James Montgomery.. 

imodore E, W. Moore 

VV. Morris 

Um. Motley 

■ ■ -ibe of Indians. 



1 Comanche. 



21,1 




Mav 



B. Ochiltree 

Williamson S. Oldham, Sr., 

From the Orange fruit 

Palo Pinto River 

ndian tribe 

L fiimilv at i'urkcr's Fort. . 



Patricio. 



. SterlinsC. Robertson 

An underground wall 

Governor 11. R. Runnels 

, Thomas J. Rusk 

Municipality of Sabine 

"' icipalityof San Augustine 

Battlefield of San Jacinto 

Municipality of San Patricio. . 

UHtav Schleicher, M. C 

in Saba River 

m. R.Scurry 

Dr. Schackelford 

General Shelby, of Kentncky. 

General Sidney Sherman 

James Smith 

Alexander Somervell 

James H. Starr. 

Alexander H. Stephens 



t. Col. Sutton, of C. S. A. 

James O. Swisher 

E.H.Tarrant 



Jefferson 

Bosque and Navarro.. 
Harrison and Shelby 

irro and Bosque... 
Bexar , 



24, 1857 
14, 1K37 
21, 1876 
13, 1875 
21, 1876 

— 1836 

25, 1846 



». 2, 1858 

18:J7 

Unorganized 
May 12,1876 
Feb. 25, 1891 
1837 
I July 13, lftl6 
1846[July 13, 1846 
21, 1876 June "" •""' 
18, 1846 July 13, 1816 
21, 1876 Feb. 21,1889 
25, 1876 June 12, 1891 
6, 1852 Mar. 20, 18,2 
37, 1856 Apr. 27, 18.r 
Sept. 



Hunt and llopkin 



ufmnn 

lar and Travis. 



I'olk, Lilierty, Walker and 



Original 

Bexar 

Nacogdoches 

Hood 

Nueces 

Bosque 

Tom Green 

Fannin 

Crockett Apr. 

ir Aug. 

Navarro Dec, 




Feb. in, 1848 



June 13, 1m8'i 
July 13, 1841; 
Apr. 13, l,s7ri 
Aug. 7, 181H 



Jewett 

Liberty 

Groesbeck 

Lipecorab 

Oakville 

Unorganized . 



Mason 

Matagorda. ., 
Eagle Pass , 



472 

5,168 

3!feS9 
3,2.15 
39,136 



Willis. ... 

Unorganized. 

Daingerfield.. 

Matador 

Nacogdoches. 

Corsicana 

Newton 

Sweet Water. 
Corpus Christi 
Ochiltree.... 

Tascosa 

Orange 

Palo Pinto... 

Carthage 

Weatherford. 
Unorganized 
Ft. Stockon . 
Livingston .. 

Marfa... '!!.'. 
Emory 



6,580 

139 

15,964 

2.5,3117 

4,645 

1,576 

8,089 

198 

287 



^ 



ille.. 



Refugio 

Miami 

Franklin 

Rockwall 

Ballinger. 

Henderson . . . 

Hemphill 

San Augustine, 
Cold Spring... 

San Patricio... 
Unorganized .. 

San Saba 

Snyder 

Albany 



1,.585 

328 

26,496 



6,614 
1,410 
2,1 37 
14,241 



Tyler 

Clcn Rose.... 
Hio Grande. . 
I'.reckenridge. 
Sterling City.. 
Kaynor 



1, 1887 Nov. 4, 1890 
21, 1876 Nov. 11,1890 900 Tulla . 
SO, 1&19 Aug. 6, 1860 900 Fort Worth . 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



Counties Created from. 



Taylor 

Terry 

Throckmorton 

Tiuis 

Tom Green... 

Trinity....'.... 

Tyler 

Upehur 

Upton 

Uvalde 

Val Verde.... 
VanZandt. .. 

Victoria 

Walker 

Waller 

Ward 

Waphington.. 

Webb 

Wharton 

Wheeler 

Wichita 

Wilbarger . .. 
Williamson... 

Wilfon .. 

Winkler 

Wiee 

Wood 

Yoakum 

Young 

Zapata 

Zavala 



A family by name of Taylor. 

Frank Terry 

Dr. William E.Throckmorton 

An old pcttkT 

Geiii-ralTom Grnen 



Abul l'.Ui.>liiir 

John aud W. F. Upton.. 

Jooe Uvalde 

Relative locntim 

Isaac Van Zaudt 

Municipality of Victoria, 
R„l,..rt .1. \\»\k-y ., ., 

W. 11. and,). A. WUaituu 

Judge Foyall T. Wheeler 

WiclilaHivcr 

Wilbarger family 

R.M. Williamson 

James C. Wilson 

Judge C. M. Winkler 

Henry A. Wise 

Goorge T. Wood 

Henderson Yoakum 

William Cocke Young... 
Zapata, a Mexiom patriu 
Lorenzo de Zavala . 



Bexar and Travis 

Fannin and Bosque 

Hed Uiver and liosque 

Bastrop 

Houston 

Liberty 

Nacogdoches and Harrison.. 
Tom Green 

Kinney, Crockett and Pecos. 

Henderson 

Original 

tgomery 

les and Austin 

Tom Green 

Original 

Bexar and San Patricio 

Matagorda, Colorado, Jack 

Bexar and Fannin 

Young Land District .. 

Bexar 

Bexar and Karnee 

Tom Green 

I zinit.'.'.'.'.'.'.''.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'. 



July 13, 1816 
Jan. 5, 1875 
Apr. 8, 1843 
Apr. 1, 1850 
July 13, 1846 
July 13, 1846 
Unorganized 
Apr. 21,18.56 
May 2, 188." 
Aug. 7, 1816 

'■ 1837 

July 13, 1846 
Aug. 16. 1873 
Unorgan ' 



21, 1876 Apr. 12, 187» 

1, 18.VS June 21, '"- 

1, 18.58 Oct. 10, 

13, 18l8IAng. 7,1848 



and Bosque. ., 

nd Webb 

and Maverick. 



Abilene 

Unorganized .. 
Throckmorton, 
Mt. Pleasant.. 
San Angela 



Unorganized . 

Uvalde 

Del bio 

Canton, 



Brenham. 
Laredo 
Wharton . 



Mobeetle 

Wichita Falli.. 

Vernon 

Georgetown, . . 

bloresville 

Unorganized ., 
Decatur 

Unorganized.. 
Graham 



iS.fioi 

7i636 



4,831 
7,072 
26,8*8 



SUMMARY OF TOTALS 

COUNTIES. 





1888. 


1S89. 


1380. 




245 
200 
45 


40 






■.I'J 











AREA AND POPULATION. 



Total square miles territory 274,.3i6 

Population, United States census 1880 I,5!ll,r40 

Population, United Stales census 1890 2,3:S,5,,5SJ 

Increase in population since lH8n 643.774 

Percentage of gain since 1880 40.44 

Relative rank in population 7 

Density of population per square mile 8.8 

The population of Texas in 1835 is estimated at .50,000; 1845, ISO.IXW; 1850 census, 212,592; 1860, 601,039; isro, 818,579. During the 
decade 1880 to 1890, Texas advanced in population, in point of rank, from the eleventh to the seventh among the States ot, the Union. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



CITIES AND miNCIPAL TOWNS. 

Ahilcne, with a population of 4,300, is 
situated on the Texas & Pacific Railroad, 160 
miles west of Fort Worth, and at about the 
center of the "Abilene country." Its esti- 
mated trade for 1891 was about $1,800,000, 
the average freight receipts at the depot 
being about $22,000 per month. During 
tiie year 1890 nineteen brick business houses 
were erected. There are three national banks, 
with an aggregate capital and surplus of 
$375,000, and the city has also water- works, 
electric lights, ice factory, etc. 

Austin, the capital of the State, is located 
near the geographical center of Travis county. 
Its topography is distinctively unique, having 
in general the grade of an inclined plane 
broken by superlicial waves, which seem 
from their regularity to be the work of art 
rather than the formation of nature. It is 
located at the foot of a range of mountains 
and possesses all local advantages that the 
most refined taste could desire. In sight of 
the city and a short distance from it Mount 
Barker and Mount Eonnell lift their tower- 
ing heads — the former to an altitude of 398, 
and the latter 372 feet above the streets of 
the city. At the entrance of a fertile plain, 
on the banks of a beautiful stream, it unites 
the convenience of a commercial town with 
the romantic beauty of a spot admired by all 
for its pre-eminent loveliness. Its environ- 
ments present every shade of refited beauty 
and cultivated elegance. Austin is regarded 
by general con-sent as the most beautifully 
located city in the State. The site was 
selected by a committee appointed by Presi- 
dent Lamar in 1839 to locate a permanent 
scat of government. It was known at that 
lime as the hamlet of Waterloo, and had a 



population consisting of three families. What 
an enchanting picture must have presented 
itself to the committee! Here was a combi- 
nation of charms that delighted the senses, 
embracing tlie majesty of mountain scenery, 
the spreading prairie, the lofty forest, the 
charming valleys and bounding streams. 

The city was splendidly laid out with 
broad and imposing avenues, which received 
their names from the forest trees and streams 
of the State. Its corporate limits embrace 
an area of sixteen and three-tenths square 
miles. It has an efficient electric street rail- 
way system, with its ramifications reaching 
the principal points of interest. It has also 
a dummy line in successful operation, ex- 
tending to the dam. The illumination by 
gas and electricity gives the place an air of 
convenience and security. 

Austin has greatly increased in population 
during the past few years. In 1880 the 
population, according to the United States 
census, was 11,013; in 1891 it was 25,000. 
The assessed values of property during the 
same period increased from $5,0-44,221 to 
$10,514,088. 

The population comprises some of the 
most enterprising and energetic as well as 
the most conservative to be found in the 
State. As a result of this Austin is a beauti- 
ful city, abundantly provided with every con- 
venience which has been called into being by 
the wants of man. 

While Austin is not yet distinctively a 
manufacturing city, recent investigation.s 
showing its possibilities as a manufacturing 
center, and the proximity of valuable build- 
ing stone and an abundance of clay for bi'ick- 
making near at hand, have encouraged im- 
provements of all kinds, and a general feeling 
of confidence for the city's future prevails. 

In 1890 the tax-paying voters of the city 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



decided at tlie polls by a i. aj^rity of twenty- 
seven to one to issue bonds for 11,400,000, 
for the purpose of erecting an enormous dam 
across the Colorado river and the building of 
a complete system of water and electric light 
works, to be owned and controlled by the 
city. 

The work on the dam was begun in No- 
vember, 1890, and was completed in 1893. 
It is an immense granite structure, 1,150 feet 
long and 60 feet above the ordinary low-water 
level of the river. Total cost of the dam, 
$607,928, and the city water and electric plants 
in connection raise the total cost to aboxit 
$1,400,000. It furnishes 14,500-horse power, 
of which the city has about 4,500, leav- 
ing 10,000-horse power that can be util- 
ized for manufacturing purposes. It is the 
largest improved water-power, except one, in 
the United States. The lake formed by the 
building of the dam is another attractive 
feature of the city. It extends thirty miles 
up the river, and the scenery along its shores 
is of the most romantic and picturesque 
character, unsurpassed in America. A large 
excursion steamer navigates the lake, and 
Austin is destined to become a great pleasure 
resort. One of the most lovely sites on the 
lake, about four miles above the dam, has 
been laid out for extensive Chautauqua 
grounds. It is owned by an association of 
well known, enterprising citizens and edu- 
cators, chartered by the State. A large per- 
manent higli school, for advanced education, 
is established at the Chautauqua grounds. 
The site commands a magnificent view of 
lake and mountain scenery, and the Capital 
City can be plainly seen in the distance. 

Austin offers many superior advantages 
for manufacturing enterprises, and her in- 
dustrial enterprises, although comparatively 
small, are increasing with every year by the 



location of new establishments. A baking- 
powder factory and creamery are among the 
most recent assured additions to the manu- 
facturing interests of the city. 

The Houston & Texas Central, the Inter- 
national & Great Northern, and the Austin 
& Northwestern railways run into the city. 
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad also 
has arrangements by which its passenger 
trains run into the city. It is the terminus 
of the Houston & Texas Central, and the 
headquarters of the Austin & Northwestern 
Railroads. 

Estimated mercantile transactions in 1891: 
Dry goods, $1,500,000; groceries, $2,500,- 
000; hardware, $800,000; jewelry, $750,-- 
000; lumber, $1,200,000; agricultural im- 
plements, $800,000; furniture, 11,000,000; 
produce, eggs, chickens, etc., $250,000; mis- 
cellaneous, $2,000,000. Produce, etc., han- 
dled in 1891: Cotton, 16,000 bales; wool, 
2,500,000 pounds; hides, 1,200,000 pounds; 
cotton seed, 10,000 tons; corn, 100,000 
bushels; wheat, 10,000 bushels; live-stock, 
5,000 head; value of all other products, 
$100,000. 

Eank exchange in 1891 amounted to $11,- 
000,000. 

The real type of Texas civilization ex- 
pressed itself at an early date after annexa- 
tion in the establishment of three grand 
asylums — one for the blind, one for the deaf 
and dumb, and one for the insane. The cost 
to the State in the establishment and mainte- 
nance of these benevolent institutions has 
been and still is a heavy draft upon the 
treasury. AVhile they are sustained by direct 
taxation, they are the State's channels of con- 
tinuous aid to the unfortunate among the 
people. They are objects of general in- 
terest, and frequent entertainments given by 
them draw large crowds and furnish occa 



312 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



sions of much instruction and amusement. 
An asyiuin for the deaf and dumb and blind 
of tlie colored race has also been established 
near the city. 

Tlie Travis county courthouse, constructed 
out of limestone having a marble-like ap- 
pearance, and symmetrically proportioned to 
its surroundings, occupies an attractive and 
commanding place to the public eye. It is a 
costly building, having the appointments of 
convenience suggested by modern experience, 
and is located near the southeast corner of 
(Japitol square and fronting Congress avenue. 

The land ofKce, situated in the east edge of 
Capitol square, is an imposing edifice adapted 
to the large business of the land commis- 
sioner, an officer of State. The governor's 
mansion is eligibly located on an elevated 
site southwest of Capitol square and in full 
view of the new capitol. 

The United States building for post office 
and other governmental purposes, situated on 
the corner of Colorado and Sixth street (for- 
merly Pecan street), is a handsome structure, 
every way in harmony with the greatness of 
the country and the magnificence of the city. 

The University of the State of Texas is 
domiciled in an imposing building on College 
Hill, in the northern portion of the city. 
The growing patronage of this institution, 
its increasing matriculation during the brief 
period of its existence, and the thorough 
scholarship required in graduation, success- 
fully advertise the work that is being done. 

In this connection it is noted with pride 
the Confederate Home, an eleemosynary in- 
stitution for the purpose indicated in the 
title. It is situated in the western part of 
the city, comprising a beautiful tract of land 
upon which is constructed an elegant and 
commodious building. The scope of its de- 
sign is to provide a home for the unfortunate 



soldier having served in the Confederate 
army. It was conceived in the purest patri- 
otism and noblest philanthropy, and although 
young in its mission of mercy it is rapidly 
approximating the ideal created for it by the 
divinest sentiments that ever dominate the 
human heart. 

The Travelers' Protective Association of 
America has selected Austin for the location 
of their National Sanitarium, where the com- 
mercial travelers of the entire Union may 
spend their vacations. A beautiful site in 
the eastern part of the city, embracing some 
thirty acres on the line of the Austin & 
Northwestern Kailroad, has been donated to 
the association, and buildings in keeping with 
the well known liberality of the traveling 
men will soon be erected thereon. 

Austin has one of the best school systems 
in the State, and had a scholastic population 
in 1890 of 4,004, and gave employment to 
sixty teachers. 

Brenham, the county seat of Washington 
county, is a flourishing commercial place of 
7,000 inhabitants. It is located at the inter- 
section of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe 
division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 
and the Houston & Texas Central division of 
the Southern Pacific systems of railway. 
The town is beautiful and most pleasantly 
located, and surrounded by a very tine farm- 
ing country in a high state of cultivation, 
and much valuable timber yet remains in the 
county. The town is well built and supplied 
with many costly public buildings and hand- 
some residences. 

Ae a commercial and manufacturing center, 
few places of its size possess greater advant- 
ages, in both of which it is steadily increasing. 

The estimated mercantile transactions for 
1890 amounted to about 14,385,000. Bank 
capital, $400,000. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



There are in that city eleven churches, 
with an estimated membership of 3,200, and 
there are twenty lodges. 

Brownsville, the county seat of Cameron 
county, is situated in the southwestern part 
of the county, on the Rio Grande, about 
thirty miles above its month, and directly 
opposite the JMexican city of Matamoras. It 
has a large trade with the numerous small 
towns along the Rio Grande for a distance of 
400 miles, the extent of steamboat naviga- 
tion. It has commercial relations with the 
gulf ports, both by the way of the mouth of 
the Rio Grande and the port of Brazos de 
Santiago, with which it is connected by the 
Rio Grande Railroad. 

Population in 1890, 6,020. Assessed value 
of property, $886,215 in 1880, and in 1891 
$1,126,136. 

Bryan, in Brazos county, had a population 
in 1890 of 8,869, and an assessed valuation 
of $1,376,000. 

All the church buildings are nice, hand- 
some structures. 

Burnet, the capital of Burnet county, is 
situated about the center of the county, on 
the Austin & Northwestern Railway, and 
surrounded by picturesque scenery. It has 
a good trade, and is specially a wool and live- 
stock market. Assessed value of all property 
in 1891, 1543,135. 

Cleburne, the seat of government for John- 
son county, is located near the center of the 
county, on the edge of the Lower Cross Tim- 
bers, fifty-two miles from Dallas and twenty- 
eight from Fort Worth. It is on the main 
line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Rail- 
road, and is the location of the shops of that 
road, and also has a railroad direct to Dallas 
and to Weatheiford. It is situated in the 
midst of a fine agricultural and stock-raising 
district, as well as horticultural. It is the 



largest shipping point on its line between 
Galveston and Dallas or Fort Worth. 

Assessed valuation of property in 1891, 
11,509,750. 

Besides an excellent system of public 
schools there is a seminary of high standing 
and several smaller private schools. 

Cuero, the county seat of De Witt county, 
had in 1890 a population of 3,079, and is a 
growing town, doing considerable business. 

Dallas is situated on the Trinity river 
near the center of the county. It is a city of 
great push and energy. It has grown from 
a village of 10,358 inhabitants in 1880 to a 
population of 38,140 in 1890. The assessed 
values show a similar ratio of increase, hav- 
ing increased from $3,420,045 in 1880 to 
$32,098,950 in 1890. The population given 
here includes Dallas with all its suburbs. 

The period in the history of Dallas has 
been reached when its future is no longer 
doubtful. Its natural advantages make it a 
rival of the most prosperous cities of the 
South in progressiveness and commercial im- 
portance. It is situated in the midst of the 
great grain belt of the State, and the many 
new enterprises inaugurated during the past 
few years are only keeping pace with the 
general expansion going on. In point of 
agricultural surroundings and manufacturincr 
and commercial importance it is inferior to 
no city in the State. The past year has been 
a very prosperous one for Dallas. The num- 
ber of public buildings and private residences 
constructed are said to be greater than that 
of any other city in the State. 

Dallas has tine railroad facilities for mar- 
keting its manufactured products. The fol- 
lowing railroads run into the city: The 
Texas & Pacific, the Dallas & Wichita, 
the Houston & Texas Central, the Missouri 
Pacific, the Texas Trunk, the Gulf, Colorado 



UI8T0RY OP TEXAS. 



& Santa F^, tbe Dallas & Waco, and tlie 
Dallas, Southeastern & Pacific, about com- 
]ilcted — thus making Dallas one of the great 
railroad centers of the State. It has sixteen 
miles of rapid-transit railroad, and about this 
mileage under construction; twenty-six miles 
of electric street railroad, and several miles 
being constructed. The business streets and 
many miles of residence streets are paved 
with bois d'arc. 

A careful estimate of the volume of trade 
for 1890 gives the total of mercantile trans- 
actions $26,097,000. The city has seven 
large flouring mills, ten banks, etc. There 
was spent in 1888 $2,750,000 in building 
operations and public improvements. 

The State Fair and Dallas Exposition, 
which is the outgrowth of the consolidation 
of the Dallas State Fair and Exposition and 
the Texas State Fair is located at Dallas, 
with a capital of $250,000. It is situated 
about two miles from the courthouse and has 
a rapid-transit electric and railroad lines run- 
ning to the grounds. The grounds cover an 
area of 120 acres, which, with all improve- 
ments, cost $177,000. It is one of Dallas' 
most successful enterprises, as exhibited by 
the receipts and expenses for 1888 — receipts 
$110,000, expenses $80,000. 

The Federal District and Circuit Conrt for 
the Northern Di.'^trict of Texas is also located 
here. 

The receipts of the Dallas post-oflice for 
the years 1888 and 1889, for example, very 
largely increased, and give an idea of the 
varied growth of postal business. For the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, $(53,305.- 
2(5; fur the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, 
$79,414.28. 

Denison is a flourishing town of Grayson 
county, on the Houston & Texas Central 
liailway and is the southern terminus of the 



great Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. 
It is three miles south of Red river. The 
population now is 11,000, and the place is 
rapidly improving. It is one of the most 
important places in northern Texas. 

Denton^ the county seat of Denton county, 
is thirty-live miles northwest of the city of 
Dallas by the line of the Dallas «& Wichita 
Railroad, which has its terminus at Denton. 
It is situated about the center of the county, 
on the Transcontinental division of the Texas 
& Pacific Railroad. 

It has a population of 3,129, with property 
assessed at about $1,000,000. Has two 
national banks, with a paid up capital of 
$110,000; two flouring mills, representing an 
invested capital of $100,000; an ice factory, 
marble works, two brick factories, two pot- 
teries, and several other manufacturing 
establishments. 

Estimated mercantile transactions in 1890, 
$810,000. There were expended in 1890 
$25,000 in public improvements. 

Fort Worth, the county seat of Tarrant 
county, is situated near the center of the 
county, on a high plateau overlooking the 
Trinity river. It is vigorous and enterpris- 
ing, and is a success as a commercial and 
manufacturing point. Its growth has been 
steady and uniform. Fort Worth has long 
been the distributing point for the live-stock 
trade of the northwest; and to this is now 
added the enormous grain trade of the lately 
opened region of northwestern Texas known 
as the "Panhandle." 

In 1876 it had a population of 1,123, and 
that year the Texas & Pacific Railroad was 
built to it. The increase in population and 
wealth was thenceforward very marked. The 
United States census for 1890 gave a popula- 
tion of 22,700; that of 1891, estimated at 
(city directory) 32,000. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The assessed values in 1880 were $1,992,- 
891, and in 1890 $21,306,785. 

Fort Worth is situated in the northern 
portion of the central artesian water belt of 
the State, and has within its limits about 300 
artesian wells, which supply water to both 
],ublic and private enterprises. These wells 
vary in depth from 114 to 1,140 feet. The 
first well was dug in 1879 and there is no 
diminution from the water flow. The deep- 
est wells are the strong-flowing ones. The 
water from these wells in most instances is 
wholesome, and is used for drinking and 
domestic purposes. 

Manufacturing establishments now in oper- 
ation are testimonies of Fort Worth's pros- 
perity. They indicate what is in store for a 
city with such enterprise and financial back- 
ing as is possessed by Fort Worth. 

The city has 110 miles of graded and 
graveled streets, sixty miles of sewer, fifty- 
nine miles of electric street railway, is 
copiously lighted by electricity, and has seven- 
teen churches, models of architecture. It has 
seven national banks, with a combined capi- 
tal of $5,000,000. Atnount expended in 
1890 in building operations and puLlic im- 
provements, $2,112,000. 

Fort Worth is a great railroad center, the 
the following lines entering the place: Texas 
& Pacific, St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas, Fort 
Worth & Rio Grande, Fort Worth & Denver 
City, Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas and the Fort Worth & JMew 
Orleans. The shops of the Fort Worth & 
Denver City, the Texas & Pacific and Fort 
Worth & Rio Grande Railroad Companies 
are located here. 

The mercantile transactions for 1890 were 
estimated at about 114,000,000 



Galveston, the capital of Galveston county 
and chief seaport in the State, is situated on 
the extreme northeast end of Galveston island, 
at the mouth of the bay of the same name. It 
was laid out in 1838. The first sale of town 
lots took place April 20 of that year. 

Galveston's peculiar advantages, by reason 
of its geographical position, have long at- 
tracted the attention of the commercial world. 
It is one of the largest cotton markets of 
America, which trade has contributed much 
toward its general prosperity. 

Galveston suflfered with other Southern 
cities in the general business depression 
incident to the war, and her trade, manu- 
factures and industries of every character 
were more or less prostrated. But this pros- 
tration was only temporary. New enterprises 
have sprung up, and the commercial, manu- 
facturing and maritime interests of the city 
took on new life, and at present a general 
feelino- of confidence prevails, and the outlook 
for prosperity and stability is brighter than 
ever in the history of the city. 

It has bad a constant, steady increase in 
population, and for the past few years the 
ratio of increase has been great. The popu- 
lation (U. S. Census) in 1870, 15,290; in 
1880, 24,121; in 1890, 29,118; estimated 
directory count, 1891, 56,000. 

During 1889-'90-'91 the city inaugurat- 
ed a thorough system of water works, fed 
from the many artesian wells in the city 
limits. A marked difference in the tonnage 
of vessels engaged in the export and import 
trade is observed, and the draught of water 
over the bar has been very much improved. 
From August 1, 1888, to August 1, 1889, 
75 steamers entered the harbor from foreign 
ports and 192 entered from coastwise ports, 
while 80 cleared for foreign ports and 174 for 
I coastwise ports. 



n I STORY OF TEXAJi. 



Ocean-going vessels wliicli liave entered 
and cleared from this port for seven montlis, 
ending March 31, are as follows: 

No. Tods. 

Entered from foreign ports.. . .162 194,883 
Entered from domestic ports. .203 241,468 

Cleared for foreign ports 176 246,613 

Cleared for domestic ports 202 271,176 



Total 743 954,140 

Ocean-going vessels have brought into and 
carried out of this port in twelve months, 
ending June 30, 1891 (May and June esti- 
mated to equal previous year), merchandise 
and products amounting in value to — 
Imports, foreign and domestic. . $87,000,000 
E.xports, foreign and domestic. 84,000,000 



Total value $171,000,000 

Imports consisting of miscellaneous mer- 
chandise, coal, etc., mainly from New York 
and other Atlantic ports, foreign imports 
l)eing less than one-third of the total. Ex- 
ports, mainly cotton, amounting to about 
$50,000,000, the other $34,000,000 being 
made up of wool, grain, flour, other agri- 
cultural products, and the product of our 
factories, of wliich the United States Govern- 
ment reports by the late census we have over 
300 in operation. The near-by coastwise 
traffic cirried on in small steamers and sloops 
amounts annually to many millions of dollars, 
and it is safe to say the port of Galveston 
does an annual business exceeding in value 
$200,000,000, to which, in order to obtain 
the vast volume of business transacted in 
Galveston, should be added to wholesale 
merchandise business, amounting to rearly 
$1)0,000,000 per annum, the annual output of 
our 304 manufactories, amounting to several 
millions of dollars, and the bank clearances, 
which far exceed $250,000,000 per annum. 



The city has an available wharf frontage 
on Galveston channel of over 6,000 feet. Its 
beach is said to be unsurpassed by any other 
on the American continent. It extends the 
whole length of the island east and west, and 
nearly straight, and almost as smooth as a 
floor. 

There are two lines of steamships plying 
between Galveston and New York city, with 
a daily line to New Orleans, and another to 
Indianola and Corpus Crhisti, a weekly line 
to Havana, and a semi-monthly line to 
London. 

The entrance to Galveston harbor is ob- 
structed by an inner and an outer bar, the 
removal of which has been undertaken by the 
United States Government. The work was 
begun in 1874, but the appropriations have 
been inadequate, and the work is still incom- 
plete, but very satisfactory as far as prose- 
cuted. The water on the bar is steadily 
increasing in depth, and vessels are now 
passing over the bar drawing fifteen feet of 
water. The number of vessels requiring 
lightering before passing over the bar arc 
fewer as the increased depth of water on tho 
bar permits them to come in and discharge 
their cargoes. The work of deepening the 
water over the bar may be considered as 
experimental, but of sufficient importance to 
demonstrate the fact that when the work 
proposed is completed deep water over the bar 
varying from 18 to 20 feet will have been 
secured. The last report of the engineer in 
charge of the work shows a gain of six inches 
on the bar at mean low tide. In 1885 13^ 
feet was the maximum depth over the bar. 
In 1886 only one vessel went out over the bar 
drawing 14 feet of water. 

Galveston is a beautiful city, with wide and 
straiglit streets and elegant parks. It has a 
number of costly public buildings. Oleander 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



Park occupies 80 acres, the City Park 25 
acres. There are a number of public squares, 
an esplanade two miles long, and several 
public gardens. Magnolia Grove Cemetery 
comprises 100 acres, and the City Cemetery 
10 acres. 

Four railroads run into the city of Gal- 
veston. They are the Galveston, Houston & 
Henderson, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, 
the International & Great Nortliern, and the 
Aransas Pass — the latter runnincr into the 
city via the track of the Gulf, Colorado & 
Santa Fe. 

All of the principal railroads in the State 
also have an outlet to the gulf over these 
lines. 

In point of manufacturing and commercial 
importance Galveston surpasses any city in 
the State, and rivals many of the leading 
cities of the South with even greater popu- 
lation. 

Galveston is the most attractive, coolest 
and healthiest city in the South. Constant 
gulf breeze, unsurpassed surf bathing and 
thirty miles of beach for riding and driving, 
which is unequaled in the world. 

Georgetown, the county seat of William- 
son county, is situated in a high, healthy 
section of the county, on the bank of the 
beautiful San Gabriel river, at the terminus 
of the Georgetown branch of the Interna- 
tional & Great Northern Kailroad from the 
south, and also the Georgetown & Granger 
branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Eailroad from the east. Its population is 
2,538. It has two banks, one private and 
one national. The transactions of these two 
banks during 1890 amounted to $8,000,000. 

Amount expended in building operations 
and public improvements, $500,000. 

Manufacturing establishments consist of 
chair and furniture factory, sock factory, two 



planing mills working all kinds of woodwork 
for building purposes; ice factory, capacity 
six tons per day; one roller flouring mill, 
capacity 110 barrels per day; one saddle and 
harness factory; one plow factory. 

The Southwestern University is located 
here, which has the patronage of the five 
annual conferences of Texas, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. The annual 
enrolled attendance in 1890-'91 was about 
600; $100,000 was expended in 1891 in 
improvements of the buildings of this uni- 
versity. 

The Texas Chautauqua Assembly is located 
on a high, elevated hill, immediately west of 
the city, and on the opposite side of the river, 
which is spanned by a magnificent suspension 
bridge, and is in a flourishing condition. 

The city is supplied with a magnificent 
system of waterworks, furnishing pure water 
from springs. 

Gomales, the capital of the county of the 
same name, is situated on the Guadalupe 
river, a mile below the mouth of the San 
Marcos river, about sixty-six miles east of 
San Antonio and sixty miles south by east of 
Austin. It has a population of 2,500, two 
banks, three churches and a college. 

Hempstead, in Waller county, is situated 
on a high, rolling prairie, about fifty miles 
northwest of Houston, on the Houston & 
Texas Central Kailvvay, and is the eastern 
terminus of the Austin branch of that rail- 
way. It is in the midst of a most productive 
agricultural region. Population, 2,259. There 
are sold in the place about 3,500 bales of 
cotton annually, and it is also a great shipping 
point for watermelons and canteloupes. 

Iloxiston, the capital of Harris county, in 
latitude 29° 30', longitude 94° 50', is at the 
head of navigation of Buffalo bayou, fifty 
miles northwest of Galveston, and the rail 



niSTOUY OF TEXAS. 



road center of Texas. The city is situated 
on botii sides of the bayou, on gently undu- 
lating land, and has steamboat communica- 
tion with Galveston daily. In 1890 it had a 
population of 27,411. Besides the usual 
complement of schools and churches it con- 
tains the Masonic Temple for the Grand 
Lodge of Texas, and its city hall and market 
house are unsurpassed in the South. The 
annual State fair is also held here. It is an 
important manufacturing center. 

Assessed value of all property in 1891, 
$15,776,449, which is greater by nearly $3,- 
000,000 than that of the preceding year. 
Total value of all the property owned by the 
city, $200,000. Number of square miles 
witldn the corporate limits, nine. 

Huntsville, the last residence of the 
lamented Sam Houston, is the seat of gov- 
ernment of Walker county, on the Hunts- 
ville branch of the International & Great 
Northern Railroad, seventy-four miles north 
of Houston. It contains eight churches, the 
State penitentiary, Andrew Female College, 
Austin College (Presbyterian), etc. Popula- 
tion, 2,271. Assessed value of all property 
in 1891, $490,000. 

Kaufinan, at the crossing of the east 
branch of the Texas Central and the Texas 
Trunk railroads, has enjoyed a constant in- 
crease in population and in taxable values. 
Since 1870 the number of inhabitants has 
increased from 400 to about 3,000. Assessed 
values in 1890, $800,000. 

Lampasas, with a population of about 3,- 
000, has a property assessed in 1891 at $1,- 
096,325. There is also a seminary at that 
place. 

Laredo, on the Rio Grande, at the junc- 
tion of the International & Great Northern 
and the Mexican National railroads, has a 



population of 11,313, an Ursuline academy 
or convent, and property assessed at $2,405,- 
870 in 1891. 

Marlin, the county seat of Falls county, 
is situated four miles northeast from the 
geographical center of the county, on the 
"Waco division of the Houston & Texas Cen 
tral Railroad. It has a population of 2,27t'), 
and property assessed in 1891 at $1,050,000. 
Amount expended in biiildings and improve- 
ments during that year, $65,000. 

MarshaV, the seat of government for Har- 
rison county, in the eastern part of the State, 
has now a population of 7,196, six churches, 
a female college, Wiley University (Metho- 
dist Episcopal), the machine shops and head- 
quarters of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, etc. 
The Shreveport branch of the railroad forms 
its junction there. 

McKinney, the headquarters of Collin 
county, on the Houston & Texas Central 
Railroad, is the terminus of the East Line 
& Red River Railroad. The assessed value 
of the property of the place increa>ed from 
$610,000 in 1880 to $1,230,780 in 1888. 
In 1890 $30,000 was spent in buildings and 
improvements, and this is but a sample of 
what that city is averaging. Population in 
1890, 3,849. 

Nacogdoches, capital of the county of the 
same name, is situated on the Houston, East 
& AVest Texas Railroad, 140 miles from 
Houston and ninety from Shreveport. It is 
the best trading point between those two 
places. The amount of bank exchange in 
1890 was $400,000. 

New Birmin<jham, in Cherokee county, 
with a population of 1,200 in 1890, is des- 
tined to become an iron-manufacturing city 
of considerable importance. It is situated 
only a mile and a half from Rusk, and is a 
new place, being laid off iu 1888. It is on 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad. 
"White sulphnr and chalybeate springs are 
numerous in the vicinity. The place is 
growing rapidly. 

San Antonio is, as shown by the last 
United States census, the largest city in 
Texas. It is by far the prettiest, the most 
healthful, and has the finest drinking water 
of all cities anywhere, and her visible water 
supply is more than sufficient for a city of 
two millions of people. That this is no ex- 
aggeration may be seen by remembering that 
the San Antonio river, with a width of from 
thirty to seventy-five feet of purest, clearest 
water averaging from five to six feet deep, 
flows right through the middle of the city 
with a current of more than twelve miles an 
hour; and the San Pedro springs send a 
third as much through the city in the old 
acequias dug by the Spanish missionaries 
nearly 200 years ago; then it has one 
public artesian well right in the main 
business part of the city that flows over 
3,500,000 gallons a day. This gives a 
public supply of more than 30,000,000 gal- 
lons of water a day, and its clearness, purity 
and sweetness are marvels to scientists as 
well as to visitors. Besides this, factories, 
ice works, the United States Government 
headquarters, laundries, breweries and pri- 
vate premises have a large number of wells, 
making the present flow of water within the 
corporate limits of San Antonio more than 
45,000,000 gallons a day. 

There is no climate yet known that equals 
that surrounding San Antonio. Southwest 
Texas, as shown by the most carefully kept 
statistics and scientific observations, sur- 
passes any known country. Consumption, 
catarrh, malarial and typhus complaints are 
unknown among the natives here, and those 
coming here in the early stages of lung dis- 



eases recover, and a great improvement im 
mediately follows any stage. The evenness 
of temperature in this section is conducive 
to healthfulness. The highest temperature 
in 1890 was 96 in July, and the lowest 24 
in February, and the air is almost perfectly 
dry except when raining. It was these facts 
of healthfulness, purity of water and mild- 
ness and evenness of temperature that caused 
the Spanish missionaries to select San An- 
tonio and southwest Texas as their abode 
and headquarters. As soon as the truth is 
known hundreds of thousands of people will 
flock to this section. 

In the way of climate, air, water, soil, 
scenery and unlimited resources, nature has 
blessed this section of the United States 
above almost any country on earth. Ten 
years ago a city of 20,000 inhabitants, with 
scarcely any modern business houses, with 
but one street worthy the name of a business 
street, with plazas, muddy eye-sores, streets 
unpaved and with few sidewalks, we find 
to-day a modern city of 41,181 inhabitants, 
and improvements completed and under con- 
struction that place the "Alamo City" in the 
front rank of Southern cities in appearance 
and in appliances for comfort. 

As to municipal improvements the rapid 
increase in tlie assessed values of the city has 
enabled the authorities to inaugurate unprec- 
edented expenditures in this direction, while 
the tax rate has been actually reduced from 
that of four years ago, and now stands at 1 
per cent, a rate lower than that paid in any 
large city in the United States; and there are 
more than 155 miles of water mains in San 
Antonio, nearly 75 miles of paved streets, 
more than 125 miles of smooth cement side- 
walks and the best electric street-car system of 
all cities in the United States — seventy-five 
miles. 



HI8T0Ur OF TEXAS. 



The total number of manufactories now in 
iiperation is about 150, with a capital of §2,- 
750,300. The raw material used in 1889 
amounted to something like $1,800,000. In 
these establishments some 1,500 persons find 
employment, to whom wages are paid 
amounting to §400,000. The value of the 
products for 1889 aggregated §3,750,000. 

One of the grand features that promises to 
have a great effect in San Antonio's success 
as a manufacturing center is the discovery of 
natural gas in considerable quantities both in 
and adjacent to the city. The wells already 
developed have more than enough to supply 
the entire city for domestic lighting and 
heating purposes. It has a confined pressure 
of from 50 to 200 pounds per square inch. 
And on the same lands, belonging to Mr. 
George DuUnig, are some oil wells that flow 
the best lubricating oil on the market. It 
brings 20 cents a gallon for all that is 
pumped, and the Southern Pacific Eailway 
gave a certificate saying one of their freight 
engines, oiled with it, had run over 3,000 
miles without replenishing the cups — a re- 
cord unprecedented for any lubricating oil 
ever discovered. 

The increase in taxable values is a good 
index of the prosperity of San Antonio. 
Tax — State, city and county — is less than in 
any city in the United States — less than $2 
on the $100 for all purposes whatever. 

The San Antonio military post will one 
day be the largest in the country, as to-day 
it is the most beautiful. Nature has given 
the site, the location, the strategic impor- 
tance, and Uncle Sam lias always recognized 
the importance of keeping troops here. 

The first military post in San Antonio was 
established in 1805. The troops were with- 
drawn in 1873, but two years later they were 
marched back, as the war department 



had discovered what an important point 
this was. It was determined to make 
the establishment here permanent and 
the citizens were agreeable to the idea. 
What is now known as Government hill, be- 
ing then a long distance from the town, met 
with favor in the eyes of the officers detailed 
to select a site. 

The various Christian and Jewish denom- 
inations have a strong representation in tlio 
city. Many of the buildings in which their 
worship is conducted are fine specimens of 
church architecture. The most imposing 
church building is the San Fernando catlie- 
dral, which is the central church of the 
Catholic religion in the Southwest. This 
cathedral is situated on Main plaza and its 
fine peal of the bells and sweet-toned organ 
are famous throughout the State. The largest 
Protestant church is called St. Mark's. It 
is the seat of the Episcopalian bishop of West- 
ern Texas. This church is beautifully lo- 
cated on Travis square and is widely noted 
for its magnificient choir and choral services. 
In the same neighborhood are situated the 
Jewish synagogue the First Baptist church 
and the Methodist Episcopal church, Suuth. 
The following list shows the number of 
churches owned by the several denominations: 
Episcopalian 4, Catholic 4, Presbyterian 3, 
Methodist 6, Baptist 5, Lutheran 1, Chris- 
tian 1, colored denominations 7. The rolls of 
church membership are large, and well filled 
churches attest the great number of worshipers 
in the city. 

Besides these, all of which have large Sun- 
day-schools, the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation has a large membership— a larger 
per cent of young people than any city in 
the Southwest — with a ladies' auxiliary. 

No city in the United States has better 
schools than has San Antonio. She has a 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



larger scholastic population than any city in 
Texas by over 3,000, it being 10,694, 1,590 
of which are colored. Her public free school 
property is valued at $1,000,000, and com- 
prizes seven two-story and one three-story 
building, latest designs, with all comforts and 
appliances, for white children, and one two- 
story stone and two large frame buildings for 
colored children. 

As a picturesque and historical city there 
is none in the United States that can equal 
San Antonio. It is the tourists' paradise. 
It was founded in 1691, and has been the 
scene of many an exciting affray. There are 
many points of interest that afford great at- 
traction for the visitors to the city. The 
chief one of these is the Alamo, which was 
originally founded as a mission under the 
name of San Antonio de Valero, in 1720. It 
became the garrison or fort for Spanish and 
afterward American troops. As such it was 
the scene of several battles, the most memor- 
able of which was in 1836, when General 
Santa Anna, at the head of a Mexican army 
of 7,000, besieged it, and when, on the 6tli of 
March of that year, he carried it by storm 
after being three times repulsed by Colonel 
William B. Travis, Davy Crockett, James 
Bowie and their 172 heroic companions, who 
died fighting for Texas liberty, and whose 
bodies were burned by the savage Mexicans 
after the battle and their ashes lie buried in 
the sacred soil. 

The Alamo is now the property of the 
State of TexaB, is in the custody of the city of 
San Antonio and is open to visitors daily 
without charge. 

The mission Concepcion, which is known 
as the first mission, was founded in 1716. 
It is situated on the left bank of the San 
Antonio river, about two miles below the 
city. It was the scene of a battle between 



Colonel James Bowie, commanding 90 
Americans and about 400 Mexican regular 
troops. The Mexicans were defeated with 
a loss of 60 killed and 40 wounded. The 
Americans lost one man killed. This battle 
was fought on the 28th of October, 1835. 
This mission was also the scene of several 
Indian battles. Its name as a mission was 
"Mision Concepcion la Purisima de Acuna." 

The second mission is the most beautiful 
and elegant of all the Texas missions. It is 
situated about four miles below the city near 
the river, and is named Mision San Jose de 
Aguayo. It was founded in 1720, and the 
celebrated artist, Huica, was sent here by the 
king of Spain, and devoted several years to 
carving its various ornamentations, statues, 
etc. The hands of vandals have exceeded the 
ravages of time in its defacement. Like the 
others, this mission has been the scene of 
many memorable conflicts. It is well worthy 
of a visit by all tourists. 

The third mission differs in general de- 
sign from all the other missions. It was 
founded in 1716 and is situated about six 
miles below the city. Its name as a mission 
was Mision San Juan Capistrano. It was 
near here that the American patriots rendez- 
voused prior to their capture of San Antonio 
from the Mexicans under General Cos, in 
1835, — a battle which aroused the ire of 
Santa Anna and led to the holocaust of the 
Alamo and subsequently to Texan inde- 
pendence. Like most of the other missions, 
it is now in ruins — picturesque but silent elo- 
quence of past glories and tragedies. 

Sherman, having in 1890 a population of 
7,320, is the county seat of Grayson county, 
and a good railroad point. Assessed value of 
all property in 1891, $4,966,334. Total of 
all property owned by the city, 820,872. 

Sulphur Springs, the chief trading point 



U I STORY OF TEXAS. 



in Hopkins county, grew in population from 
1,000 in 1870 to 3,038 in 1890, and the 
assessed values increased from §800,000 in 
1880 to $1,300,000 in 1890. This place also 
has a number of medicinal wells and springs. 

Temple, in Bell county, is at the intersec- 
tion of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the 
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroads, has a 
population of 6,500, and is a new and grow- 
ing city. 

Terrell, thirty-two miles east of Dallas, is 
situated on the Texas & Pacific Eailroad, is a 
great shipping point for cattle, and is abun- 
dantly supplied with wells of good water. 
In 1890 it had a population of 2,977. The 
Terrell Institute is a good school at the 
place. 

Tyler, the county seat of Smith county, is 
on the northern division of the International 
& Great Northern Railroad, and on the Cot- 
ton Belt road, had a population of 6,908 in 
1890, has the Charnwood Institute as one of 
its local institutions of learning, and a pub- 
lic library of 10,000 volumes. One daily 
and two weekly newspapers flourish there, 
and the principal shops and general ofiices of 
the Cotton Belt Bailroad for Texas, are lo- 
cated at that place. 

Victoria, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 
in Victoria county, had 8,500 inhabitants in 
1890. Being on the east bank of the Guada- 
lupe river, the prosperity of the place has 
been chiefly derived from navigation and the 
shipment of cattle, etc. 

Waco is a live city at the intersection of 
several railroads, and had a population of 14,- 
425 in 1890. Assessed value of all property 
in 1891, $10,242,642. There are about seven 
square miles within the corporate limits. 

Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis 
county, is a railroad center, with a population 
in 1890 of 3,076. The county is the banner 



one in the black-waxy district. As a sample 
of tlie improvement made, we may state that 
about §130,000 a year is expended in public 
and private improvements. 

Weatherford, the capital of Parker county, 
is located at a railroad junction, sixty-six 
miles west of Dallas. Number of inhab- 
itants in 1890, 3,314; assessed valuation of 
all property in 1891, $1,572,772. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

" INDIAN DEPREDATIONS IN TEXAS." 

The above is the title of a most interesting 
book to Texans, and even to the rest of the 
world, recently published by J. W. "Wilbar- 
ger, from which liberal quotations have been 
made in this work. We only hope that the 
quotations we have made will whet the ap- 
petite of the Texan public for the purcliase 
of that book. Stories have interest only in 
their details, and such are given in that wci'-. 
and they cannot be condensed for a larger 
publication like this, and therefore only 
extracts could be given in this volume. 
The work is illustrated with graphic pictures, 
and arranged by counties and dates in the 
index, so that ready reference can be made to 
any point. 

From the above work we give the follow- 
ing story in our miscellaneous department: 

THE FORT PARKER MASSACRE. 

"The following graphic account of the 
Fort Parker massacre has been gathered from 
several reliable sources, but the greatest por- 
tion of them has been by the kind consent of 
James T. De Shield, copied from a little 
book published by him, entitled 'Cynthia 
Ann Parker.' In fact everything, from the 
conclusion of the extract from Mrs. Plum- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mer's diary to the conclusion of the history 
of Quanah Parker, is intended to be a literal 
copy from said book. 

"Among the many tragedies that have 
occurred in Texas the massacre at Parker's 
fort holds a conspicuous place. Nothing that 
has ever happened exhibits savage duplicity 
and cruelty more plainly than the massacre 
of helpless women and children. 

"In 1833 a small colony was organized in 
the State of Illinois for the purpose of form- 
ing a settlement in Texas. After their arri- 
val in the country they selected for a place of 
residence a beautiful region on the Navasota, 
a small tributary of the Brazos. To secure 
themselves against the various tribes of roving 
savages was the first thing to be attended to; 
and, having chosen a commanding eminence 
adjacent to a large timbered bottom of the 
Navasota, about three miles from where the 
town of Springfield formerly stood, and about 
two miles from the present town of Groes- 
beck, they by their joint labor soon had a 
fortification erected. It consisted of a stock- 
ade of split cedar timbers planted deep in the 
ground, extending fifteen feet above the sur- 
face, touching each other and confined at the 
top by transverse timbers which rendered 
thera almost as immovable as a solid wall. 
At convenient distances there were port- 
holes, through which, in case of an emer- 
gency, tire-arms could be used. The entire 
fort covered nearly an acre of ground. There 
were also attached to the stockade two log 
cabins at diagonal corners, constituting a 
part of the enclosure. They were really 
blockhouses, the greater portion of each 
standing outside of the main stockade, the 
upper story jutting out over the lower, with 
openings in the floor allowing perpendicular 
shooting from above. There were also port- 
holes out in the upper story so as to admit of 



horizontal shooting when necessary. This 
enabled the inmates to rake from every side 
of the stockade. The fort was situated near 
a fine spring of water. As soon as it was com- 
pleted the little colony moved into it. 

"Parker's colony at this time consisted of 
some eight or nine families, viz.: Eider John 
Parker, the patriarch of the colony, and his 
wife; his son, James W. Parker, wife, four 
single children, and his daughter, Mrs. Eachel 
Plummer, her husband, L. M. S. Plummer, 
and an infant son fifteen months old; Mrs. 
Sarah Nixon, another daughter, and her hus- 
band, L. D. Nixon; Silas M. Parker (another 
son of Elder John), his wife and four children ; 
Benjamin F. Parker, an unmarried son of the 
elder; Mrs. Nixon, Sr., mother of Mrs. James 
"W. Parker; Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg, daugh- 
ter of Mrs. Nixon; Mrs. Duty; Samuel M. 
Frost, wife and two children; G. E. Dwight, 
wife and two children — in all, thirty-four 
persons. Besides those above mentioned, old 
man Lunn, David Faulkenberry and his son 
Evan, Silas Bates and Abram Anglin had 
erected cabins a mile or two distant from the 
fort, where they resided. These families were 
truly the advance guard of civilization in that 
part of our frontier. Fort Houston in Ander- 
son county being the nearest protection ex- 
cept their own trusty rifles. 

"Here the struggling colonists remained, 
engaged in the avocations of a rural life, till- 
ing the soil, hunting bufialo, bear, deer, 
turkey and smaller game, which served abun- 
dantly to siipply their larder at all times with 
fresh meat, in the enjoyment of a life of Ar- 
cadian simplicity, virti;e and contentment, 
until the latter part of the year 1885, when 
the Indians and Mexicans forced the little 
band of compatriots to abandon their homes 
and flee with many others before the in- 
vading armj from Mexico. On arriving at 



UlaTOIiY OP TEXAH. 



the Trinity river they were compelled to halt 
in coiisecjiience of an overflow. Pieforo they 
could cross the swollen stream tlx' pudden 
and unexpected news reached them fnat Santa 
Anna and his vandal hordes had been con- 
fronted and defeated at San Jacinto, that san- 
guinary engagement whicli gave birth to the 
new sovereignty of Texas, and that Texas 
was free from Mexican tyranny. 

" On receipt of this news the fleeing settlers 
were overjoyed and at once returned to their 
abandoned homes. The Parker colonists now 
retraced their steps, first going to Fort Hous- 
ton, where they remained a few days in oi'der 
to procure supplies, after which they made 
their way back to Fort Parker to look after 
their stock and prepare for a crop. These 
hardy sons of toil spent their nights in the 
fort, repairing to their farms early each morn- 
ing. The strictest discipline was maintained 
for awhile, but as time wore on and no hostile 
demonstrations had been made by the Indians 
they became somewhat careless and restive 
under confinement. However, it was abso- 
lutely necessary that they should cultivate 
their farms to insure substance for their fam- 
ilies. They usually went to work in a body, 
with their farming implements in one hand 
and their weapons of defense in the other. 
Some of them built cabins on their farms, 
hoping that the government would give them 
protection, or that a sufficient number of other 
colonists would soon move in to render them 
secure from the attacks of Indians. 

" On the 18th of May, 1836, all slept at 
the fort, James W. Parker, Nixon and Plum- 
mer, repairing to their field, a mile distanton 
the Navasota, early the next morning, little 
thinking of the great calamity that was soon 
to befall them. They had scarcely left when 
several hundred Indians (accounts of the 
number of Indians vary from 800 to 700 — 



probably there were .about 500), Comanches 
and Kiowas, made their appearance on an emi- 
nence within 300 yards of the fort. Those 
who remained in the fort were not prepared 
for an attack, so careless had they become in 
their fancied security. The Indians hoisted 
a white flag as a token of their friendly in- 
tentions, and up(in the exhibition of the white 
flag Mr. Benjamin F. Parker went out to 
have a talk with them. The Indians artfully 
feigned the treacherous semblance of friend- 
ship, pretending they were looking for a suit- 
able camping place, and inquired as to the 
exact locality of a waterhole in the imme- 
diate vicinity, at the same time asking for a 
beef, as they said they were very hungry. 
Not daring to refuse the request of such 
a formidable body of savages, Mr. Parker 
told them they should have what they 
wanted. Returning to the fort he stated to 
the inmates that to his opinion the Indians 
were hostile and intended to fight, but added 
he would go back to them and he would try 
to avert it. His brother Silas remonstrated, 
but he persisted in going, and was imme 
diately surrounded and killed; whereupon the 
whole force — their savage instincts aroused 
by the sight of blood — charged upon the fort, 
uttering the most terrific and unearthly yells 
that ever greeted the ears of mortals. The 
sickening and bloody tragedy was soon en- 
acted. Brave Silas M. Parker fell outside 
the fort, while he was gallantly fighting to 
save Mrs. Pluramer. Mrs. Plummer made a 
desperate resistance, but was soon over- 
powered, knocked down with a hoe and made 
captive. Samuel M. Frost and his son, Rob- 
ert, met their fate while heroically defending 
the women and children inside the stockade. 
Old 'Granny ' Parker was stabbed and left 
for dead. Elder John Parker, wife, and Mrs. 
Kellogg attempted to make their escape, and 



UI8T0RY OF TEXAS. 



in this effort Lad gone about tliree-foiirths of 
a mile, when they were overtaken and driven 
back to the fort, and tlie old gentleman was 
sti-ipped, murdered, scalped and horribly 
mutilated. Mrs. Parker was stripped, speared 
and left for dead, but by feigning death 
escaped, as will be seen further on. Mrs. 
Kellogg was spared as a captive. The result 
summed up as follows: Killed — Elder John 
Parker, aged seventy-nine; Silas M. and Ben- 
jamin F. Parker; Samuel M. and his son 
Robert Frost. Wounded dangerously — Mrs. 
John Parker, old 'Granny' Parker, and Mrs. 
Duty. Captured— Mrs. Kachel Plummer, 
daughter of James W. Parker, and her son, 
James Pratt Plummer, two years of age; 
Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg; Cynthia Ann Parker, 
nine years old, and her little brother, John 
Parker, aged six, childrenof Silas M. Parker. 
The reu/ainder made their escape, as we shall 
now narrate. 

" When the attack on the fort first com- 
menced, Mrs. Sarah Nixon made her escape 
and hastened to the field to advise her father, 
husband and Plummer of what had occurred. 
On her arrival Plummer hurried off on horse- 
back to inform Faulkenberry, Bates and Ang- 
lin, who were at work in the fields. Parker 
and Ni.xon started to the fort, but the former 
met his family on the way and carried them 
some four or five miles down the Navasota, 
secreting them in the bottom. Nixon, though 
unarmed, continued on toward the fort, and 
met Mrs. Lucy, wife of Silas Parker (killed), 
with her four children, Just as they were in- 
terrupted by a small party of mounted and 
foot Indians. They compelled the mother to 
lift her daughter Cynthia Ann, and her little 
son, John, behind two of the mounted war- 
riors. The foot Indians then took Mrs. 
Parker, her two youngest children and Nixon 
on toward the fort. As they were about to 



kill JMixon, David Faulkenberry appeared 
with his rifle and caused them to fall back. 
Nixon, after his narrow escape from death, 
seemed very much excited and immediately 
went in search of his wife, soon falling in 
with Dwight, his own and Frost's families. 
Dwight and family soon overtook J. W. Par- 
ker and went with him to his hiding place in 
the bottom. Faulkenberry, thus left with 
Mrs. Parker and her two children, bade her 
follow him. AVith the infant in her arms and 
leading the other child, she obeyed. Seeing 
them leave the fort, the Indians made several 
attempts to intercept them, but were held in 
check by the brave man's rifle. Several 
mounted warriors, armed with bows and 
arrows, strung and drawn, and with terrific 
yells, would charge them, but as Faulken- 
berry would present his gun, they would 
halt, throw up their shields, sight about, 
wheel and retire to a safe distance. This con- 
tinued for some distance, until they had 
passed through a prairie of some forty or fifty 
acres. Just as they were entering the woods 
the Indians made a furious charge, when one 
warrior, more daring than the others, dashed 
up so near that Mrs. Parker's faithful dog 
seized his horse by the nose, whereupon horse 
and rider summersaulted, alighting on their 
backs in the ravine. At this moment Silas 
Bates, Abram Anglin, and Evan Faulken- 
berry, armed, and Plummer, unarmed,, came 
up, causing the Indians to retire, after which 
the party made their way unmolested. 

" As they were passing through the field 
where the men were at work in the morning, 
Plummer, as if aroused from a dream, de- 
manded to know wliat had become of his 
wife and child. Armed only with a butcher- 
knife he left the party, in search of his loved 
ones, and was seen no more for six days. 
The Faulkenberrys, Lunn and Mrs. Parker 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



secreted tlicmselves in a small creek bottom, 
some distance from the first party, each un- 
conscious of the others' whereabouts. At 
twilight Abram Anglin and Evan Faulken- 
berry started back to the fort to succor the 
wounded and tliose who might have escaped. 
On their way and just as they were passing 
Faulkenberry's cabin, Anglin saw his first 
and only ghost. He says: ' It was dressed 
in white with long white hair streaming 
down its back. I admit that I was more 
scared at this moment than when the Indians 
were yelling and charging on us. Seeing 
me hesitate my ghost now beckoned me to 
come on. Approaching the object, it proved 
to be old ' Granny ' Parker, whom the In- 
dians had wounded and stripped, with the 
exception of her nnder-garments. She had 
made her way to the house from the fort by 
crawling the entire distance. I took her 
some bed-clothing and carried her some rods 
from the house, made her a bed, covered her 
up, and left her until we should return from 
the fort. On arriving at the fort we could 
not see a single human being alive, or hear 
a human sound. But the dogs were bark- 
ing, the cattle lowing, horses neighing, and 
the hogs equally making a hideous and 
strange medley of sounds. Mrs. Parker had 
tuld me where she had left some silver — 
I1G0.50. This I found under a hickory 
bush by moonlight. Finding no one at the 
fort, we returned to where I had laid 
' Granny ' Parker. On taking her up be- 
hind me, we made our way back to the hid- 
ing place in the bottom, where we found 
Nixon, whom we had not seen since his 
cowardly flight at the time he was rescued 
by Faulkenberry from the Indians. 

" In the book published by James W. 
Parker, he states that Nixon liberated Mrs. 
Parker from the Indians and rescued old 



'Granny' Parker. Mr. Anglin in his account 
contradicts or rather corrects this statement, 
lie says: ' I positively assert that this is a 
mistake, and I am willing to be qualified to 
the statement I here make, and can prove 
the same by Silas Bates, now living near 
Groesbeck.' 

"The next morning Bates, Anglin and E. 
Faulkenberry went back to the fort to get 
provisions and horses, and look after the 
dead. On reaching the fort they found five 
or six horses, a few saddles and some meat, 
bacon and honey. Fearing an attack from 
the Indians who might still be lurking 
around, they left without burying the dead. 
Returning to their comrades in the bottom 
they all concealed themselves until they set 
out for Fort Houston. Fort Houston, an 
asylum, on this, as on many other occasions, 
stood on what has been for many years a 
farm of a wise statesman, a chivalrous soldier 
and true patriot, John H. Eeagan, two miles 
south of Palestine. 

" After wandering around and traveling 
for six days and nights, during which they 
suffered much from hunger and thirst, their 
clothing torn to shreds, their bodies lacerated 
with briars and thorns, the women and chil- 
dren with unshod and bleeding feet, the 
party with James W. Parker reached Fort 
Houston. 

"An account of this wearisome and peril- 
ous journey through the wilderness, given 
substantially in Parker's own words, will en- 
able the reader to more fully realize the 
hardships they had to undergo and the dan- 
gers they encountered. The bulk of the 
party were composed of women and children, 
principally the latter, and ranging from one 
to twelve years old. ' We started from the 
fort,' said Mr. Parker, ' the party consisting 
of eighteen in all, for Fort Houston, a dis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



tance of ninety miles by the route we had to 
travel. The feelings of the party can be bet- 
ter imao-itied than described. "We were 
truly a forlorn set, many of us bareheaded 
and barefooted, a relentless foe on the one 
hand and on the other a trackless and unin- 
liabited wilderness infested with reptiles and 
wild beasts, entirely destitute of food and no 
means of procuring it.' Add to this the 
agonizing grief of the party over the death 
and capture of dear relatives; that we were 
momentarily in expectation of meeting a like 
fate, and some idea may be formed of our 
pitiable condition. Utter despair almost 
took possession of us, for the chance of escap- 
ing seemed almost an impossibility under 
the circumstances. * * * I took one of 
my children on my shoulder and led another. 
The grown persons followed my example and 
we began our journey through the thickly 
tangled underbrush in the direction of Fort 
Houston. My wife was in bad health; Mrs. 
Frost was in deep distress for the loss of her 
husband and son; and all being barefooted 
except my wife and Mrs. Frost our progress 
was slow. Many of the children had noth- 
ing on them but their shirts, and their suf- 
ferings from the briars tearing their little 
legs and feet were almost beyond human en- 
durance. 

" We traveled until about three o'clock in 
the morning, when, the women and children 
being worn out with hunger and fatigue, we 
lay down on the grass and slept until the 
dawn of day, when we resumed our perilous 
journey. Here we left the river bottom in 
order to avoid the briars and underbrush, 
but from the tracks of the Indians on the 
iiighlands it was evident they were hunting 
us, and, like the fox in the fable, we con- 
eluded to take the river bottom again, for 
though the brambles might tear our flesh 



they might at the same time save our lives 
by hiding us from the cruel savages who 
were in pursuit of us. The briars did, in 
fact, tear the legs and feet of the children 
until they could have been tracked by the 
blood that flowed from their wounds. 

" It was the night of the second day after 
leaving the fort that all, and especially the 
women who were nursing their infants, be- 
gan to suffer intensely from hunger. We 
were then immediately on the bank of the 
river, and through the mercy of Providence 
a pole-cat came near us. I immediately 
pursued and caught it just as it jumped in 
the river. The only way that I could kill it 
was by holding it under the water until it 
was drowned. Fortunately we had the means 
of striking a fire, and we soon had it cooked 
and equally divided among the party, the 
share of each being small indeed. This was 
all we had to eat until the fourth day, when 
we were lucky enough to catch another 
skunk and two small terrapins, which were 
also cooked and divided between us. On 
the evening of the fifth day I found that the 
women and children were so exhausted from 
fatigue and hunger that it would be impossi- 
ble for them to travel much further. After 
holding a consultation it was agreed that I 
should hurry on to Fort Houston for aid, 
leaving Mr. Dwight in charge of the women 
and children. Accordingly the next morn- 
ing I started for the fort (about thirty-five 
miles distant), which I reached early in the 
afternoon. I have often looked back and 
wondered how I was able to accomplish this 
extraordinary feat. I had not eaten a mouth- 
ful for six days, having always given my 
share of the animals mentioned to the chil- 
dren, and yet I walked thirty-five miles in 
about eight hours! But the thought of the 
unfortunate sufferers I had left behind de- 



UIHTOHr OF TJUXjiS. 



|)endent on my efTorts, gave me strength and 
perseverance that can ho realized only by 
those vvlio have been placed in similar situa- 
tions. God in Ilis bountiful mercy upheld 
mo in this trying hour and enabled me to 
perform by task. 

" Tiie first person I met was Captain Car- 
ter of the Fort Houston settlement, who 
received rae kindly, and promptly offered 
me all the aid in his power. He soon had 
five horses saddled, and he and Mr. Jeremiah 
Courtney went with me to meet our little 
band of fugitives. We met them just at 
dark, and, placing the women and children 
on the horses, we reached Captain Carter's 
about midnight. Tliere we received all the 
kind attention and relief that our conditions 
required, and all was done for our comfort 
that sympathetic and benevolent hearts could 
do. We arrived at Captain Carter's on the 
25th of May. The following day my son- 
in-law, Mr. riunimer, reached there also. 
He iiad given us up for lost and had started 
to the same settlement that we had. 

" In due time the members of the party 
located temporarily as best suited the re- 
spectis-e families, most of them returning to 
Fort Parker soon afterward. A burial party 
of twelve men from P'ort Houston went up 
and buried the dead. Their remains now 
repose near the site of old Fort Parker. 
Feace to tiieir ashes. Unadorned are their 
graves; not even a slab of marble or a me- 
mento of any kind has been erected to tell 
the traveler where rest the remains of this 
brave little band of pioneer heroes who 
wrestled with the savage for the mastery of 
his broad domain. 

" Of the captives we will briefly trace their 
checkered career. After leaving the fort the 
two tribes, the Comanclies and Kiowas, re- 
mained and traveled together until midnight. 



They then halted on open prairie, staked out 
their horses, placed their pickets and pitched 
their camp. Bringing ail their prisoners 
together for the first time, they tied their 
hands behind them with raw-hide thongs so 
tight as to cut the flesh, tied their feet close 
togethor and threw them upon their faces. 
Then the braves, gathering round with their 
yet bloody-dripping scalps, commenced their 
usual war dance. They danced, screamed, 
yelled, stamping upon their prisoners, beat- 
ing th nn with blows until their own blood 
came near strangling them. The remauider 
of the night these frail women sntibred and 
had to listen to the cries and groans of their 
tender little children. 

"Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg soon fell into 
the hands of the Keechis, from whom, six 
months after she was captured, she was pur- 
chased by a party of Delawares, who carried 
her to Nacogdoches and delivered her to 
General Houston, who paid, them $150, the 
amount they had paid and all they asked. 
Mrs. Rachel Plummer remaiuod a cap- 



tive about eighteen months, and to 



give 



reader an idea of her suffering during that 
period we will give an extract from her 
diary: 'In July and a portion of August 
we were among some very high mountains 
on which the snow remains for the greater 
portion of the year, and I suffered more than 
I had ever done before in my life. It was 
very seldom I had any covei-ing for my feet, 
and but very little clothing for my body. I 
had a certain number of buffalo skins to 
dress every day, and had to mind the horses 
at night. This kept me employed j)retty 
much all the time, and often I would take 
my buffalo skins with me to finish them 
while I was minding the horses. My feet 
Would often be frost-bitten while I was dress- 
ing the skins, but I dared not comjilaiti for 



nrsTonr of texajs. 



fear of being punished. In October I gave 
birth to mj second son. I i^ay October, but 
it was all guess work with me, as I had no 
means of keeping a record of the days as 
thej passed. It was a beautiful and healthy 
baby, but it was impossible for nie to pro- 
cure suitable comforts for myself and infant. 
The Indians were not as harsh in their treat- 
ment toward me as I feared they would be, 
but I was apprehensive for the safety of my 
child. I had been with them six months and 
had learned their language, and I would 
often beseech my mistress to advise me wiiat 
to do to save ray child, but she turned a deaf 
ear to all my supplications. My child was 
six months old when my master, thinking, I 
S'appose, that it interfered with my work, 
determined to put it out of the way. One 
cold morning five or six Indians came where 
I was sucking my babe. As soon as they 
came I felt sick at heart, for my fears were 
aroused for the safety of my child. My 
fears were not ill-grounded. One of the In- 
dians caught my child by the throat and 
strangled it until to all appearances it was 
dead. I exerted all my feeble strength to 
save my child, but the other Indians held me 
fast. The Indian who had strangled the 
child then threw it up into the air repeatedly 
and let it fall upon the frozen ground until 
life seemed to be extinct. They then gave 
it back to me. I had been weeping inces- 
santly while they had been murdering my 
child, but now my grief was so great that 
the fountain of my tears was dried up. As 
I gazed on the checks of my darling infant 
I discovered some symptoms of returning 
life. I hoped that if it could be resuscitated 
they would allow me to keep it. I washed 
the blood from its face and after a time it 
began to breathe again. But a more heart- 
rending scene ensued. As soon as the In- 



dians ascertained that the child was still 
alive, they tore it from my arms and knocked 
me down. They tied a plaited rope around 
its neck and threw it into a bunch of prickly 
pears and then pulled it backward and for- 
ward until its tender flesh was literally torn 
from its body. One of the Indians who was 
mounted on a horse then tied the end of the 
rope to liis saddle and galloped around in a 
circle until my little innocent was not only 
doad but torn to pieces. One of them untied 
the rope and threw the remains of the child 
into my lap, and I dug a hole in the earth 
and buried them. 

" 'After performing the last sad rites for 
the lifeless remains of my dear babe, I sat 
down and gazed with a feeling of relief upon 
the little grave I had made for it in the 
wilderness, and could say with David of old, 
'' You can not come to me, but I must go to 
you ;" and then, and even now, as I record 
the dreadful scene I witnessed, I rejoiced 
that my babe had passed from the sorrows 
and sufferings of this world. I shall hear 
its dying cries no more, and, fully believing 
in and relying on the imputed righteousness 
of God in Christ Jesus, 1 feel that my inno- 
cent babe is now with kindred spirits in tlie 
eternal world of joys. Oh that my dear 
Savior may keep me through life's short 
journey, and bring me to dwell with my 
children in realms of eternal bliss !' 

" Mrs. rinmmer has gone to rest, and no 
doubt her hopes have been realized. 

" After this she was given as a servant to 
a very cruel old squaw, who treated her in a 
most brutal manner. Her son had been 
carried off by another party to the far "West, 
and she supposed her husband and father had 
been killed in the massacre. Her infant was 
dead and death to her would have been a 
sweet relief. Life was a burden, and driven 



n I STORY OF TEXAS. 



almost to desperation she resolved no longer 
to submit to the intolerant old squaw. One 
(lay when the two were some distance from, 
although still in sight of, the camp, her mis- 
tress attempted to beat her with a club. De- 
termined not to submit to this, she wrenched 
tiie club from the hands of the squaw and 
knocked her down. The Indians, who had 
witnessed the whole proceedings from their 
camp, now came running up, shouting at the 
top of their voice. She fully expected to be 
killed, but they patted her on the shoulder, 
crying: Bueno / Bue?io/ / {Goodl Good!! or 
Well done!). She now fared much better, 
and soon became a great favorite, and was 
known as the ' Fighting Squaw.' She was 
eventually ransomed through the intervention 
of some Mexican Santa F^ traders, by a 
noble-hearted American merchant of that 
place, Mr. William Donahue. She was pur- 
chasi'd in tlie Rocky Mountains so far north 
of Santa Fe that seventeen days were con- 
sutned in reaching that place. She was at 
(■lice made a memberof her benefactor's fam- 
ily, where she received tlie kindest of care and 
iittention. Ere long she accompanied Mr. 
jiiid Mrs. Donahue on avisit to Independence, 
Missouri, where she had the pleasure of meet- 
ing and embracing her brotlicr-in law, L. I). 
Kixon, and by him was escorted back to her 
people in Texas. 

"During her stay with the Indians, Mrs. 
riiimmer had many thrilling adventures, 
which she often recounted after her reclama- 
tion. In narrating her reminiscences, she 
said that in one of her rambles, after sheh.ad 
been with the Indians some time, she dis- 
covered a cave in the mountains, and, in com- 
pany with the old squaw that guarded her, 
siie explored it and found a large diamond, 
but her mistress immediately demanded it, 
and she was forced to give it up. She said 



also she saw here in these mountains a bush 
which had thorns on it resembling fish-hooks, 
which the Indians used to catch fish with and 
she herself has often caught trout with them 
in the little mountain streams. 

"On the 19th of February, 1838, she 
reached her father's house, exactly twenty- 
one months after her capture. She had never 
seen her little son, James Pratt, since soon 
after their capture and knew nothing of his 
fate. She wrote or dictated a thrilling and 
graphic history of hercapture and the horrors 
of her captivity, the tortures and hardships 
she endured, and all the incidents of her life 
with her captors and observations among the 
savages. This valuable and little book is now 
rare, and out of print. The full title of the 
volume is: ' Narration of the perilous adven- 
tures, miraculous escapes and sufferings of 
Rev. James W. Parker, during a frontier 
residence in Texas of fifteen years. With an 
important geographical description of the cli- 
mate, soil, timber, water, etc., of Texas. To 
which is appended the narration of the cap- 
ture and subsequent suflTeringsof Mrs. Rachel 
Plummer, his daughter, during a captivity of 
twenty-one months among the Comanche In- 
dians, etc. (18rao., pp. 95 and 35; boards. 
Louisville, 1844).' 

" In this book she tells the last she saw of 
Cynthia Ann and John Parker. She died on 
the 19tli of February, 1839, just one year 
after reaching home. As a remarkable coin- 
cidence it may be stated that she was born on 
the nineteenth, married on the nineteenth, 
captured on the nineteenth, released on the 
nineteenth, reached Independence on the nint'- 
teenth, arrived at home on the ninetecntii, 
and died on the nineteenth of the month! 

" Her son, James Plummer, after six lot;.: 
and weary years of captivity and suiruri:;^, 
during which time he had lived among many 



UltiTORT OF TEXAS. 



different tribes, and traveled several tliousand 
miles, was ransomed and taken to Fort Gib- 
son late in 1842, and reached home in 1843, 
ill charge of his grandfather, lie became a 
respected citizen of Anderson county. Doth 
he and his father are now dead. 

" This still left in captivity Cynthia and 
John Parker, who as subsequently heard were 
held by separate bands. The brother and sis- 
ter thus separated gradually, forgot the lan- 
guage, manners and customs of their own 
people, and became thorough Comanches as 
tlie long years stole slowly away. How long 
tlic camera of their brains retained the im- 
pressions of the old home within the old fort, 
and the loved faces of tlieir pale kindred, no 
one knows; though it would appear that the 
fearful massacre should iiave stamjed an im- 
press indelible while life continued. But the 
young mind, as the twig, is inclined by pres- 
ent circumstances, and often forced in a way 
wholly foreign to its native and original bent. 

"John grew up with the semi-nude Co- 
manche boys of his own age, and played at 
hunter and warrior with the popgun, made 
of elder-stems, or bows and arrows, and often 
flushed the chapparal for hare and grouse, or 
entrapped the finny denizens of the mountain 
brook with the many peculiar and ingenious 
devices of the wild man for securing for his 
repast the toothsome trout which abounds so 
plentifully in the elevated and delightful re- 
gion so long inhabited by the lordly Co- 
manches. 

" When John arrived at manhood he ac- 
companied a raiding party down the Kio 
Grande and into Mexico. Among the cap- 
tives taken was a young Mexican girl of 
great beauty, to whom the young warrior 
felt his heart go out. The affection was 
reciprocated on the part of the fair Dona 
Juanita, and the two were engaged to be 



married as soon as they should arrive at the 
Comanche village. Eacli day, as the caval- 
cade moved leisurely but steadily along, the 
lovers could be seen riding together and dis- 
cussing the anticipated pleasures of connubial 
life, when suddenly John was prostrated by 
a violent attack of smallpox. The cavalcade 
could not tarry, and so it was decided that 
the poor fellow should be left all alone, in 
the vast Llano Estacado, to die or recover as 
fate decreed. But the little Aztec beauty 
refused to leave her lover, insisting on her 
captors allowing her to remain and take care 
of him. To this the Indians reluctantly con- 
sented. With Juanita to nurse and cheer 
him up, John lingered, lived and ultimately 
recovered, when, with as little ceremony, 
perhaps, as consummated the nuptials of the 
first pair in Eden, they assumed the matri- 
monial relation, and Dona Juanita's predi- 
lection for the customs and comforts of civi- 
lization were sufficiently strong to induce her 
lord to abandon the wild and nomadic life of 
a savage for the comforts to be found in a 
straw- thatched house. 'They settled in 
Texas,' says Mr. Thrall, the historian of 
Texas, 'on a stock ranch in the far West.' 
When the Civil war broke out John Parker 
joined a Mexican company in the Confeder- 
ate service and was noted for his gallantry 
and daring. lie, however, refused to leave 
the soil of Texas, and would under no cir- 
cumstances cross the Sabine into Louisiana, 
lie was still on his ranch across the Rio 
Grande a few years ago, but up to that time 
had never visited any of his relatives in 
Texas." 

CYNTHIA ANN PAEKER. 

The following interesting account is a 
chapter added to the foregoing story: "Four 
long years have elapsed since she was cruelly 



niSTURT OF TEXAS. 



ti>rn from a inotlier's emlirace and carried 
into captivity. During this time no tidings 
have been received of her. Many efforts 
liave been made to find Iier whereabouts, but 
witliout success, wlien, in 1840, Colonel Len. 
Williams, an old and honored Texan, Mr. 
Stoat, a trader, and an Indian guide named 
Jack Harry, packed mules with goods and 
engao;ed in an expedition of private traflic 
with tlio Indians. 

"On the Canadian river they fell in with 
Pa-ha-u-ka's band of Comanches, with whom 
they were peacefully conversant; and with 
this tribe was Cynthia Ann Parker, who, 
from the day of her capture, had never 
seen a white person. She was then about 
fourteen years of age and had been with the 
Indians about five years. 

'' Colonel Williams found the Indian into 
whose family she had been adopted and pro- 
posed to redeem her, but the Comanche told 
him all the goods he had would not ransom 
her, and at the same time ' the firmness of 
liis countenance,' says Colonel Williams, 
' warned me of the danger of further men- 
tion of the subject.' But old Pa-ha-u-ka 
prevailed upon him to let them see her. She 
came and sat down by the root of a tree, and 
while their presence was doubtless a happy 
o\ent to the poor, stricken captive, who in 
her doleful captivity had endured everything 
but death, she refused to speak a word. As 
she sat there, musing, perhaps, of distant 
relatives and friends, and the bereavements 
at the beginnings and progress of her dis- 
tress, they employed every persuasive art to 
evoke some expression. They told her of 
her playmates and relatives, and asked what 
message she would send to them, but she 
had doubtless been commanded to silence, 
and, with no hope or prospect to return, was 
afraid to app'^ar sad or dejected, and, by a 



stoical cfTort in order to prevent future bad 
treatment, put the best face possible on the 
matter. But the anxiety of her mind was 
betrayed by a perceptible opinion on her lip, 
showing that she was not insensible to the 
common feelings of humanity. 

" As the years rolled by Cynthia Ann 
speedily developed the charms of woman- 
hood, as with the dusky maidens of her 
companionship she performed the menial 
offices of drudgery to which savage custom 
consigns woman, or practiced those little 
arts of coquetry natural to the female heart, 
whether she be a belle of Madison Square, 
attired in the most elaborate toilet from the 
elite bazaars of Paris, or the half-naked sav- 
ages with matted locks and claw-like nails. 

"Doubtless the heart of more than one 
warrior was pierced by the Ulyssean darts 
fi-om the laughing eyes, or cheered by the 
silvery ripple of her joyous laughter, and 
laid at her feet the game taken after a long 
and arduous chase among the antelope hills. 
Among the number whom her budding 
charms brought to her shrine was Peta 
Nocona, a Comanche war chief, in prowess 
and renown the peer of the famous and re- 
doubtable Big Foot, who fell in a desperately 
contested hand-to-hand encounter with the 
veteran ranger and Indian fighter, Captain S. 
P. Ross, now living at Waco, and whose 
wonderful exploits and deeds of daring fur- 
nished theme for song and story at the war 
dance, the council and the camp fire. 

" Cynthia Ann, stranger now to every 
word of her mother tongue save her own 
name, became the bride of Peta Nocona, per- 
forming for her imperious lord all the slav- 
ish offices which savagism and Indian custom 
assigns as the duty of a wife. She l.-ore him 
chililren, and, we are assured, loved him with 
a tierce passion and wifely devotion; 'for. 



U/STOST OF TEXA8. 



some fifteen years after ber capture,' says 
Victor M. Kose, ' a party of white hunters, 
including some friends of her family, visited 
the Comanche encampment, and recognizing 
Cynthia Ann — probably throngh the medium 
of her name alone — sounded her as to the 
dii^agreeableness of a retui-n to her people 
and the haunts of civilization. She shook 
lier head in a sorrowful negative, and pointed 
to her little naked barbarians sporting at her 
feet, and to the great, greasy, lazy buck sleep- 
ing in the shade near at hand, the locks of a 
score of scalps dangling at his belt, and 
whose first utterance on arousing would be a 
stern command to his meek, pale-faced wife, 
though, in truth, exposui-e to the sun and air 
had browned the complexion of Cynthia Ann 
almost as intensely as those of the native 
daughters of the plains and forest.' 

"She retained but the vaguest remem- 
brance of her people— as dim and fiitting as 
the phantom of a dream; she was accnstomed 
now to the wild life she led, and found in its 
repulsive features charms in which ' upper- 
tendom' would have proven totally deficient. 
' I am happily wedded,' she said to these vis- 
itors; 'I love my husband, who is good and 
kind, and my little ones, who too are his, and 
I cannot forsake them.'" 

This incident, in all its bearings, is so 
unique an one that it seems highly warrant- 
able to follow Cynthia's career to the end. 
About a score of years passed and young 
Ross, of Waco, had seemingly silenced the 
Comanches at Antelope hills and Wichita 
mountains, but it was a false silence, as the 
writer above quoted shows below: 

"For some time after Koss' victory at 
the Wichita mountains the Comanches were 
less hostile, seldom penetrating far down into 
the settlements. But in 1859-'60 the con- 
dition of the frontier was truly deplorable. 



The people were obliged to stand in a con- 
tinued posture of defense, and were in con- 
tinual alarm and hazard of their lives, never 
daring to stir abroad unarmed, for small 
bodies of savages, quick-sighted and accus- 
tomed to perpetual watchfulness, hovered on 
the outskirts, and, springing from behind 
bush or rock, surprised their enemy before he 
was aware of danger, and sent tidings of their 
presence in the fatal blow, and after execu- 
tion of the bloody work, by superior knowl- 
edge of the country and rapid movements, 
safely retired to their inaccessible deserts. 

"In the autumn of 1860 the indomitable 
and fearless Peta ISTocona led a raiding party 
of Comanches through Parker county, so 
named in honor of the family of his wife, 
Cynthia Ann, committing great depredations 
as they passed through. The venerable Isaac 
Parker was at that time a resident of Weath- 
erford, the county seat; and little did he 
imagine that the chief of the ruthless savao-es 



who 



sprt 



desolation and death on 



every 



side as far as their arms could reach, was the 
husband of his long-lost niece, and that the 
commingled blood of the murdered Parkers 
and the atrocious Comanche now coursed in 
the veins of a second generation — bound 
equally by the ties of consanguinity to mur- 
derer and murdered; that the son of Peta 
Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker would be- 
come the chief of the proud Comanches, 
whose boast it is that their constitutional set- 
tlement of government is the purest democ- 
racy ever originated or administered among 
men. It certainly conserved the object of 
its institution— the protection and happiness 
of the people — for a longer period and much 
more satisfactorily than has that of any other 
Indian tribe. The Comanches claimed a 
superiority over the other Texan tribes; and 
they unquestionably were more intelligent 



HlbTOUY OF TEXAJS. 



and courageous. Tlie reservation policy — 
necessary thougli it be — brings tlieni all to 
an abject level, the plane of lazy beggars and 
thieves. The Comanche is most (qualified by 
nature to receive education and for adapting 
iiiniself to the requirements of civilization of 
all the Southern tribes, not excepting even 
the Cherokees, with their churches, school- 
iiouses and farms. The Comanciies, after 
waging an unceasing war for over fifty years 
against the United States, Texas and Mexico, 
still nuniber,16,000 souls — afar better show- 
ing than any other tribe can make, tliough 
not one but has enjoyed privileges to which 
tiie Comanche was a stranger. It is a shame 
to the civilization of the age that a people so 
susceptible of a high degree of development 
sliouid be allowed to grovel in the depths of 
heathenism and savagery. But we are di- 
gressing. 

"The loud and clamorous cries of the set- 
tlers along tlie frontier for protection induced 
tiie Guvernment to organize and send out a 
regiment under Colonel M. T. Johnson, to 
take the field for public defense. But these 
efforts proved of small service. Tlie expedi- 
tion, though at great expense to the State, 
failed to find an Indian until, returning, the 
command was followed by the wily Com- 
anches, their horses stampeded at night, and 
most of the men compelled to reach the set- 
tlements on foot, under great suffering and 
exposure. 

"Captain -Sul' Ross, who had just gradu- 
ated from Florence "Wesleyan University, of 
Alabama, and returned to Texas, was com- 
missioned a captain of rangers by Governor 
Sam Houston, and directed to organize a 
company of sixty men, with orders to repair 
to Fort Belknap, receive from Colonel John- 
son all government property, as his regiment 
was disbanded, and take the field atjainst the 



redoubtable Captain Peta Noeona, and afford 
the frontier such protection as was possible 
with his small force. The necessity of vigor- 
ous measures soon became so pressing that 
Captain Ross soon determined to attempt to 
curb the insolence of these implacable ene 
mies of Texas by following them into their 
fastnesses and carry the war into their own 
homes. In his graphic narration of this 
campaign. General L. S. Ross says: 'As I 
could take but forty of my men from my 
post, I requested Captain N. G. Evans, in 
command of the United States troops at Camp 
Cooper, to send me a detachment of the 
Second Cavalry. We had been intimately 
connected on the Van Uorn campaign, during 
which I was the recipient of much kindness 
from Captain Evans, while 1 was suffering 
from a severe wound received from an Indian 
in the battle of the Wichita. lie promptly 
sent me a sergeant and twenty one men well 
mounted. My force was still further aug- 
mented by some seventy volunteer citizens, 
under the command of the brave old frontiers- 
man, Captain Jack Cureton, of Bosque county. 
These self-sacrificing patriots, without the 
hope of pay or regard, left their defenseless 
homes and families to avenge the sufferings 
of the frontier peoi)le. With pack mules 
laden down with necessary siipplies, the ex- 
pedition marched for the Indian country. 

'"On the 18th of December, 1860, while 
marching up Pease river, I had suspicions 
that Indians were in the vicinity, by reason 
of the buffalo that came running in great 
numbers from the north toward us, and while 
my command moved in the low ground 1 
visited all neighboring high points to make 
discoveries. On one of these sand hills I 
found four fresh pony tracks, and, being 
satisfied that Indian vedettes had just gone, 
1 galloped forward about a mile to a highei 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



point, and, riding to the top, to my inex- 
pressible surprise, found myself within 200 
yards of a Comanche village, located on a 
small stream winding around the base of the 
hill. It was a most happy circumstance that 
a piercing north wind was blowing, bearing 
with it a cloud of sand, and my presence was 
unobserved and the surprise complete. By 
signaling my men as I stood concealed, they 
reached me witiiout being discovered by the 
Indians, who were busy packing up prepara- 
tory to a move. By this time the Indians 
mounted and moved off north across the 
level of the plain. My command, with the 
detachment of the Second Cavalry, had out- 
marched and become separated from the citi- 
zen command, which left me about sixty 
men. In making disposition for attack, the 
sergeant and his twenty men were sent at a 
gallop, behind a chain of sand hills, to en- 
compass them in and cut off their retreat, 
while with fifty men I charged. The attack 
was 60 sudden that a considerable number 
were killed before they could prepare for de- 
fense. They fled precipitately right into the 
presence of the sergeant and his men. Here 
they met with a warm reception, and finding 
themselves completely encompassed, every 
one fled his own way, and was hotly pursued 
and hard pressed. 

" The chief of the party, Peta Nocona, a 
noted warrior of great repute, with a young 
girl about fifteen years of age, mounted on his 
horse behind him, and Cynthia Ann Parker, 
with a girl child about two years of age in 
her arms, and mounted on a fleet pony, fled 
together, while Lieutenant Tom Kelliheir 
and I pursued them. After running about 
a mile Kelliheir ran up by the side of 
Cynthia's horse, and I was in the act of 
shooting when she held up her child and 
stopped. I kept on after the chief, and about 



half a mile further, when about twenty 
yards of him, I fired my pistol, striking the 
girl (whom I supposed to be a man, as she 
rode like one, and only her head was visible 
above the buffalo robe with which she was 
wrapped) near the heart, killing her instantly, 
and the same ball would have killed both but 
for the shield of the chief, which hung down 
covering his back. When the girl fell from 
the horse she pulled him off also, but he 
caught on his feet, and before steadying him- 
self my horse, running at full speed, was 
very nearly on top of him, when he was 
struck with an arrow, which caused him to 
fall to pitching or ' bucking,' and it was with 
great difficulty that I kept my saddle, and in 
the meantime narrowly escaped several 
arrows coming in quick succession from tjie 
chief's bow. Being at such disadvantage he 
would have killed me in a few minutes but 
for a random shot from my pistol (while I 
was clinging with my left hand to the pom- 
mel of my saddle), which broke his right arm 
at the elbow, completely disabling him. My 
horse then became quiet, and I shot the chief 
twice through the body, whereupon he de- 
liberately walked to a small tree, the only 
one in sight, and leaning against it began to 
sing a wild, weird song. At this time my 
Mexican servant, who had once been a captive 
with the Comanches and spoke their lan- 
guage fluently as his mother tongue, came 
up in company with two of my men. I then 
summoned the chief to surrender, but he 
promptly treated every overture with con- 
tempt, and signalized this declaration with a 
savage attempt to thrust me with his lance 
which he held in his left hand. I could only 
look upon him with pity and admiration. 
For, deplorable as was his situation, with no 
chance of escape, his party utterly destroyed, 
his wife and child captured in his sight, he 



UlSTOHY OF TEXAJS. 



was undaunted by the fate tliat awaited him, 
and as he seemed to prefer death to life, I 
directed tiic Mexican to end his misery by a 
cliargc of buckshot froiu the gun wliich he 
carried. Taking up his accoutermeiits, wiiich 
1 subsequently sent to Governor Houston, to 
be deposited in the archives at Austin, we 
rode back to Cynthia Ann and Kelliheir, and 
found him bitterly cursing himself for hav- 
ing run his pet horse so hard after an 'old 
squaw.' She was very dirty, both in her 
scanty garments and person. But as soon as 
I looked on her face, I said: 'AVhy, Tom, 
this is a white woman: Indians do not have 
blue eyes.' On the way to the village, where 
my men were assembling with the spoils, and 
a large caballada of ' Indian ponies,' I dis- 
covered an Indian boy about nine years of 
age, secreted in the grass. Expecting to be 
killed he began crying, but I made him 
mount behind me and carried him along. 
And when in after years I frequently pro- 
posed to send him to his people, he steadily 
refused to go, and died in McLennan county 
last year. 

" After camping for the night Cynthia 
Ann kept crying, and thinking it was caused 
from fear of death at our hands, I had the 
Mexican tell her that we recognized her as 
one of our own people, and would not harm 
her. She said two of her boys were with her 
when the fight began, and she was distressed 
by the fear that they had been killed. It so 
happened, however, both escaped, and one of 
them, ' Quanah,' is now a chief. The other 
died some years ago on the plains. I then 
asked her to give me the history of her life 
among the Indians, and the circumstances 
attending her capture by them, which she 
promptly did, in a very sensible manner. 
And as the facts detailed corresponded with 
the massacre at Parker's Fort, I was im- 



pressed with the belief that she was Cynthia 
Ann Parker. Returning to rtiy post, I sent 
her and child to the ladies at Cooper, where 
she could receive the attention her situaliun 
demanded, and at the same time dispatched 
a messenger to Colonel Parker, her uncle, 
near Weatherford; and as I was called to 
Waco to n)eei Governor Houston, I left 
directions for the Mexican to accompany 
Colonel Parker to Cooper as interpieter. 
When he reached there her identity was soon 
discovered to Colonel Parker's entire satis- 
faction and great happiness." (This battle 
broke the spirit of the Comanches for Texas.) 

"Upon the arrival of Colonel Parker at 
Fort Cooper interrogations were made her 
through the Mexican interpreter, for she re- 
membered not one word of English, respect- 
ing her identity; but she had forgotten abso- 
lutely everything apparently at all connected 
with her family or past history. 

"In despair of being able to reach a con- 
clusion, Colonel Parker was about to leave 
when he said, 'The name of my niece was 
Cynthia Ann.' The sound of the once fa- 
miliar name, doubtless the last lingering 
memento of the old home at the fort, seemed 
to touch a responsive chord in her nature, 
when a sign of intelligence lighted up her 
countenance, as memory by some mystic in- 
spiration resumed its cunning as she looked 
up and patting her breast, said, « Cynthia Ann I 
Cynthia Ann!' At the wakening of this 
single spark of reminiscence, the sole gleam 
in the mental gloom of many years, her coun- 
tenance brightened with a pleasant smile in 
place of the sullen expression which habitu- 
ally characterizes the looks of an Indian re- 
strained of freedom. There was no longer any 
doubt as to her identity with the little girl 
lost and mourned so long. It was in reality 
Cynthia Ann Parker, but oh, so changedl 



niSTORY OF TEXAS. 



'< But as savage-like and dark of complex- 
ion as she M'as, Cynthia Ann was still dear to 
her overjoyed uncle, and was welcomed home 
|py relatives with all the joyous transports 
witii which the prodigal son was hailed upon 
his miserable return to the parental roof. 

" A thorough Indian in manner and looks 
as it she had been so born, she sought every 
opportunity to escape and had to be closely 
watched for some time. Her uncle carried 
herself and child to his home, then took tiiein 
to Austin, where the secession convention 
was in session. Mrs. John Henry Brown and 
Mrs. N. C. Raymond interested themselves 
in her, dressed her neatly, and on one occasion 
took her into the gallery of the hall while the 
convention was in session. They soon realized 
that she was greatly alarmed by the belief 
that the assemblage was a council of chiefs, 
sitting in judgment on her life. Mrs. Brown 
beckoned to her husband, Hon. John Henry 
Brown, who was a member of theconvention, 
who appeared and succeeded in reassuring her 
that she was among friends. 

" Gradually her mother tongue came back, 
and with it occasional incidents of her child- 
hood, including a recognition cf the venerable 
Mr. Anglin, and perhaps one or two others. 

" The Civil war coming on soon after, 
which necessitated the resumption of such 
primitive arts, she learned to spin, weave and 
perform the domestic duties. She proved 
quite an adept in such work and became a very 
useful member of the household. The ruling 
passion of her bosom seemed to be the 
maternal instinct, and cherished the hope that 
when the war was concluded she would at 
last succeed in reclaiming her two children, 
who were still with the Indians. But it was 
written otherwise and Cynthia Ann and her 
little barbarians were called hence ere the 
cruel war was over. She died at her brother's 



in Anderson county, Texas, in 1864, preceded 
a short time by her sprightly little daughter, 
Prairie Flower. Thus ended the sad story of 
a woman far-famed along the border." 

Only one of her sons, Quanah, lived to 
manhood. He became one of the four chiefs 
of the Cohoite Comanches, who were placed 
on a reservation in Indian Territory in 1874, 
and became the most advanced of Comanche 
tribes in the arts of civilized life. Qnanah 
learned English and soon conformed to 
American customs. A letter written in 1886 
thus described his surroundings: " We 
visited Quanah in his teepe. He is a fine 
specimen of physical manhood, tall, muscular, 
straight as an arrow, gray, look-you-straiglit- 
through-the-eyes, very dark skin, perfect 
teeth, and heavy raven-black hair — the envy 
of feminine hearts — he wears hanging in two 
rolls wrapped around with red cloth. His 
hair is parted in the middle; the scalp lock is 
a portion of hair the size of a dollar, plaited 
and tangled, signifying, ' If you want tight 
you can have it.' 

" Quanah is now camped with a thousand 
of his subjects at the foot of some hills near 
Anadarko, Indian Territory. Their white 
teepos, and the inmates dressed in their bright 
blankets and feathers, cattle grazing, children 
playing, lent a weird charm to the lonely, 
desolate hills, lately devastated by prairie 
lire. 

" He has three squaws, his favorite being 
the daughter of Yellow Bear, who met his 
death by asphyxiation at Fort Worth in De- 
cember last. He said he gave seventeen 
horses for her. His daughter Cynthia, named 
for her grandmother, Cynthia Parker, is an in- 
mate of the agent's house. Quanah was 
attired in a full suit of buckskin, tunic, leg- 
gins and moccasins elaborately trimmed in 
I beads, and a red breech cloth with ornamental 



HISTOnr OF TEXAS. 



end hanging down. A very handsome and 
txpensive Mexican blanket was thrown 
around his body; in his ears were little stuffed 
birds. His hair was done with tlie feathers 
of bright piuniaged birds. He was hand- 
somer by far than any Ingomarthe writer has 
ever seen, but there was no squaw fair enongli 
to personate his Parthenia. His general as- 
pect, manner, bearing, education, natural in- 
telligence, show plainly that white blood 
trickles through his veins. When traveling 
he assumes a complete civilian's outfit — dude 
collar, watch and chain, and takes out his ear 
rings. He, of course, cannot cut off his long 
iiair, saying that he would no longer be 'big 
chief.' He has a handsome carriage, drives a 
pair of matched grays, always traveling with 
one of his squaws (to do the chores). Minna- 
a ton-cha is with him now. She knows no 
English, but while her lord is conversing 
gazes dumb with admiration at ' my lord,' 
ready to obey his slightest wish or command." 



A COMANCHE PRINCESS. 

The following beautiful story is from the 
pen of General H. P. Bee: 

In the spring of 1843, the Republic of 
Texas, Sam Houston being president, dis- 
patched Colonel J. C. Eldridge, Commis- 
sioner of Indian affairs, and Tom Torrey, 
Indian agent, to visit the several wild tribes 
on the frontier of Texas and induce them to 
make peace and conclude treaties with the 
Kopublic. General H. P. Bee accompanied 
the expedition, but in no official capacity. 
At the house of a frontier settler, near where 
the town of Marlin stands, the commissioners 
received two Comanche children who had 
been captured by Colonel Moore, a famous 
and gallant soldier of the old Republic, in 



one of his forays on the upper waters of the 
Colorado in 1840. These children had been 
ordered to be returned to their people. One 
of them was a boy fourteen years old, named 
Bill Hockley, in honor of ^'^e veteran Colo- 
nel Hockley, tlien high in command of the 
army of the Republic, who had adopted the 
boy and taken care of him: the other was a 
girl eleven years old, named Maria. The 
parting of the little girl from the good people 
who had evidently been kind to her was very 
affecting; she cried bitterly and begged that 
she would not be carried away. She had 
forgotten her native tongue, spoke only one 
language, and had the same dread of an In- 
dian that any other white children had. Her 
little nature had been cultivated by the hand 
of civilization until it drooped at the thought 
of a rough Indian life as a delicately nurtured 
flower will droop in the strong winds of the 
prairies. There being no excuse, however, 
for retaining her among the white people, a 
pretty gentle Indian pony, with a little side- 
saddle, was procured for her, and she was 
taken from her friends. 

On arriving at a camp in Tanaconi, above 
where Waco is now located, the party met 
the first Indians, a mixture of Delawares, 
Wacoes, etc. The appearance of the little 
girl on horseback created great amusement 
among the Indians. She was so shy and 
timid, and the very manner in which she was 
seated on the side-saddle was different from 
that of the brown-skinned women of her 
race. The next morning after the arrival at 
the camp, Ben Hockley came out in full In- 
dian costume, having exchanged his citizen 
clothes for buck-skin jacket, pants, etc. He 
at once resumed his Indian habits, and from 
that day, during the long trip of months, Bill 
was noticed as rhe keenest eye of the party. 
He could tell an object at a greater distance, 



IlISTOUY OF TEXAS. 



for example, a horse from a buffalo, a horse 
without a rider, etc., quicker than an Indian 
in camp. 

The journey proceeded with its varied 
scenes of excitement, danger and interest for 
four months, and the barometer of the party 
was the little Comanche jirincess. The ob- 
ject of the expedition was to see the head 
chief of the Comanches, and of course, as the 
search was to be made in the boundless prai- 
ries, it was no easy or certain task; yet they 
could tell the distance from or proximity to 
the Comanches by the conduct of the little 
girl. "When news came that the Indians were 
near, the childish voice would not be heard 
in its joyous freshness, caroling round the 
tire; but when news arrived that they could 
not be found, her spirits would revive, and 
her joy would show itself in gambols as 
merry as those of the innocent fawn that 
sports around its mother on the great bosom 
of the prairie. 

At last the goal was reached, and the party 
was in the Comanche camp, the village of 
Pay-ha-hu-co, the head chief of all the Com- 
anches. Maria's time had come, but the 
little girl tried to avoid notice and kept as 
close as possible. Her appearance, however, 
was the cause of great sensation, and a few 
days fixed the fact that she was the daughter 
of the former head chief of the nation, who 
died on the forks of the Brazos, from wounds 
received at the battle of Plum creek in 1840. 
Thus, unknown to her or themselves, they had 
been associating with the royal princess, No- 
sa-co-oi-ash, the long-lost and beloved child 
of the nation. This extraordinary good luck 
for the little girl brought no assuagement to 
her grief. Her joy was gone. She spoke 
not a word of Comanche, and could not recip- 
rocate the warm greetings she received. 

On arriving at the village. Bill Hockley 



determined that he would not talk Comanche, 
although he spoke it perfectly well, not hav- 
ing, like Maria, forgotten his native language. 
During the week they remained in the village. 
Bill, contrary to his usual custom, kept close 
to the party, and did not speak a word to 
those around him; nor could he be induced 
to do so. On one occasion a woman brought 
a roasting ear, which was of great value in 
her eyes, as it had come probably 150 miles, 
and presented it to Bill, who sat in one of 
the tents. The boy gave not the slightest at- 
tention to the woman or her gift, but kept 
his eye fixed on the ground. Finally she put 
the roasting ear under his eyes, so that as he 
looked down he must see it. Then, talking 
all the time, she walked off and watched 
him. But Bill, from under his eyes, noted 
her movements, and not until she was out of 
sight did he get up and say, " That ugly old 
woman is not mammie, but I will eat her 
roasting ear." 

When the chief came home (he was ab- 
sent for several days after the party arrived), 
he asked to see the children; and when they 
were presented he spoke to Bill in a very 
peremptory tone of voice, and Bill at once 
answered, being the first word of Comanche 
he had spoken since his arrival. This broke 
the ice, and the boy went among his people, 
not returning to his white friends until he 
was wanted to take part in the ceremony of 
being finally delivered over to his tribe, and 
afterward never going to tell them good by. 
So there and then Bill Hockley passed from 
the scene. 

The day before the grand council with the 
Comanches, the skill and ingenuity of the 
party of the three white men were taxed to 
their fullest extent to make a suitable dress 
for the Comanche princess, whose clothes, it 
may be supposed, had become old and shabby 



nisrORT OF TEXAS. 



Their lady friends would have been vastly 
Hmueed at tlieir eiTorts. There was no crin- 
oline, corset, pull-back, wasp- waist or Dolly 
Varden to be sure. Whether the body was 
too long or too short, we are unable to say ; 
but it was one or the other! Tiie skirt was 
a success, Int the sleeves would not work: so 
they cut them off at the elbow. The next 
morning they dressed the little princess in a 
flaming-red calico dress, put strings of brass 
beads on her neck, brass rings on her arms, 
a wreath of prairie flowers on her head, tied 
a red ribbon around her smooth, nicely 
plaited hair, and painted her face with ver- 
milion, until slie looked like the real princess 
that she was. All this, however, was no 
pleasure to poor Maria; she was like a lamb 
dressed in flowers for the sacrifice. 

Finally the time came wlien, in the full 
council. Colonel Eldridge stood holding the 
hands of the two children in front of the 
chief, and said to him that as an evidence of 
the desire of the great white Father (Hous- 
ton) to make peace, and be friendly with the 
great Comanche nation, he sent them two 
children, captives in war, back to their peo- 
ple. After these words he attempted to 
place the hands of both in the extended hand 
of the chief; but at that moment the most 
distressing screams burst from Maria. She 
ran behind Colonel Eldridge, and begged him 
for God's sake not to give her to those peo- 
ple, to have mercy, and not to leave her. 
Then the poor child fell on her knees and 
shrieked, and clung to him in all the mad- 
ness of despair. A death-like silence pre- 
vailed in the council. The Indians stood by 
in stern stoicism, the voices of the white men 
were silent with emotion, and nothing but 
the cries of the poor lamh of sacrifice pierced 
the distance of the bloom-scented prairies. 
Hei white friends, as soon as possible, at- 



tempted to quiet the child. Of course the 
comforting words were spoken in their own 
language, but they were evidently understood 
by all, for theirs was the language of nature. 
Finding their efforts useless, the chief said: 
"This is the child of our long-mourned chief; 
she is of our blood; her aged grandmother 
stands ready to receive her; but she ha« for- 
gotten her people. She does not want to 
come to us; and if the great white chief only 
sent her for us to see that she is fat and well 
cared for, tell him I thank him, and she can 
go back." 

This was an opportunity; and General Bee 
suggested to Colonel Eldridge to save the 
child; but, although the latter's heart was 
bursting with grief and sympathy, his sense 
of duty told him his work was dnished, and 
he replied to the chief, as follows: "I have 
been ordered to give up this child. I have 
done so, and my duty is fulfilled. But you 
see she is no longer a Comanche. Child in 
years when she was taken from you by the 
stern hand of war, she has learned the Ian 
guage of another people, and I implore you 
to give her to me, and let me take her to my 
home and care for her all the days of my life." 
"No," said the chief; "if she is my child I 
will keep her." He swung her roughly be- 
hind him into the arms of the old grand- 
mother, who bore her screaming from the 
council tent; and thus the princess was de- 
livered to her people; and the last sound the 
party heard on leaving that Comanche camp 
was the wail of the poor, desolate child! 

Years afterward General Bee received a 
message from Maria, and sent her a few pres- 
ents by way of remembrance. She had be- 
come the main interpreter of her nation, and 
met the white people in council. So it ended 
well at last. She became an instrument of 
good, and fulfilled her destiny on the stage 



BISTORT OP TEXAS. 



of action for which she was born. But the 
remembrance of the bright but desolate child, 
and her prayers and tears when she was 
forced to be left with her stranger people, is 
fresh in the memory of at least one of the 
party, and will last him through life. 

We presume that the princess was captured 
in the tight by Colonel Moore on the Red 
fork of the Colorado. 

GAME ANIMALS. 

George J. Durham, of Austin, a number 
of years ago enumerated the following as the 
chief gatoe animals of Texas: 

Buffalo (formerly), elk, black-tailed deer, 
antelope, hare, rabbit, red and fox squirrels, 
turkey, prairie chicken, quail ("partridge"), 
the whooping and the sand-hill cranes, the 
American and trumpeter swans, the bav 
goose, brant, snow goose (common or Cana- 
dian), etc., blue-winged teal, the shoveler, 
widgeon, green-winged teal, pintail, gray 
duck, ring-necks, canvas-back, mallard and 
possibly some other species of ducks, wood- 
cock, plover, curlew, tatler, sanderling, etc. 

It would scarcely be appropriate here to 
enumerate the habits of these various animals, 
their seasons of immigration and emigration, 
etc., as such matters come more properly 
within the domain of scientific and sports- 
men's works. Hunters' stories constitute 
interesting reading, but are not properly the 
matter of the history of a State; but we will 
venture to relate one, as follows: 

FEARFUL ENOOUNTEE WITH A BEAR. 

" Returning home from one of my monthly 
tours under the burning snn of August," 
says Elder Z. N. Morrill, "I found myself 
greatly exhausted in consequence of a ride of 



100 miles from Providence Church, Navarro 
county, north of Chambers creek. After a 
little rest I mounted my horse, gun in hand, 
with a view first to look after the farm, and 
secondly, if possible, to get a deer or turkey, 
as fresh meat was called for. The farm was 
in the Brazos bottom, and at this season of 
the year the weeds were from four to six feet 
high. Passing around the field, I watched 
every motion of the weeds, expecting to see a 
deer or turkey. Presently my attention was 
called to my right, and about thirty steps 
from my path my eyes rested upon the head 
of an old she-bear, standing upon her hind 
feet and looking at me. My horse was wild 
and I dared not shoot from the saddle. Leap- 
ing to the ground as quickly as possible, I 
leveled my rifle at the fearful object, which 
then suddenly disappeared. Immediately the 
weeds nearer by began to shake, and two 
cubs, not more than ten feet from me, ran up 
a hackberry tree. Resting among the limbs, 
they turned their anxious eyes on me. The 
old bear was gone; and very deliberately I 
tied up my horse, and with a smile on my 
face and none but the cubs and the God of 
the universe in hearing, I said, I am good for 
you, certain. As I was about pulling the 
trigger the case of Davy Crockett flashed into 
my mind when he shot the cub and the old 
bear came upon him with his gun empty. 
With that distinguished hunter I had gone 
on a bear chase in Tennessee. 

" Well was it that I thought of him at this 
moment, for I had not even a knife or a dog 
to help me in my extremity; and as, unlike 
the king of Israel, I did not feel able to take 
the bear by the beard, I lowered my gun and 
unsprung the trigger. Just then an angry 
snarl fell upon my ears a short distance away. 
The old bear was after me. The weeds 
cracked and shook, and she stood npoc her 



HISTOBT OF TEXAS. 



hind feet, walking toward me, swaying her 
body right and left. Iler hair was all stand- 
ing on end and iier ears laid back, presenting 
a friglitful appearance. Life was pending on 
ti>e contest. Either Z. JS\ Morrill or that 
bear had to die. The only chance was to 
make a good shot. The bear was now not 
more than forty feet from me, and steadily 
advancing. Remembering that I had but 
the one slim chance for my life, depending 
on tlie one gun-cap and the faithfulness of 
my aim, I found I had the ' buck ague.' 1 
had faced cannon in the battle-field, but never 
did I feel as when facing that bear. I grasped 
the gun, but the tighter I grasped the worse 
I trembled. The bear was now less than 
twenty feet away, walking straight on her 
hind legs. By moving the gun up and down 
I finally succeeded in getting in range of her 
Uody, but not until the animal was within ten 
ftet of me did I get an aim upon which I was 
willing to risk a shot! The bear was in the 
not of springing when 1 tired. At the crack 
of the gun, the bear sprang convulsively to 
one side and fell. 1 then re-loaded and killed 
the cubs." 

YELLOW FEVEE. 

The year 1867 was probably the worst sea- 
son for yellow fever that Texas ever saw. 
About tliirty interior towns and villages suf- 
fered an a|>palling mortality. It first made 
its appearance at Indianola, early in July, — 
which was probably the earliest for that 
year in the United States. Within the first 
few weeks it proceeded in its devastating 
march, in turn, to Galveston, Lavaca, Vic- 
toria, Goliad, Hempstead, Cypress, Navasota, 
Millican, Brenham, Chapel Hill, La Grange, 
Bastrop, Alleyton, Long Point, Courtney, 
Anderson, Huntsville, Liberty, Lynchburg 



and many smaller places. It was said to have 
been successfully excluded from Kichmond 
and Columbus by a rigid quarantine, and also 
from Brownsville and Anderson till a very 
late period, though it finally broke out in 
both of the latter places. 

The mortality was very great. In Gal- 
veston, for example, out of a total of 1,332 
deaths reported during the epidemic, 1,134 
were from yellow fever. In llarrisburg and 
some other towns, considerably more than 
half the cases were fatal; in other ])lace6, 
half or a little less. Some cases of distress 
and lack of care were truly heart-rending. 

DAWSON AND SIMS. 

Frederick Dawson, of Baltimore, Maryland, 
who helped Texas with money in her early 
struggles, was a jovial gentleman with huge 
proportions, and used to come to Austin dur- 
ing the sessions of the legislature after 
annexation, to press his claims for settlement 
with the State of Texas. He was a jolly 
companion, a good liver, very fond of brown 
stout, and had a laugh which waked the 
echoes around to a marvelous distance. 

In the amplitude of his proportions and 
the magnitude of his laugh Dawson was 
rivaled by Bart Sims, a resident of the Colo- 
rado valley. They had never met before the 
occasion under consideration; consequently 
their points of resemblance were unknown to 
each other. Upon this day, as they chanced 
to be in town at the same time, the young 
men of the place conceived the sportive notion 
of having Dawson and Sims laugh for a 
wager. Drinks for the whole population 
were staked upon the result, judges were 
chosen and the cachinnation commenced. 

Never before or since has there been such 
a merry scene in Texas. For half an hour 



n I STORY or TEXAS. 



the log houses within, and the hills around, 
the seat of government echoed and re-echoed 
to laugliter of the most thundering descrip- 
tion. Dogs, pigs, chickens and litcle chil- 
dren ran away terrified; and men, women and 
tiie youth who did not know what was the 
matter poked their lieads out of the doors 
and windows in wonderment. Soon the by- 
standers became infected with the fun of the 
tiling, joined in the loud smile, and from the 
head of Congress avenue to its foot the street 
was one astounding roar. 

At one moment the star of Sims would ap- 
pear to be in the ascendant, but the next 
instant Dawson would gather himself for a 
mighty effort and roll out a peal that would 
drown out the neigh of a horse or bray of an 
ass. The umpires gave their decision in 
favor of Dawson. 

"Well, boys," said Sims, after the result 
was announced, "he (pointing to Dawson) 
laughs to the tune of half a million, while I 

hav'ut got a d d cent to laugh on." This 

was a good hit for Sims, as he was not a man 
of wealth, and the laugh now turned in his 
favor, while his antagonist stood the treat 
with his usual good nature. 

TEXAS VETERAN ASSOCIATION. 

This association is composed of the sur- 
vivors of the Texas revolution, the men who 
conquered the armies of Santa Anna and 
wrested this vast empire from the dominion 
of Mexico. 

Its object is to "perpetuate the memories 
of men and measures that secured and main- 
tained liberty and independence to the Re- 
public of Texas, and for the promotion of 
more intimate intercourse and association of 
the survivors of that memorable struggle." 



Its membership is composed: Ist, of all 
survivors of the old 300 soldiers and seamen 
of the Republic of Texas who served against 
Mexicans and Indians from 1820 to 1845; 
2d, all citizens appointed by the government 
or elected to and who discharged positions 
of trust from 1820 to 1836. 

The association meets annually at such time 
and place as may be designated by the mem- 
bers. 

SUFFRAGB. 

The following classes of persons are pro- 
hibited from voting in this State: 1, All per- 
sons under twenty- one years of age; 2, idiots 
and lunatics; 3, paupers supported by any 
county; 4, persons convicted of any felony; 
and 5, soldiers, marines and seamen in the 
service of the United States. 

Every male citizen twenty-one years of age, 
subject to none of the foregoing disqualifi- 
cations, who has resided in the State one year 
next preceding the election and the last six 
months within the district or county where 
he offers to vote, is a qualified elector. 

EXEMPTIONS FROM TAXATIOW. 

Farm products in the hands of the pro- 
ducer and family supplies for home and farm 
use. 

Household and kitchen furniture to the 
value of $250, including a sewing machine. 

All annual pensions granted by the State. 

All public property. 

Lands used exclusively for graveyards or 
grounds for burying the dead, unless held by 
persons or corporations for pi'ofit. 

Buildings and lands attached thereto be- 
longing to charitable or educational institu- 
tions and used exclusively for charitable or 
educational purposes. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



BXEMmONS FROM FORCED SALE. 

A homestead worth $5,000 exclusive of im- 
provements, if in a town or city; if in tlie 
country, 200 acres, including improvements 
and crops growing thereon, except for part or 
all of the purchase money thereof, the taxes 
due thereon, or for material used in con- 
structing improvements thereon, and in this 
last case only when the work and material 
are contracted for in writing, with the 
consent of the wife given in the same manner 
as is required in making a sale and con- 
veyance of the homestead. 

All household and kitchen furniture, and 
all provision and forage on hand for home 
consumption. 

Any lot or lots in a cemetery for the 
purpose of sepulture. 

All implements of husbandry, and all 
tools, apparatus and books belonging to any 
trade. 

The family library and all family portraits 
and pictures. 

Five milch cows and their calves, and two 
yoke of work oxen, with necessary yokes and 
chains. 

One gun, two horses and one wagon, one 
carriage or buggy, and all saddles, bridles, 
and harness necessary for the use of the 
family. 

Twenty head of hogs and twenty head of 
sheep. 

All current wages for personal services. 

TEXAS AT THE WOKLd's FAIR OF 1893. 

Were it not for an implied inhibition in 
the present State constitution, made in haste 
to cover more ground than was probably 
intended, Texas would have surprised the 



world at the great Columbian Exposition at 
Chicago with exhibits of her vast resources 
and present stage of development. Possibly 
she would have surpassed every other State 
in the Union, if not every country in tliis 
wide world, as a favorable section for immi- 
gration, which she could have easily done 
had it not been for tliat fatal claufe in her 
constitution and the political collisions which 
it occasioned between the granger and anti- 
granger element of the people. 

A tremendous effort was made by a few of 
the most zealous friends of Texas to have a 
respectable and worthy exhibit at Chicago. 
despite the obstacles just mentioned, but ail 
proved abortive except the movement inau- 
gurated by the two private organizations 
denominated the Gentlemen's World's Fair 
Association of Texas and the Texas Women's 
World's Fair Exhibit Association, all the 
work being devolved upon the latter, headed 
by the brave and executive Mrs. Benedette 
B. Tobin, of Austin, who was elected presi- 
dent of the board of managers and took 
charge of the Texas State building at the 
fair. The career of the enterprise is a long 
story, but remarkable from the fact that it 
was successfully carried through by Southern 
ladies. This was probably tlie greatest 
undertaking by women of the South in the 
history of the whole country. They suc- 
ceeded in obtaining subscriptions from various 
parties in the cities and towns throughout 
the State, until they raised sutticient funds to 
place upon the fair grounds at Chicago the 
best arranged State building there, at a final 
cost of about 128,000; and it was really a 
magnificent structure, even in comparison 
with all the other State buildings, whic' 
were erected under appropriations from 
respective general State treasuries, 
architect was J. Riely Gordon, of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



245 



Antonio. Considering that the ladies did 
not commence work until the August pre- 
ceding the opening of the fair, the grand 
success of the enterprise seems still more 
remarkable. 

A splendid oil painting representing a life- 
sized equestrian statue of General Houston, in 
the act of giving orders in action on the battle- 
field at San Jacinto, adorned the wall in the 
rear of the rostrum of the building. 

The officers of the association were: Mrs. 
Benedette B. Tobin, President; Mrs. J. C. 
Terrell, Mrs. W. F. Ladd and Mrs. E. A. 
Fry, Vice Presidents; Miss Mary J. Palm, 
Secretary; S. J. T. Johnson, Superintendent 
of the State building; Board of Directors: 
Mes. B. B. Tobin, J.W. Swayne, J.L.Henry, 
J. M. Burroughs, E. M. House, A. V. Doak, 
A. D. Hearne, C. F. Drake and Val C. 
Giles; Vice Presidents at Large: Mes. John 
W. Stayton, R. R. Gaines, John L. Henry, 
George W. Tyler, George Clark, Ella Scott, 
Ella Stewart, E. M. House, W. W. Leake, 
C. F. Drake, J. B. Scruggs, Wm. H. Rice, 
Mollie M. Davis and MissHallie Halbert. 

Besides the above building, a few enter- 
prising business men and women contributed 
a small exhibit, notably Mrs. Mary B. 
Nickels, of Laredo, who had in the Horticul- 
tural building probably the grandest cactus 
e.xhibit ever made in this country. 



,_/^APOLEON B. ROSS.— The valu- 

I ■ able farm of six hundred acres now 

J y owned by our subject in Bosque 

county has been transformed into 

one of the most comfortable homesteads of 

this section, of which two hundred and fifty 

acres has been brought to a finely cultivated 

condition, and is embellished by a set of 



handsome and substantial farm buildings. 
In addition to general farming the proprietor 
is giving considerable attention to the raising 
of fine stock, including horses, cattle, hogs 
and mules. A fiourishing orchard and a 
choice assortment of the smaller fruit trees 
serve to add to the comfortable appearance 
of the premises and supply the household 
with the luxuries of the season. 

Mr. Ross is an intelligent and well in- 
formed man, although he received but a 
limited education in his early years, and is 
one of the representative and solid men of 
Bosque county, where he has made his 
home since 1867. He was born in what 
was then Benton, but now Calhoun county, 
Alabama, November 8, 1845. The birth 
of his father, Frederick Ross, occurred in 
Edgefield county. South Carolina, January 
22, 1800, and he was the son of John Ross, 
who was born February 13, 1769, of Irish 
parentage. On the 6th of December, 1793, 
the latter wedded Mary Ward, who was of 
the same age. 

Frederick Ross was married May 3, 1 827, 
the lady of his choice being Nancy Scurry, 
who was born September 13, 1809, and 
was a daughter of Jesse Scurry, who 
was a prominent slave owner and be- 
longed to one of the good old families of 
South Carolina. Mr. Ross with his family 
later removed to Benton county, Alabama, 
locating on the Tallapoosa river, near the 
old Arbacooche gold mines. The parental 
household included thirteen children, eight 
sons and five daughters, namely: Thomas; 
John, who served as a captain in the Thirty- 
first Alabama Infantry; Newton, who was 
captain of Company H, Forty-first Georgia 
Infantry; Cornelia; Sarah; Jesse, who was a 
member of the Fifty-first Alabama Cavalry, 
and was killed at the battle of Bentonvilie; 



HIS TO in' OF TEXAS. 



Mary; Andrew, deceased; Frederick E., 
who was captain of a company of sharp- 
shooters that was selected from Thomas 
R. Cobb's legion; Napoleon B., Martha, 
Emma and Augustus H. Their father, who 
was a successful planter and an earnest 
Democrat in politics, died in February, 
1866; and their mother, who long survived 
him, passed away in 1889, at the age of 
eighty years. 

The early life of our subject was passed 
in Alabama, and in October, 1861, he en- 
listed in Company F, Twenty-second Ala- 
bama Infantry, with which he served for a 
time and was then transferred to Company 
H, Forty-first Georgia Infantry. He was 
in a number of engagements, including Per- 
ryville and the siege of Vicksburg until its 
surrender. He later joined the Eleventh 
Te.xas Cavalry, and followed the fortunes of 
that regiment until the final surrender. He 
was a gallant and brave soldier, ever found 
at his post of duty. 

In Alabama, on the iSth of July, 1865, 
Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Miss 
Eliza A. Bell, an intelligent and cultured 
lady who belonged to a prominent family. 
She was born in Georgia and was nine years 
of age when she accompanied her family to 
Alabama. Her father, James H. Bell, was 
also a native of Georgia, and there her 
mother, who bore the maiden name of Jane 
Berry, was born. Their eleven children 
were as follows: Mary C, Lycurgus, 
Thalestus, Eliza A., Ross, Alice, Largus, 
Izalia, Alzonia, Justin, Gaston and Sonora. 
On the 9th of August, 1866, the mother of 
these children was called to her final rest, 
and their father passed away January 8, 
1885, at the age of sixty-seven years. He 
was a prominent and representative planter, 
very active in church work, being for many 



years a faithful member of the Methodist 
denomination. 

In 1867 Mr. Ross with his family started 
with teams and wagons overland for Te.xas, 
accompanied by Rev. G. W. Roberts, Tully 
Caruth and Jesse Barker. After his arrival 
here in Bosque county he spent the first year 
near Meridian and the two succeeding j'ears 
near Flat-top mountain, and then bought 
his present farm, and settled on it in Decem- 
ber, 1870. It was then all wild land, but he 
has transformed it until it is now one of the 
most productive and highly improved places 
in the county. The fields are all well fenced 
and the dwelling is made more attractive by 
the shade trees which surround it. 

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Ross, but one died in infancy, and Belle, who 
was born in 1868, died in 1871. Those 
living are Frederick Newton, at home; 
Audella, wife of S. A. Harris, of Killeen, 
Te.xas; and Stella, at home. The daughters 
are well educated in both literature and 
music. Mr. Ross takes a prominent part 
in church and temperance work, being a 
zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south, of which he has been trustee, 
and since reaching his majority has been 
prominently identified with the Masonic 
order. He is a wide-awake, enterprising 
man, of more than ordinary business ability, 
highly esteemed among all classes of people, 
and well deserves the success that has 
crowned his life. 



HNDREW JACKSON GILBREATH 
is numbered among the earliest set- 
tlers of Erath county, which he 
aided in opening up to civilization. 
He has not only been an eye-witness of the 
growth and progress of the county from the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



days of its infancy, but has borne an active 
part in its development and advancement, 
and well deserves mention among its i 
founders. 

Mr. Gilbreath was born in Maury county, 
Tennessee, on the 15th of February, 1818, 
and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Baker) 
Gilbreath. The father was a native of Ken- 
tucky and a son of John Gilbreath, who was 
born in South Carolina and was a son of 
one of the Revolutionary heroes, who served 
for seven years in the colonial army, val- 
iantly aiding in the struggle for American 
independence. John Gilbreath, with his 
family, emigrated to Kentucky in the pio- 
neer era of that state, and there he reared 
his three sons and one daughter. The 
father of our subject was the second child 
of this family. He was married in the state 
of his nativity, and soon after removed to 
Tennessee, where he followed farming 
throughout the remainder of his life. 

The youth of A. J. Gilbreath was spent 
on the old family homestead, where he as- 
sisted his father until twenty-five years of 
age, when he went to Arkansas and engaged 
in the tanning business. He continued his 
residence in that state until 1855, when he 
came to Texas, and Erath county has since 
numbered him among her valued citizens. 
This region was then but sparsely settled, 
the homes of the few pioneers being widely 
scattered. He first took up his residence 
on Restless creek, below Dublin, where he 
lived for about four years. During that 
time he lost all he had through Indian dep- 
redations. He then removed to South 
Bosque, where he purchased two hundred 
acres of land, at three dollars and a half 
per acre. With characteristic energy he 
began the improvement of the property, 
and to-day he owns two hundred and thirty- 



seven acres of fine land, of which sixty acres 
is under a high state of cultivation and yields 
to the owner a golden tribute for the care 
and labor he bestows upon them. His busi- 
ness dealings have been well conducted, and 
in his undertakings he has prospered so that 
he now has a pleasant and commodious 
home, supplied with the comforts that go to 
make life worth the living. He has been 
the architect of his own fortune, and has 
builded wisely and well. 

Mr. Gilbreath was married on the nth 
of January, 1846, to Miss Rebecca Turn- 
bow, a native of Giles county, Tennessee, 
and a daughter of Chesley and Sabra (Rose) 
Turnbow, who had formerly resided in South 
Carolina. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Gil- 
breath numbered twelve children, but two 
have now passed away, although eleven of 
the number reached years of maturity. In 
order of birth they are as follows: Mary 
Jane; Sabra Elizabeth; Minerva Louisa; 
William Chesley; Lucy Caroline; James 
Isaiah; Sarah Catherine; Rebecca Frances; 
Susan P., who died at the age of twenty- 
four years; Andrew Houston; John Frank- 
lin, who died in infancy; and Geneva Ten- 
nessee. 

For a half century our subject and his 
estimable wife have traveled life's journey 
together as man and wife, sharing with each 
other the joys and sorrows, the prosperity 
and adversity, which checker the lives of 
all. They have ever had the respect of all 
with whom they have come in contact, and 
have gained many warm friends who esteem 
them highly for their many excellencies of 
character. In his business dealings Mr. 
Gilbreath has ever been upright and hon- 
orable, and on the roll of Erath county's 
best citizens his name deserves a conspicu- 
ous place. 



HISTORV OF TEXAS. 



©EORGE WASHINGTON LIDIA.- 
As the river whose deep and steady 
current, windinj;; among fair land- 
scapes, past blossoming fields, 
blessing many people and enhancing the 
wealth of communities which it touches, af- 
fords little of that wild and romantic scen- 
ery which startles the traveler or delight the 
artist, so those lives which contribute most 
toward the improvement of a county or 
state and the well-being of a people are 
seldom the ones which furnish the most bril- 
liant passages for the pen of the historian or 
biographer. There is, in the anxious and 
laborious struggle for an honorable compe- 
tence and a solid career of the business man 
fighting the every-day battle of life, but lit- 
tle to attract the idle reader of a sensational 
chapter; but for a mind thoroughly awake to 
the reality and meaning of human existence, 
there are noble lessons in the life of a man, 
who, without other means than a clear head, 
a strong arm and a true heart, conquers ad- 
versity, and, toiling on through the work-a- 
day years of a long career, finds that he has 
gained not only prosperity but also some- 
thing far greater and higher, — the deserved 
respect and esteem of those with whom his 
years of active life placed him in contact. 

Such a man is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch, who for more than 
a third of a century has been prominently 
connected with the history of Erath county. 
He is a native of Alabama, born in Law- 
rence county, April 24, 1838. When a 
child he was left an orphan and practically 
thrown upon his own resources. He was 
reared on a farm in his native state until 
seventeen years of age, when he came to 
Texas and located in Collin county, where 
he worked as a farm hand until 1857. He 
then removed to Hopkins county, where he 



continued his residence until 1859, — the 
year of his arrival in Erath county. Here 
he again was employed at farm labor until 
his marriage, when he began farming on his 
own account. 

On the 13th of May, 1861, was consum- 
mated the marriage of Mr. Lidia and Miss 
Mary Pickard, a native of Tennessee who 
came with her parents to Texas in 1854, 
the family locating in Waco, where they 
resided for a year, then came to Erath 
county, locating on the farm which is now 
the home of our subject. Mrs. Lidia lost 
her own parents during her early girlhood 
and was adopted into the family of G. R. 
Pickard, whose name she bore up to the 
time of her marriage. Our subject began 
his domestic life on his present homestead 
and has since carried on agricultural pur- 
suits. When he took possession of the 
place the improvements consisted of a little 
cabin and a cleared tract of ten acres. Acre 
after acre, however, was soon placed under 
the plow, and waving fields of grain re- 
placed the desolate, barren tract, while the 
boundaries of the farm were extended until 
its area is twelve hundred acres. Of this 
two hundred and fifty acres are under a 
high state of cultivation, and the buildings, 
fences and other accessories of the model 
farm indicate the progressive spirit of the 
owner. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Lidia were born twelve 
children, all of whom, with one exception, 
are yet living, namely: John P., of Erath 
county; W. I. ; Robert Lee; Jane, wife of 
Lewis Lawson; Thomas Jefferson; Phineas 
Ewing; Mina, wife of I^uther Bird; Sarah 
Ida, Richard Coke, George W., Samuel H. 
and Arthur. Oscar died in infancy. The 
mother of these children died July 14, 1880, 
at the age of thirt}-six years. Mr. Lidia 




a/'^di/f^ @^^^^ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



249 



was again married October 27, 1880, his 
second union being with Miss Nancy Law- 
son, a native of Kentucky, who came to 
Erath county when about twenty years of 
age. There are four children by this union, 
CeHa Emeline, Pearl, Maud and Blanche. 
Mrs. Lidia was called to the home beyond 
this life April 12, 1890, and in April, 1892, 
Mr. Lidia married Rachel C. Lawson, a 
cousin of his former wife and also a native 
of Kentucky. They have two children, Bell 
and Nettie. 

Mr. Lidia is a member of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church and is a man whom to 
know is to respect. He has made his own 
way in the world unaided and has attained 
not only a fortune but that more important 
thing, an untarnished character. 



aOLONEL PHILIP HOWARD, one 
of the oldest residents of Bosque 
county, recently died in Meridian, 
at the advanced age of eighty-two 
years. After a stirring and remarkable 
career this heroic man, so closely identified 
with the early history of Texas, settled 
down quietly as a citizen, first near San 
Antonio, Texas, then moved to Lavaca 
county, this state, in 1842, and finally to 
Bosque county, in 1855, in the town of 
Meridian, where his declining years were 
passed. Here, surrounded by a devoted 
family, including children, grandchildren and 
great-grandchildren, this hero of many a 
battle-field quietly passed over to the ' ' silent 
majority," after an illness of three days. It 
is a notable fact that the burial of his earthly 
remains occurred on his eighty-second birth- 
day. Considering the hardships he endured, 
the dangers he encountered, the trials and 
exposures to which in all the early years of 



his early life he was necessarily exposed, it 
is surprising that he attained to such a ven- 
erable age. 

Colonel Howard was born in Louisville, 
Iventucky, April 7, 18 12. His parents, 
Gideon and Delilah Howard, moved to Illi- 
nois when he was a child, and in that state 
he lived until twenty-one years of age. At 
that time he emigrated to Texas, which was 
ever afterward his home. When but a 
small lad he started out to earn his own 
living, and being full of life and energy he 
determined to make his own way in the 
world without aid from his father. His 
education, in those primitive times of a new 
country, was of course very limited, jet he 
obtained business opportunities, his first 
experience being in the mercantile line at 
old Fort Dearborn, now the world renowned 
city of Chicago, then a mere trading post for 
Indians and pioneer white settlers. Upon 
the breaking out of the Black Hawk war 
young Howard enlisted as a soldier and ren- 
dered brave service for his country under 
the command of General William Henry- 
Harrison, afterward president of the United 
States. Once during the progress of a bat- 
tle, the horse he rode was shot from under 
him, but hestill continued fighting in the field, 
evincing the courage and perseverance that 
was a marked feature in his subsequent life. 

Ambitious and adventurous, in 1833, at 
at the age of twenty-one, he emigrated to 
Texas, then under Mexican rule. Here, 
during all those troublous times, he was act- 
ively engaged. There was a plenty of work 
for every man to dOj and a plenty of hard- 
ships and dangers, too. This was three 
years before Texas first became a republic 
under Houston. Murderous Indians and 
cruel, treacherous Mexicans were then con- 
stantly menacing the settlers and calling for 



JIlSTOUr OF TEXAS. 



the exercise of braverj' and sagacity. Young 
Howard was equal to the situation. Alert, 
undaunted, he was ready for emergencies 
and did good service under the republic and 
also after Texas was admitted into the 
Union. He was one of the Texan rangers 
whose services as minute men often saved 
the settlers from massacre, and were in fact 
the strongest and most efficient organization 
in Texas for defense against Indian depre- 
dations and their murderous raids. 

Colonel Howard waspresent when Santa 
Anna was brought in a prisoner after the 
battle of San Jacinto. He was also at the 
council in San Antonio where a noted Co- 
manche chief, with his warriors, plotting 
the extermination of the whites, brought in 
a part of their white capti\'es, ha\'ing mur- 
dered the others but concealing the fact, 
and pretending to have come to the council 
solely for the purpose of bringing these cap- 
tives and receiving their ransom. Some 
years ago the Colonel, sitting at his own 
quiet fireside, gave a thrilling account of 
this exciting and tragical encounter that 
came so near being fatal to all the whites 
assembled there. 

"Ask the chief where are the other pris" 
oners he was to bring," was the order given 
to the interpreter. "I dare not; he will 
kill me .if I do," was the reply. But there- 
quest was pushed to a command: "Why 
are the other prisoners not here .'" The 
Colonel said the chief was a tall, muscular 
Indian, with a broad chest. Standing there 
when the question was asked he raised his 
arm, struck a resounding blow upon his 
chest and quick as thought drew out his 
knife and with a terrific yell killed the inter- 
preter on the spot! This was the signal for 
a general fight, and had not the settlers been 
prepared f(jr a treacherous emergency every 



white person would have been butchered 
then and there ! 

During the Mexican war Colonel How- 
ard held the position of commissary, a post 
of great danger, as the capture of army 
stores was an important part of a campaign, 
and his courage and energ\' were often tested 
severely. 

In May, 1839, Colonel Howard married 
Mrs. Sarah Stinnett, daughter of George 
and Isabella Creth. She was a noble wo- 
man, brave, efficient and affectionate, and 
their union was a happy one though their 
early married life was fraught with hardships 
and dangers. A sketch of her tragic life 
follows this. By the marriage just men- 
tioned there were three daughters, — Eu- 
genie, Minty and Susan. The eldest married 
Mr. Heath and dned leaving two children. 
Minty, now Mrs. Greer, resides in Meridian. 
In her home the Colonel died April 6, 1S94, 
tenderly cared for by herself and sister, Mrs. 
Susan Womack, who resides at Morgan, 
Bosque county. 

When the Centennial Exposition was 
held in Philadelphia in 1876 complimentary 
railroad and exposition tickets were sent to 
Colonel Howard as a mark of respect for 
his services in behalf of his countr\'; and for 
his attendance at the recent World's Fair 
at Chicago a special Pullman car was ten- 
dered him, — the octogenarian who had 
fought in the Black Hawk war anil had been 
a trader at Fort Dearborn, the old military 
station before Chicago was dreamed of; but 
he was obliged to decline the honor on ac- 
count of the infirmity of age. 

The history of his life even after his 
marriage would of itself be more interesting 
than a sensational romance, and several 
experiences even more thrilling. Suffice it 
to say that in an earlier da)- he took up a 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



number of state farms and was several times 
driven away by hostile Comanches, at the 
risk of his life and of the lives of his family. 
His homes were located near the coast, the 
interior of the state being then a wilderness. 
He studied law and at one time was judge 
of the court in Lavaca county. Through- 
out his life he was governed by principles of 
right in his dealings. 

In the death of Colonel Howard Texas 
loses one of the very few veteran pioneers 
and patriots that have made her history 
illustrious. They are passing on. We shall 
see their like no more. But Texas owes a 
debt of gratitude to such, who in her days 
of peril were indeed her heroes and the 
saviors of this fair heritage. Father How- 
ard was a lifelong Universalist in his relig- 
ious belief. ' ' He was never anything else 
in religious belief or practice," said his 
daughter, Mrs. Greer. During the danger- 
ous times of the late civil war he was a 
Union man to the core and held the integ- 
rity of the United States government dear 
to him. He occupied a position as an of^- 
cer on the frontier on the home guard 
against Indian raids, when a Union man's 
life was in special danger, more particularly 
that of a Union officer. After the war he 
was appointed superintendent of the Freed- 
men's Bureau for a number of counties and 
held the office until it was abolished. 

( The foregoing sketch is furnished by 
Mrs. Mary C. Billings, of Hico, the wife of 
Rev. Mr. Billings.) 



>'T^RS. PHILIP HOWARD, the 
III heroine, whose maiden name was 
\ £ ^ Sarah Creth, was born in Illinois, 
in iSio, and when but a child of 
fourteen years was married, becoming the 



wife of John Sherry, because unhappy at 
home with a stepmother. A few years 
after her marriage she emigrated with her 
husband to Texas, then a foreign and par- 
tially unknown country. Only those pos- 
sessed of an adventurous spirit came from 
"the States" to this land, then the home 
of Comanche and other warlike Indians, 
and ruled by a government which though 
ostensibly republican was purely despotic in 
operation, and its people treacherous and 
cruel. Theexperienceof thisgirl-wifeinTexas 
was, from the first, trying and full of uncer- 
tainty and danger. After a married life of 
five years her husband was killed by the 
Indians, leaving her with one child, — Joseph 
Lewis Sherry, — who grew to manhood and 
reared a family in Texas but is now deceased. 
Subsequently to the death of John 
Sherry, his widow married John Hibbins, 
by whom she had one child. As she could 
neither read nor write she was unable to 
communicate with her friends, and conse- 
quently knew nothing of them after leaving 
Illinois. Five years had passed when she 
decided to satisfy a continued longing to visit 
her father and family at the old home. With 
her husband's consent she undertook the 
journey, which she made by boat. On her 
arrival at her childhood's home she learned 
that her father was dead and the family 
scattered, so that she was obliged to return 
to Texas without having seen her people 
except two brothers and a half-brother, who 
accompanied her on her return journey. 
They were met at the boat by Mr. Hibbins, 
who had already loaded up and was ready 
to start for the settlements. The following 
morning they were attacked by a party of 
Indians, who murdered the husband and 
half-brother in her presence and took her 
and her two children prisoners. 



252 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The young mother, with hereight-months- 
old child in her arms, was marched along 
guarded by her demoniacal captors, who, 
saying she could not walk fast enough 
carrying her burderi, tore the child from her 
arms and dashed its brains out against a 
tree before the agonized mother's eyes and 
threw the body into the crotch of a tree! 
Every feeling of her heart, she afterward 
said, was concentrated into deadly hate and 
thirst for vengeance. Fear was gone; all 
thought merged into the one absorbing 
desire to kill the murderers of her husband 
and child. 

Onward they went, testing all her pow- 
ers of endurance to keep up with their hasty 
march. At night she was surrounded by 
the savage Indians, who lay near by her On 
the ground with their hatchets in hand. She 
had acquired some understanding of the 
Spanish-Mexican /^r/^)/.? in which the Indians 
talked, and ascertained that she was not to 
be kept a prisoner for a ransom but would 
be killed, while her little boy would be re- 
tained by them and reared in the tribe. 

Fortunately the second night they en- 
camped on the bank of a stream. After 
midnight she arose and slipped out from 
among them, picked up a tomahawk with 
the intention of killing two of the savages, 
but thinking that she might thus awaken the 
rest, who would then kill her and keep the 
child, she started away, leaving the little 
boy. Wading down the creek for a distance 
to hide her tracks, she found a dense thicket, 
where she concealed herself. For a few 
hours she lay concealed there, and could 
hear the voice of her four-year-old boy cry- 
ing for her! After making an unsuccessful 
search for her the Indians started away, tak- 
ing the opposite direction. After going 
some distance she heard the lowing of a cow 



and saw one going over the hill, evidently to 
her calf, which assured her that a habitation 
was not far away. Leaving the stream she 
followed the animal and came to a settler's 
house. Providentially, it appeared, there 
was a company of rangers there, eating their 
breakfast while on their way in pursuit of 
the Indians. Rapidly the escaped captive 
told her tale of woe, and quick as thought 
those brave men were in the saddle in hot 
pursuit of the savages. 

Taking the direction indicated by Mrs. 
Hibbins, it was not long before they sighted 
the squad of Indians, now on a rapid flight, 
knowing that the escape of their captive 
meant their own danger. Fiends as they 
were, they had tied Mrs. Hibbins' little boy 
upon the back of a wild horse, which they 
then let loose from the band. It was a des- 
perate case, and perfect marksmen as were 
those brave rangers, it required all the nerve 
they possessed to save the little fellow thus 
ruthlessly doomed by the Indians to a hor- 
rible death. But a quick dash, a keen eye 
and a firm hand brought relief; the horse 
was shot and the child rescued unharmed, 
while the savages were routed, and a portion 
of the band were shot! 

About a year after the event just related 
she married a man named Stinnett, and they 
had a daughter, who was drowned when two 
years old, after its father was killed. While 
on his way to New Orleans to purchase 
goods and supplies, with a considerable sum 
of money with him, he was robbed and 
murdered, probably by two Mexicans and a 
white man; but no trace of him was ever 
discovered, though his horse returned and 
his saddle and saddlebags were afterward 
found. 

Thus within a few years this brave young 
woman, having as it were had no childhood, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



253 



experienced trouble, sorrow and suffering 
which would have killed an ordinary woman. 

In 1839 she married Colonel Philip 
Howard, and through all the troublous peri- 
od that followed in Texas history proved a 
noble woman and a helpmeet indeed in 
every emergency. She and her family were 
obliged to abandon their homes several 
times on account of the hostile Comanches, 
for whom naturally she cherished a deadly 
hate. 

Such were the experiences of the early 
settlers of Texas, whose courage and perse- 
verance in the face of trials and dangers 
helped to found this great state and give its 
people the bravery to achieve such success, 
— first as a republic and later as a noble ac- 
cession to our beloved Union. The heroine 
who had passed through such terrible ex- 
periences in her younger days, lived to see 
her children grown and married, and in more 
peaceful times spent years of domestic hap- 
piness, beloved by all for her cheerful and 
kindly spirit, as well as for her courage and 
bravery in situations that would have caused 
even the strongest man to shrink appalled 
under such an experience as hers. 

After a busy and remarkably eventful 
life this grand woman died, March 28, 1870, 
a matron of sixty years, whose departure 
was mourned by a large circle of friends be- 
sides the members of her immediate family. 



>^UDGE JOHN WEATHERFORD 
i PARKER, a member of the firm of 
/• 1 Parker & Chesley, prominent and 
leading attorneys of Hamilton, Texas, 
is a native of this state, born in Dallas county 
October 6, 1859, at Grapevine, and is the 
son of Lacy and Lou (Russell) Parker. 
Puring the late civil war his father enlisted 



under General Price in the Confederate 
army, and died of bilious fever in a hospital 
at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1864. His 
mother, with her three children, — JohnW. , 
Mattie Davis and Mollie Lacy, — went to 
live with her father, Allen Russell, who in 
the spring of 1866 removed to Falls county, 
Texas. 

Our subject received a good common- 
school education, and at the age of seven- 
teen returned to his grandfather's, then liv- 
ing in Hill cftunty, Texas, where he at- 
tended school for two years. He next 
accompanied his cousin, Jap Hearne, to 
Archer county, Texas, taking three hundred 
head of cattle, and remained there for one 
year. The following six months were spent 
in teaching at Arlington, Tarrant county, 
and for two years engaged in the same 
occupation at White Chapel. 

Coming to Hamilton county in the fall 
of 1883, Mr. Parker took charge of a school 
at Lanham, which he conducted for three 
months, and then taught four months at 
Jonesboro, and two years at Boggy, Bosque 
county. Later he was a student in Hamil- 
ton College for six months, in which he 
later taught for the same length of time. 
Subsequently he again engaged in teaching 
at Lanham for two years. 

When young, Mr. Parker began reading 
law, and was admitted to the bar at Stephen- 
ville, in the fall of 1888. During the same 
season he was elected prosecuting attorney 
for Hamilton county, which position he 
capably filled for two years, and then 
opened a law office with J. C. George, now 
of Stephenville, under the firm name of 
Parker & George. In the fall of 1892 our 
subject was elected county judge, and served 
in that position for two years. The same 
year he formed a partnership with H. E. 



254 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Chesley, the present firm being Parker & 
Cheslej', who do a large law and land busi- 
ness. 

On the 25th of January, 1891, Mr. 
Parker was united in marriage with Miss 
Eloise Nicholson, who was born in McLen- 
nan county, Te.xas, December 17, 1871, 
and is the daughter of M. H. Nicholson. 
She came with her parents to Hamilton in 
1877. 

For twelve years Mr. Parker has been a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
became a Mason at Hico in 1887, and now 
belongs to Rock House Lodge at Hamilton. 
He casts his ballot in support of the men 
and measures of the Democratic party, and 
is numbered among the most progressive 
and enterprising citizens of the county. He 
made one of the most successful prosecuting 
attorneys as well as county judges that the 
county has ever had. He is thoroughly 
familiar with authority, and never at a loss 
for a precedent. He has a large circle of 
warm personal friends, the regard of the 
entire profession, and has won the respect 
of all with whom business or social relations 
have brought him in contact. 



>Y»OSHUA LAWSON HERRINGTON, 
m M. D., an eminent physician of 
/• 1 Pottsvillc, Texas, was born July 20, 
1 86 1, in Jefferson county, Missouri, 
and is a son of Joshua and Lucinda (Wide- 
man) Herrington, the former of Irish and 
the latter of Welsh descent. The parents 
were also natives of Jefferson county, the 
birth of the father occurring at Belew's 
Creek, February 8, 181 1, and the mother 
at Jones' Creek, June 20, 181 7. By occu- 
pation he was both a farmer and black- 
smith, religiously was a member of the 



Missionary Baptist church, and in politics a 
lifelong Democrat. He passed away Sep- 
tember 9, 1886, and his wife died January 
I, 1874. In their family were thirteen 
children, nine still living, of whom the 
Doctor is the youngest. 

Bartholomew Herrington, the great- 
grandfather of our subject, was a pioneer 
of Lexington, Kentucky, where he erected 
the first house there that had a shingle roof; 
and there the grandfather of the Doctor, 
John Herrington, was born. The latter 
died in Missouri, in 1865, at the age of 
eighty-six years. He was the father of four 
sons, — John C. , James, Samuel and Joshua. 
Francis Wideman, the maternal grandfather 
of the Doctor, was a native of South Caro- 
lina, born near Charleston, but as early as 
1 8 10 became a resident of Missouri, where 
he owned a plantation and also worked as a 
mechanic. In his family were four children, 
— Matilda, Lucinda, Leonard and Henry. 

In February, 1880, Dr. Herrington left 
the parental roof and came to Kaufman 
county, Texas, where he worked as a farm 
hand ten months for his brother, G. W. 
Herrington. In December, 1880, he re- 
turned to Missouri and entered the Salem 
Academy, in Dent county, that state, where 
he obtained a good common-school educa- 
tion. In February, 1882, he returned to 
Texas and worked as a farm hand until the 
fall of 1883. During the winter of 1883-4 
he cut cord-wood four miles south of Ter- 
rell, Texas. During the spring of 1884 he 
clerked in a grocery store in Terrell for four 
months. On August 18, 1884, he came to 
Hamilton county, Texas, and for two months 
he ran a stationary engine at a gin in Ham- 
ilton. In the following November he com- 
menced teaching school four miles south of 
Pottsville, and continued to follow that 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



255 



profession in Hamilton and Comanche coun- 
ties until he began the practice of medicine. 
In the winter of 1888 he began reading 
medicine under the instruction of Eargle 
Brothers, two physicians of Lamkin, Co- 
manche county, Texas. 

In September following he entered the 
medical department of the University of 
Tennessee, at Nashville, where he received 
the degree of M. D., February 24, 1891. 
After two months spent at Indian Gap he 
located at Pottsville, in May, 1891, where 
he has since successfully engaged in practice, 
his business extending nine miles east and 
west, and twelve miles north and south of 
the village. His thorough knowledge of 
medicine and skill in surgery have won for 
him the confidence of the people, and 
gained him a large and lucrative practice. 
His religious belief is that held by the 
Missionary Baptist church, in politics he is 
an ardent Democrat, and socially is a mem- 
ber of Hamilton Lodge, I. O. O. F. 

On the 30th of May, 1888, Dr. Herring- 
ton was united in marriage with Miss Ella 
Tatum, and they now have three children: 
Rosa Ella, born March 20, 1890; I my Gene, 
born January 31, 1892; and Gaillard Law- 
son, born January 27, 1894. Mrs. Her- 
rington is the daughter of Walter Marion 
Tatum, a prosperous farmer of Comanche 
county, who was born in Hall county, 
Georgia, October 28, 1841. Her mother, 
who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth 
Blevins, was born in Carroll county, Arkan- 
sas, and is the daughter of Luke and 
MaHssa (Mellock) Blevins. 

William Tatum, the grandfather of Mrs. 
Herrington, was born in Buncombe count)'. 
North Carolina, October i, 1805, and died 
in Comanche county, Texas, February 17, 
1884, In 1844 he removed to Alabama, 



three years later became a resident of 
Mississippi, and on the 25th of December, 
1849, reached Galveston, Texas, with his 
four sons, — Nathaniel, Thomas, Walter 
Marion and James K. From Galveston he 
went to Austin county, where he rented 
land for a year, for the following two years 
operated rented land in Washington county, 
and then for three years rented land in Bell 
county. In September, 1856, he located 
in Comanche county, where he passed the 
remainder of his days, and there acquired 
two hundred and fifty acres of land on the 
head-waters of Warren's creek. His house 
was the favorite resting place for the weary 
travelers in those early days, and he was 
one of the pioneer Indian fighters in this 
section. In South Carolina he married 
Miss Barrett, and their children were Na- 
thaniel, Riley, Thomas and William, all 
of whom are now deceased with the excep- 
tion of Nathaniel, who is living in Indian 
Territory. His second wife, and the grand- 
mother of Mrs. Herrington, was in her 
maidenhood Miss Rebecca Douglass, whom 
he married in Georgia. She was born in 
Knox county, Tennessee, January 3, 1804, 
and died June 28, 1896, aged ninety-two 
years, five months and twenty-five days. 
Her other child, James Riley, was born 
September 28, 1843. 



ai 



W. McNeill, M. D.— The his- 
tory of central Texas would be 
incomplete without the record of 
this gentleman, who is the pio- 
neer physician of Erath county, taking up 
his residence here with the first family that 
settled within the borders of the county. 
Pioneer life at best entails many hardships, 



256 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



but the life of the pioneer doctor is a pecu- 
liarly difficult one, and no greater bravery 
is displayed by the soldier on the tented 
field than by the physician who in the storm- 
iest weather is forced to ride mile after mile 
across trackless prairies or through forests 
where every tree may serve as a hiding place 
for the treacherous Indian lying in wait for 
his foe. It was such a life that Dr. McNeill 
entered upon in 1855 when he took up his 
abode in Erath county, but the sturdy, 
courageous nature of such a man will over- 
come, surmount or else meet bravely all 
trials and difficulties. Not only did he min- 
ister to those in need of his professional 
services, but in the work of developing the 
region and advancing its best interests he 
has borne a prominent and an active part, 
and certainly deserves to be numbered 
among the founders of his adopted county, 
meriting the gratitude of younger generations 
who shall profit by his labors. 

The Doctor is a native of North Caro- 
lina, his birth having occurred in Moore 
county, on the 26th of May, 18 19, and his 
parents being Archibald and Mary (Waddle) 
McNeill. The McNeill family is of Scotch 
origin and was founded in America at a 
period antedating the Revolutionary war. 
The father was a man of influence and im- 
portance in Moore county and for several 
terms represented his district in congress, 
while his brother served for twenty years as 
sheriff of the county. When our subject 
was about si.xteen years of age the father 
emigrated to Mississippi and took up his 
residence on a farm six miles east of Holly 
Springs, where he made his home until his 
life's labors were ended. His death oc- 
curred when he had reached his si.xty-ninth 
year, and his wife, who survived him for ten 
years, passed away at the same age. They 



were members of the Baptist church and 
were most estimable people. They had 
twelve children, ten of whom reached man- 
hood and womanhood and several of the 
sisters lived to advanced years. 

The Doctor, however, is now the only 
survivor of the family. He resided with 
his parents until the death of his father, 
when he went to live with an older brother, 
with whom he remained for three years. 
He then took up the study of medicine 
under the direction of Dr. John H. Morse, 
of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and later at- 
tended lectures at the Medical Institute, at 
Louisville, Kentucky, in 1840. In March, 
1 84 1, he entered upon the practice of his 
profession in Waterford, Mississippi, eight 
miles from Holly Springs, remaining there 
for four years, when he removed to De Soto 
county. In the meantime, however, he re- 
turned and took another course of lectures 
and was graduated with the class of March, 
1843- 

Dr. McNeill engaged in practice in De- 
Soto county from the spring of 1845 until 
1854, when he came to Texas and located 
in McLennan county, ten miles north of 
Waco. In 1855, in company with John M. 
Stephen, Thomas Arendell, Mefferd Henley, 
Major George B. Erath, Thomas Newby, 
John Jones and James McCarthy, he came 
to what is now Erath county. They looked 
over the country, noted its natural resources 
and decided to take up their abode here. 
The following fall they moved their families 
to this place. Doctor McNeill's home being 
upon the present site of Stephenville. He at 
once began the practice of his profession, 
and his duties often called him fifty miles 
from home, which journeys were accom- 
plished on horseback, as there were no rail- 
roads in the district at that time. No 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



257 



matter what the difficulties, how inclement 
the weather or long the ride, he would never 
refuse to respond to a call from a suffering 
fello-w creature, and in this way he became 
one of the best known men in all the coun- 
try around and one of the most highly re- 
spected. In Erath county to-day not to 
know Dr. McNeill is almost to argue one's 
self unknown. In addition to his practice 
he also established and conducted a general 
mercantile store, which yielded him a good 
income as the increasing population brought 
him greater trade. In 1868 he met with 
an accident, suffering a compound fracture 
of both bones of the leg, and this prevented 
further professional duties and cares. 

Dr. McNeill was united in marriage to 
Miss Mary Scott, of Tippah county, Mis- 
sissippi, who died in 1852, leaving one son, 
Wallace C, who is still living. For his 
second wife the Doctor chose Miss Mary A. 
Stephen, daughter of John M. Stephen and 
a native of Washington county, Te.xas. 
They had five children, namely: John 
E., of Taylor county, Texas; Ophelia 
A., wife of William Latta, of Erath county; 
James and Sidney, also of the same county;' 
and Margaret, wife of James D. Carr, of 
Erath county. The mother of this family 
died in 1863 and the Doctor was married 
March 5, 1865, to Mrs. Lizzie (Bell) Peters, 
a native of Wilson county, Missouri, born 
Decembers, 1842, who came to Texas in 
an early day, when a child. There are three 
children of this union: Mary, wife of 
Stephen N. Borders, of Stephenville; Sam- 
uel J. and Daniel Malcolm. Mrs. McNeill 
departed this life Auji;ust 9, 1893. While 
engaged in the practice of his profession the 
Doctor took advantage of his opportunity to 
purchase desirable property and became 
owner of three thousand acres, large tracts 



of which he had placed under cultivation and 
then rented, deriving a good income there- 
from. He has given to each of his children 
two hundred acres of land. He still retains 
a large property for himself, the income from 
which surrounds him with all the comforts 
and many of the luxuries of life. He is a 
man of keen foresight and sagacity and ex- 
cellent business and executive ability, and to 
these qualities his success is attributable. 

Doctor McNeill has been frequently 
called to public office, by his fellow citizens 
who appreciate his worth and ability. He 
has the honor of having been the first post- 
master of Stephenville. and also the first 
county clerk of Erath county, holding the 
latter office for two years. In his 'political 
affiliations he is a Democrat and warmly ad- 
vocates the principles of that party. Since 
1856 he has been connected with the Ma- 
sonic fraternity, was a charter member of the 
lodge at Stephenville and its first secretary. 
A consistent member of the Methodist 
church, he has served as its steward and 
was one of the seven original members who 
organized the society at his place. In the 
development of the business, educational 
and moral interests of the county he has 
been most active. He has witnessed the 
entire growth and development of this region, 
and no name is more intimately identified 
with its most progressive work than that of 
Dr. W. W. McNeill. 



«V^ EV. R. D. ROSS.— No one who 
I /^ has made a study of the history of 
,' * Texas can fail to note the im- 
portant place the Baptist preacher 
has occupied in this state. His presence 
among the cowboys and frontiersmen has 



258 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



been a restraining power. He has exerted 
a refining influence in the rough settle- 
ments and rude homes. As the country 
has become more thickly' settled, it has 
been through his direction and untiring 
efforts that churches have been organized 
and houses of worship built. Indeed, there 
has been no force more potent for good in 
this broad state than that wielded by the 
Baptist preacher. In this connection we 
would speak at length of the life of the 
Rev. R. D. Ross, whose identity with 
Erath county, Te.\as, dates from the year 
1865. 

He was born September 26, 1824, in 
Lauderdale county, Alabama, and on his 
father's Tarm in Franklin county, that state, 
was reared to manhood, passing his youth- 
ful days in honest toil in the field and 
receiving a fair education in the schools 
near his home. His parents were James 
and Margaret (Yost) Ross. John Ross, his 
grandfather, was a Pennsylvanian by birth. 
He served in the Revolutionary war, making 
a tour of the south under General Greene, 
and after the war returned south and made 
settlement in North Carolina; and his history 
in this respect was not unlike that of our 
subject's maternal grandfather, Jacob Yost, 
he, too, serving under General Greene in 
the war for independence, and at its close 
establishing his home in the Old North 
State. Grandfather Ross was of Scotch 
descent and by occupation was a millwright, 
while Grandfather Yost was a farmer all his 
days and traced his origin back to Germany. 
In North Carolina James Ross was reared 
and married. While yet a young man, 
accompanied by his wife and only child, he 
sought a new home in Alabama, then on the 
frontier, and there engaged in farming, 
having plenty of Indians and only a few 



white settlers fpr liis neighbors. In 1859 
the emigration spirit again seized him and 
we find him seeking another frontier home, 
this time in Harrison county, Texas, where 
he bought a farm and maintained his resi- 
dence until 1865. That year he removed 
to Comanche county, where he bought an- 
other farm, and finally died, in 1868, at the 
advanced age of seventy- eight years. Wher- 
ever he lived he figured as a leading and 
respected citizen. A Democrat and active 
and prominent in local politics, he was 
frequently called to fill important positions, 
and always acquitted himself creditably. 
For many years he was a justice of the 
peace, and among other responsible offices 
he filled was that of deputy sheriff. His 
first wife died when the subject of our 
sketch was small, his last wife surviving him 
until 1 88 5. In early life he was a Presby- 
terian, as also was his first wife, but later 
he became a Baptist and died in that faith. 
His two marriages resulted in the birth of 
twenty children, two of whom died in in- 
fancy, and of the others we make brief 
record as follows: Daniel, who died in 
Alabama; Mary, wife of Littleton Ross; 
Rachel, wife of John Walker; John, who 
died while on a visit to Te.xas; Jacob, a 
resident of Comanche county, Te.xas; and 
R. D., whose name forms the heading of 
this sketch. These were born of the first 
marriage. The children of the second wife 
are Robert; Samuel; Jane, who died young; 
Martha, deceased; Elizabeth, wife of Jesse 
Davis; Martin V.; Zillha, wife of Pleas 
Crosley; Texas, deceased; Francis M., 
George, William and.Allie, wife of Frank 
Brown. 

From this reference to his family history 
we turn now to the life of our immediate 
subject, R. D. Ross. He remained with 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



259 



his parents on the Alabama farm until he 
reached his majority. In 1849 he married, 
then lived with his father-in-law in that 
state until 1851, when he and his young wife 
started for Arkansas. Arrived there, he 
purchased land covered with heavy timber, 
cleared off the same and made a farm, and 
then sold out and bought again. In 1862 
he sold his second farm and moved to 
Texas, joining his father in Harrison 
county. 

Early in life, in 1844, Mr. Ross was 
soundly converted and joined the Baptist 
church. Soon he began taking an active 
interest in church work, this interest in- 
creased from year to year, and he has never 
yet tired of his work for the Master. On 
moving to Arkansas he found no church or 
Sabbath-school organization, but instead a 
wide field for missionary work. About 1853 
he commenced holding meetings, organized 
both church and Sunday-school, and carried 
on the gospel work with enthusiam and suc- 
cess. He was ordained regular minister in 
1856. As long as he remained in Arkansas 
he continued to preach and in that time had 
five different charges, the last one being at 
Hot Springs. Almost immediately after his 
arrival in Te.xas he was called upon to 
preach and soon had chargeof two churches. 
In 1865 he came to his present locality in 
Erath county, pre-empted one hundred and 
si.xty acres of land and set about the work 
of establishing a home, and at the same 
tune embraced every opportunity to tell the 
glad tidings of salvation. He was then the 
only Baptist preacher in Erath county. His 
first charge was at Dublin and ne.xt at Ste- 
phenville, and at Dublin and Stephenville 
he preached fourteen years. Between his 
home and those places there was no house 
or sign of habitation, and such was the un- 



settled condition of the country that he was 
compelled to go well armed to protect him- 
self against the Indians. But he had a good 
horse and always felt able to take care of 
himself as he rode about the country mak- 
ing his appointments. In all his experience 
he never ran from, or had a fight with, an 
Indian. But he has been with the settlers 
on numerous raids after the red men, and at 
one time he captured a Comanche Indian 
whom they sent to Fort Sill and subsequently 
e.xchanged for a white child. 

Mr. Ross preached every Sunday, either 
at his regular charge or at some ranch, and 
after several years helped to organize other 
churches, among them Round Grove, where 
he was chosen pastor in 1871 and where he 
has since presided as such. July of the 
present year will round up his quarter cen- 
tury as pastor of this charge. This fact 
alone is ample evidence of the high regard 
he enteriains for the people of Round Grove 
and also of their love for him. The first 
church at Dublin, above referred to, was 
called Leon church, it was afterward dis- 
solved and re-organized as Dublin church. 
In this change, however, there was no ill 
feeling whatever. Indeed, in all his long 
ministerial career Mr. Ross has never had 
any wrangles to contend with. His minis- 
try has in many respects been a remarkable 
one, remarkable for the long years of har- 
monious service, all characterized by steady, 
constant work and free from anything like 
spasmodic action. Among his best friends 
were the cowboys. They came miles to 
hear him preach, were attentive to the serv- 
ice, and never had to be called to order, and 
not a few of them when they married sent 
for him to perform the ceremony. What 
may seem a little strange now is that he has 
never kept a record of the marriages and 



260 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



baptisms he has solemnized. Now in his 
old age he seldom goes far from home to 
preach but he is regular in the performance 
of his duties in his home church. 

As already stated, Mr. Ross pre-empted 
one hundred and si.xty acres of land at the 
time he located here in 1865. He has since 
acquired five hundred acres more, has given 
about three hundred acres to his children, 
and yet retains four hundred acres, one hun- 
dred and seventy-five of which are under 
cultivation. He has a commodious and de- 
lightful home, with modern conveniences 
ail around, including wind-pump, fine 
orchard, etc. ; and he has always raised 
some stock. 

Mr. Ross was first married in Alabama 
to Miss Martha A. Thompson, daughter of 
George and Mary Thompson, Virginia peo- 
ple who had moved to Alabama, Mr. 
Thompson being a slaveholder and farmer 
of Alabama, where he died. Mrs. Thomp- 
son died in Te.xas. Mrs. Martha A. Ross 
was a woman of most excellent qualities, 
was in sympathy with her husband's work, 
and was in every way a true helpmate to 
him. She and all her children were con- 
sistent members of the church. She died 
September 12, 1875. Seven of her nine 
children grew to maturity, namely: George 
R., pastor of the Baptist church at De 
Leon, Texas; James R. , Reuben B., Jacob 
and John — all prosperous farmers; Samuel, 
who died at the age of thirty-one years, 
January, 1896, leaving a wife and two sons; 
and Potia, wife of Ed. Ripato, a farmer. 
May 25, 1876, Mr. Ross wedded Miss Nancy 
A. Howell, daughter of Sparks Howell, who 
was killed in the siege of Vicksburg. The 
present Mrs. Ross also is a member of the 
Baptist church, and is a refined and cultured 
lady. Their union has resulted in the birth 



of five children, ail at home, namely: 
Graves, Milton H., Morgan, Virginia and 
Bertha. 



>y*AMES HOPKINS WYSONG, M. D., 
m Sc. D., Ph. D., a prominent and 
A ■ successful practitioner of the healing 
art, at Hico, Texas, was born April 
27, 1850, in Collin county, Texas, ten miles 
north of McKinney. His parents were 
Charles Hopkins and Sarah (Foster) \Vy- 
song, and his mother and twin brother died 
when he was only three days old. When 
he was only nineteen he began the study of 
medicine, under the advice of Dr. J. L. 
Leslie, at Mantua, Collin county, Texas. 
He taught during the years 1870 and 1871, 
at Hillsboro, and at the close of the last 
year resumed his medical reading with Ur. 
N. B. Kennedy, of that city, as preceptor. 
He was ready in about a year to begin the 
medical course at the University of Louisi- 
ana, now known as Tulane University. 
Here he studied during 1872-73, and then 
came to Bosque county, and practiced there 
ufitil the winter of 1879-80, when he took 
a degree at the Louisville Medical College 
at Louisville, Kentucky. Later on he re- 
turned to the Tulane University, in the 
medical department of which he was grad- 
uated in 1886. In the month of Septem- 
ber, 1888, he was called to the chair of 
chemistry and toxicology in the Texas Med- 
ical College and Hospital at Galveston, and 
filled the duties of that responsible position 
for three years. During the last two years 
of this time he was also superintendent of 
the John Scaly Hospital, and, as the first 
superintendent, had the honor of opening it, 
in January, 1890. July i, 1891, our sub- 
ject returned to his home in Walnut Springs, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Bosque county. For a time he was prac- 
ticing in Hillsboro, with Dr. E. L. Sessions, 
and in August, 1895, removed to Hico, 
where he has since continued his medical 
career with much success. In addition to 
his regular professional work, Dr. Wysong 
has, since September, 1S91, completed two 
courses of post-graduate work in Trinity 
University, Tehuacana, Texas, and gradu- 
ated there with the degrees of Doctor of 
Science and Doctor of Philosophy. 

Dr. Wysong was married in October, 
1S73, to Ophelia Atlanta, daughter of Rev. 
Joseph P. and Mary F. (Johnson) Grace. 
Her father was a minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south. She is the mother 
of seven children, five of whom are now 
living: Ernest E., Ruth, Blanche, Mabel 
and Ine2. He is a member of the Knights 
of Honor lodge at Hico, and of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, south. He was 
reared a Presbyterian, but when he became 
a man he saw fit to alter his religious asso- 
ciations. 

The father of our subject, C. H. Wy- 
song, was born in Franklin county, \'ir- 
ginia. May 19, 1820. and removed to Mis- 
souri in 1S46. There he remained for three 
years, when he came to Te.xas, making his 
home at Melissa, Collin county, where he 
still resides, enjoying a hale and hearty old 
age. In the latter part of the war he joined 
Burnett's brigade, but the great strife was 
over before he had seen much service. He 
was made a Mason in Mantua Lodge, No. 
209, in 1857, and two years later was 
created worshipful master, and served his 
lodge in that capacity for many years. He 
was exalted a Royal Arch Mason March 27, 

1858, in Haggai Chapter, No. 53, McKin- 
ney, Texas, and was elected high priest in 

1859, which chair he has occupied most of 



the time since. He was appointed D. D. 
G. M. in 1879, and served fourteen years. 
He was knighted in Dallas Commandery, 
No. 6, about four years ago, and was made 
grand tiler and guard at the same time, 
which position he now holds. He is patron 
of Ottawa Chapter, No. 27, O. E. S. From 
all this it will readily be seen that Mr. Wy- 
song is one of the prominent Masons of the 
country. 



kJ^ EV. W. p. HATCHETT.— Among 

I ^^i all the classes of men who came to 
M - P Texas in an early day none bore a 
more heroic part than the pioneer 
preachers. They were of necessity men 
of stern mold, with the courage of Spar- 
tans, as ready to fight as to preach. The 
use of the rifle and the pistol was as familiar 
to them as the texts of scripture from which' 
they preached the story of the cross to the 
brave men and women who dared to face 
danger and death on the Texas frontier. 

Eider Hatchett was a man of this type. 
He first came to Texas in 1846, then a 
young man of twenty-two, so that he has 
devoted the best years of his life to the ad- 
vancement of the state and to the interests 
and aid of his fellow men. His birth oc- 
curred in Greene county, Georgia, Decem- 
ber 21, 1823, his parents being John B. and 
Eliza (Tuggle) Hatchett, the former born in 
Virginia, the latter in Georgia, and both 
having descended from English ancestry. 
The father died in Georgia, in 1847, at the 
age of fifty-three years, and in 1851 the 
mother came to Texas, where her death oc- 
curred in 1890, when she had attained the 
age of eighty-six years and seven months. 
Mr. Hatchett was a planter and a man of 
genuine worth, enjoying the esteem of all 



262 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



who knew him. In the family were eight 
children, seven of whom came to the Lone 
Star state, namely: Eliza Stevens, W. P., 
P. Henry, James J., Julia Ann, John M. 
and Amelia C. All are now deceased ex- 
cept W. P. and John M. 

The boyhood days of our subject were 
spent in Georgia, where he acquired a prac- 
tical education in the English, Latin and 
Greek languages and was thus fitted for pro- 
fessional studies. He graduated in medicine 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1843. Returning to 
his home he began the practice of his 
chosen profession in his native state. Soon 
afterward he located at Oak Bowery, Ala- 
bama. In 1S46 he came to Texas, first set- 
tling in Harrison county, si.x miles west of 
Marshall. There he remained until the fol- 
lowing year, when he enlisted in Chevallier's 
battalion for service in the Mexican war. 
The command went to the " land of Monte- 
zuma," joined Taylor's army and did active 
service with the scouting forces, — a very im- 
portant duty. In 1848 Mr. Hatchett was 
transferred to another command, but before 
he joined it the war was brought to a close. 

On leaving the army our subject went 
once more to Georgia, there remaining for 
six years or until 1855. Within this time 
he was married, the important event being 
celebrated in 1850, when Miss Angelina 
Isabella Stevens became his wife. Four 
children were born to them in Georgia, and 
with their little ones they started for Texas 
in 1855. The same year Mr. Hatchett had 
been ordained as a minister of the gospel in 
Georgia, his relationship being with the 
Missionary Baptist church, and when he 
arrived in the Lone Star state he entered 
upon the active work of the ministry, 
spreading the "glad tidings of great joy " 
into communities which had not before 



enjoyed church privileges. He was instru- 
mental in founding fifteen different churches, 
in addition to his other labors in the 
Master's vineyard. He preached for a time 
to old churches at Rocky Creek, Columbus 
and Hallettsville, and in 1868 moved to 
Bosque county, locating on the Brazos 
river, twenty miles above Waco. There he 
resumed the practice of medicine, but after 
a year removed to Valley Mills, where he 
resided until 1884, at which time he took up 
his abode at his present place of residence. 
Here, he has since lived and prospered. 
He is now practically retired from the work 
of the ministry and the medical profession, 
although he still retains his interest in the 
advancement of both. 

Mr. Hatchett is now giving his attention 
to that highly useful calling of agriculture 
and has helped to subdue a considerable 
portion of the wild prairie, making this 
region a productive and prosperous one. 
He first bought eleven hundred acres of 
land, entirely unimproved, the greater part 
of which is now under cultivation and well 
improved with good buildings and the other 
accessories of a model farm of the nineteenth 
century. His landed possessions are now 
five hundred acres, having settled his chil- 
dren around him on other acres he formerly 
owned. He is a man of sound judgment, 
and his untiring industry and perseverance, 
combined with the strictest regard for busi- 
ness ethics, have won him a handsome com- 
petence. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hatchett became the par- 
ents of eleven children, eight of whom arc 
yet living, namely: Mrs. Ella A. Wyly, 
Mrs. Mary E. Wyly, John P.. and Hamp- 
ton S., twins, Augustin M., \\'illiam P., 
Julia E. and Angelina I. Those who have 
passed away are Ann Corrinne, James H. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



263 



and Walter. The children are all living in 
comfortable homes of their own near the 
father and are valued members of society. 
There are now eighteen grandsons and sev- 
enteen granddaughters. In 1891 Mr. Hatch- 
ett was called upon to mourn the loss of his 
wife, who died on the 14th of December, 
aged sixty-two years and twelve days. In 
1892 our subject was again married, his 
second union being with Miss Narcissa E. 
Stevens, of Georgia, an estimable lady who 
has many warm friends in this locality, and 
is a cousin of his first wife. 

The Doctor is well preserved both men- 
tally and physically. In personal appear- 
ance he is a man of six feet and one inch, 
compactly built, weighing about one hun- 
dred and fifty-five pounds. His once black 
hair is slightly tinged with gray, but his 
heart is young and he still retains his inter- 
est in public affairs, being well informed on 
matters of general interest. He votes the 
Democratic ticket and gives his support to 
all measures, political and otherwise, which 
he believes will best promote the interests of 
his fellow men. His well spent life has won 
him the highest regard of all, and this vol- 
ume would be incomplete without the record 
of one who has been so prominently con- 
nected with the progress of central Texas 
through a half century. 



\y~\ EV. GEORGE WASHINGTON 
|/^ ROBERTS is one of the prominent 
1 . P men and pioneer ministers of 
Bosque county, arriving here in Oc- 
tober, 1867, and now makes his home at 
Iredell. 

He was born in Gwinnett county, Geor- 
gia, about thirty miles from Atlanta, on the 
28th of January, 1833. His father. Step 



Roberts, was a native of North Carolina, 
and a son of William Roberts, who was of 
Welsh descent and served in the Revolution- 
ary war. On reaching man's estate the fa- 
ther of our subject was united in marriage 
with Parnella Burgess, who was born in 
North Carolina and was a daughter of John 
Burgess, whose father was an officer in the 
Revolution. The Burgess family also had 
representatives in the war of i 8 1 2, the Mexi- 
can war and the civil war. In 1836 Step 
Roberts, accompanied by his family, re- 
moved to Calhoun county, Alabama, where 
both parents died, the father at the age of 
eighty-two and the mother at the age of 
sixty-nine years. The household included 
ten children, five sons and five daughters, 
namely: Martha, William, John, David, 
Mary, George W., Step M., Sarah, Virginia 
and Nancy. The father was a planter, and 
in political sentiment was an unswerving 
Democrat, to which party his children also 
adhered. 

Our subject early became familiar with 
farm work in all its departments, and ac- 
quired a fair education in the public schools 
and by study at home. He was a close 
student of the Bible and in 1862 was or- 
dained a minister of the Baptist church. 
He has ever been an active and zealous 
worker in the vineyard of the Master and in 
Alabama had charge of congregations at 
Harmony Grove, Providence, and Shoal 
Creek. 

In 1867 Mr. Roberts with his famil}' 
came to Texas, making the journey with a 
wagon and buggy drawn by five mules. 
They left Georgia on the lOth of October, 
and on the 8th of December they arrived at 
their destination, which was on the Brazos 
river six miles south of Kimball. In August 
of the following year Mr. Roberts purchased 



-,f>4 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



land in Bosque county south of Iredell, and 
there built up a good farm of four hundred and 
fifteen acres, comprising one of the valuable 
places of the county. Upon the place he 
erected a comfortable dwelling, substantial 
barn and other outbuildings, and the water 
was supplied from an ever flowing well. 
There he lived until 1894, when he removed 
to Iredell, where he built a pleasant 
residence. 

In Calhoun county, Alabama, in Jan- 
uary, 1853, Mr. Roberts married Miss Susan 
Jane Walker, a daughter of William Walker, 
a Virginian by birth, whose father was of 
Irish extraction and a Revolutionary soldier. 
Eight children were born of this union, 
three of whom died in early life in Alabama; 
and George W. died in his twenty-first year, 
while attending college at Waco. Those 
living are Mrs. J. N. McDaniels, of Hamil- 
ton county, Texas; Mrs. Susan P. Welch, 
of the same county; Robert Lee, of Ham- 
ilton county; and Ida B., wife of J. P. 
Williamson, of Iredell. The mother of 
these children passed away in 1885, and the 
following year Mr. Roberts wedded Miss F. 
M. Brennan, who was born in Alabama 
and is the daughter of James W. and Uepsy 
(Thompson) Brennan, both natives of South 
Carolina. To her parents were born the 
following children: Martha, Jane, Luella, 
Ann, F. M., wife of our subject. May E., 
Carolina J., Rebecca E., J. A. and J. W. 

In October, 1868, Mr. Roberts organ- 
ised a Baptist church two miles north of 
Iredell, with twelve members, but this grew 
until it had a membership of one hundred 
and fifty. In November, of 1868, the Bap- 
tist churches of Erath, Bosque, Hood and 
Comanche counties held a convention at 
which twenty delegates were present. At 
that time the Indians were so troublesome 



that a man had to stand guard to keep 
them from stealing the horses, and the 
preachers all wore fire-arms strapped to 
their waists. The Baptist church at Ire- 
dell was organized in 1 88 1 with little over 
thirty members. It grew and prospered 
until 1894, when there arose a difference of 
opinion in the congregation on a doctrinal 
point, which was brought about by the call 
of Rev. Joseph Lockhart as pastor, who 
propagated doctrines known as Martinism. 
This resulted in a division of the congrega- 
tion, and in July, 1895, the second Baptist 
church was organized, with Rev. J. H. 
Johnson, as pastor. 

In all the walks of life, Mr. Roberts has 
taken as his guide the precepts of the scrip- 
tures, and has been foremost in every move- 
ment for the religious advancement of the 
community. Of him it may be well said 
that he is in " soul sincere, in action faith- 
ful, and in honor clear." 



*y-» EONIDAS CREWS, M. D., one 

I r of the most respected practicing 
I jli physicians of the city of Hamilton, 
Texas, is a native of the little vil- 
lage of Thomaston, Upson county, Georgia, 
and a son of Reuben Jordan 'and Eliza Yar- 
brough (Philips) Crews. While our subject 
was an infant, his parents sought a new 
home in Harris county, of the same state, 
and there his childhood and youth were 
passed. He had educational advantages of 
a rather high order, and was a student in 
what was known as the Flat Showl Aca- 
demy in Harris county, where he completed 
the course in Latin. The profession of 
medicine early attracted him, and his first 
reading toward that end as his life work 
was under the auspices of Dr. Thomas P. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



265 



Park, with whom he studied two years. In 
the fall of 1853 the budding young physi- 
cian entered as a student in Jefferson Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, where he continued one 
session. The next fall he was enrolled in 
the medical department of the University of 
New York, where he attended two sessions, 
graduating March 9, 1855, and immediately 
beginning his medical career as a practicing 
physician at Steam Mills, Decatur county, 
Georgia, where the outbreak of the civil 
war found him a successful country doctor. 

When the noise of battle broke over the 
land he did not long remain home, but en- 
listed as a private in an artillery company 
of Florida, under command of J. L. Dun- 
ham, but was almost immediately appointed 
as surgeon, after passing an examination 
before the board of examiners at Charleston, 
South Carolina. The most of the military 
experiences of our subject were confined to 
the Everglade state, and here he was found 
when the war finally ceased, and he was free 
once more to return to the practice of his 
chosen profession. From Marianna, Flor- 
ida, the scene of the surrender of his com- 
pany, he went to Georgia, where he began 
his medical practice. In the year 1872 our 
subject removed to Valdosta, Lowndes 
county, where he remained until his removal 
to Texas. 

Dr. Crews finally determined to seek a 
more productive field in Texas, and located 
in Hamilton, on the first day of May, 1875, 
and at once engaged in practice. There 
were already established here such physi- 
cians as Drs. Nicholson, Wilson and Steager, 
but Dr. Crews met with more than the usu- 
al measure of success. In 1878 Dr. Crews 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres on 
Lampasas creek, and was located there for 
five years, but in 1882 re-established him- | 



self in the city of Hamilton, where he has 
since remained. He is now sixty-five years 
old, has practiced medicine forty-one years, 
and has never taken a glass of whisky or 
used any alcoholic beverage whatever. 

Dr. Crews became a married man May 
30, 1 86 1, leading to the altar Miss Helen 
Coachman, daughter of J. J. and Sarah 
(Wilkinson) Coachman. Mrs. Crews is a 
native of the Palmetto state, and was born 
March 29, 1843, at Georgetown. She is 
the mother of fourteen children, of whom 
the oldest is Clarence Coachman, born 
March 31, 1862, married Pauline Mingus, 
and is now living at Hico, where he is 
occupying the responsible position of editor 
of the Courier. Eulalie was born January 
28, 1866, and died October 16, 1892. She 
was the wife of F. H. Baker. Floyd 
Coachman was born May 2, 1867, was mar- 
ried to Rowe McKinnie, and is now living 
at Dublin, where he publishes the Tele- 
phone. Donella celebrated as her birthday 
October 6, 1868, and is now the wife of 
George H. Boynton, editor of the Llano 
Times. Elma was with her parents but a 
little time, born March 15, 1870, and dying 
August 10, 1874 — a brief life story. Perci- 
val Coachman was born September 30, 
I 87 1, and is now at East Las Vegas, New 
Mexico. Stella first saw the light July 7, 
1 873, and is now the wife of J. E. Williams, 
one of the successful druggists of the cit}-. 
The names and birthdays of the younger 
children, who are all at home, are noted as 
follows: Wilkinson Coachman, September 
9, 1875; Helen, August i, 1877; Simmie, 
May 12, 1879; Leonidas Coachman, January 
12, 1 88 1, who died May 24, 1888; John 
Coachman, born April 6, 1883; Coachman, 
born March 23, 1886, and Lizzie, October 22, 
1888. Our subject has always been identi- 



200 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



fied politicallj' with the Democratic party, 
and in matters of religion is associated with 
the Christian church, having been a mem- 
ber of that church for fourteen years. 

The father of our subject was a lawyer 
and died at the age of fifty years. He was 
the owner of a Georgia plantation of three 
hundred and twenty acres, and was regarded 
as a highly successful man. The mother 
of our subject was born in North Carolina, 
and died in the month of September, 1854, 
in her forty-fifth year. Dr. Crews had 
several brothers and sisters, whose names 
and history we briefly give: Charles Con- 
stantine, who was a soldier in the Con- 
federate army, entered as captain and came 
out as brigadier general. He operated with 
General Wheeler, and was twice shot, but 
never captured. Algernon, who lived only 
to his second year. James Mortimer, who 
also was conspicuous in the Confederate 
service, rising to the rank of colonel, and 
for a time was attached to General Forrest's 
staf?, and afterward had command of a 
regiment. Fleming Jordan, who also was 
in the war, entering as a private and rising 
to the rank of captain. Jackson Philip was 
a Baptist preacher and had charge of a 
school at Memphis. He died of yellow 
fever. He also followed the fortunes of the 
Stars and Bars, and was a graduate of the 
Emory and Henry College, Virginia; and 
Sarah, who died at the age of fourteen 
years. 

The grandfather of our subject, Martin 
Crews, was a man of Revolutionary fame, 
and left five children, of whom Reuben 
Jordan was the oldest. The others were 
James Ware, Martin Mortimer, James Flem- 
ing and Elizabeth, who remained unmarried. 
The Crews family was probably of German 
extraction. 



The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
ject was Charles Philips, who was a native 
of North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 
an early day. He was married to Miss 
Anna Ni.x, and their children were Eliza 
Yarbrough (the mother of our subject), Do- 
rinda, Margaret, Pleasant Jackson, Abram, 
George Ni.x, Sarah and Henry Lowe. 



aAPTAIN F. S. EARNED— Patri- 
otism is the keynote of the Ameri- 
can character, and a willing fidelity 
to the institutions and laws of the 
land has made possible the perpetuation of 
the republic. The men who stood by it 
through its periods of difficulty are deserv- 
ing the gratitude of the entire nation, and 
their heroism should serve as examples to 
all who follow. Founded in the United 
States at an early day in its history the 
Earned family has long been noted for the 
loyalty of its members to all that is calcu- 
lated to strengthen and uphold the national 
government. The father of our subject was 
General Benjamin Franklin Earned, who 
was born and reared in Vermont, and dur- 
ing the war of 1812 entered the United 
States army with the rank of lieutenant. 
He did arduous and faithful service on the 
frontier and for meritorious conduct was 
promoted until he became paymaster and 
afterward paymaster-general. He married 
Lucy Willis, a daughter of Nathaniel P. 
Willis, who belonged to one of the old and 
honored New England families of English 
origin. 

The marriage of General and Mrs. 
Earned was celebrated in Pittsfield, Massa- 
chusetts, after which he was stationed at 
different posts on the frontier and served 
through the Florida war. They were the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



267 



parents of four children, of whom three 
served as loyal defenders of their country. 
Our subject, the eldest, was followed by 
Frank, who was a captain of artillery in the 
regular army; Edward, who was a physician; 
Charles, who was a paymaster in the army 
with the rank of major. The father of this 
family, after a long life of devotion to his 
country, died in Washington, in 1862. His 
wife died during the early boyhood of her 
eldest son, who was born in New York city, 
July 31, 1823. 

The youth of Captain F. S. Larned of 
this review was spent in attendance at the 
public schools. Having received a military 
education he was ordered to New York, 
joined a New York regiment in quarters at 
Fort Hamilton, and did active and arduous 
service for his country until after the cessa- 
tion of hostilities. 

In July, 1853, Captain Larned was mar- 
ried to Miss Louisa Wooster, a native of 
Chicago, and a daughter of David and 
Laura (Walter) Wooster, who removed 
from Connecticut to Chicago at a very early 
day. They became the parents of four 
children, namely: Walter, who is now en- 
gaged in business with his father; Lucy, 
wife of Dr. Henry Byford, a prominent phy- 
sician of Chicago, Illinois; Gertrude, wife 
of A. J. Robertson, of Hood county; and 
George, of Bostwick. 

In 1865 our subject threw up his com- 
mission as captain of the Twelfth United 
States Infantry and went abroad. He was 
wrecked off the coast of Africa, and after 
being in an open boat for three days and 
two nights, tossed about by a troubled sea, 
he was picked up by a United States man- 
of-war, remaining on board of the same for 
two years. During his absence his wife 
died. Five years after leaving his native 



land he returned to New York, and in 1870 
came to Texas. 

He first located in Waco, where he con- 
tinued to make his home until 1876, when 
he came to Hood county, where for several 
years he was successfully engaged in teach- 
ing. In 1890 he turned his attention to 
mercantile pursuits, establishing a store in 
Faluxy, where he carries a large and well- 
selected stock of dry goods and all general 
merchandise, also drugs and druggists' sup- 
plies. He is a wide-awake and progressive 
merchant, who keeps thoroughly up to the 
times, and his large and constantly increas- 
ing patronage shows the confidence reposed 
in him by his fellow-townsmen. Politically 
he affiliates with the People's party, and in 
religious belief he is a Catholic. 



K^^ E V. WILLIAM CARROLL 
1 ^<^ BURKS, who for many years was 
\ _ y actively engaged in the work of the 
ministry of the Primitive Baptist 
church, is now living retired at Pottsville, 
Texas, enjoying a well earned rest. 

He was born on the 7th of March, 181 8, 
and is the son of James Lyon and Lydia 
(Robinson) Burks. The father was a native 
of Lincoln county, Georgia, served as orderly 
sergeant under General Jackson in the war 
of 18 1 2, was for a number of years a mem- 
ber of the state legislature, and was colonel 
on the staff of Governor Sleigh. In 1845 
he became a resident of Scott county, 
Mississippi, where his death occurred in 
1866, at the age of seventy-six years. He 
was also a faithful member of the Baptist 
church. 

At the age of twenty-two years our sub- 
ject started out in life for himself, operating 
his father's farm until 1843, when he re- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



moved to Russell county, Alabama. At the 
end of a year, however, he went to Cham- 
bers county, that state, where the following 
three years were passed. The next four 
years he spent in Tallapoosa county, whence 
he removed to Leake county, Mississippi, 
but in November, 1872, he became a resi- 
dent of Comanche coimty, Texas, where he 
purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
of land on Holmes creek, all wild. He at 
once began its improvement, erecting a 
house, and there made his home for three 
years, when he sold out and bought two 
hundred acres nearer the town of Comanche. 
After living there for four years, he ex- 
changed that place for one east of the town, 
but three years later removed to his present 
home in Pottsville. 

On the 22d of December, 1840, Mr. 
Burks was united in marriage with Miss 
Sarah Weathers, who was born in Georgia, 
October 11, 18 19, and is the daughter of 
Daniel and Sarah (Malney) Weathers. Her 
father served as a member of the state sen- 
ate from Talbot county, Georgia, and died 
there in 1882, at the advanced age of 
ninety-three years, being at that time the 
oldest man in the county. Our subject and 
his estimable wife became the parents of the 
following children: Daniel, born November 
19, 1S42, died in August, 1862, from effects 
of Confederate service in the late war; 
James, born July 20, 1845, also died in the 
same month in 1862; William Milton, born 
June 27, 1847, died while a member of the 
Confederate army in the fall of 1865; Jesse, 
born March 12, 1850, is living in Comanche 
county, Texas; John Franklin, born August 
31, 1 852, makes his home in the same county; 
Thomas Jefferson, born November 22, 1854, 
owns and runs a cotton gin at Pottsville 
(see sketch elsewhere in this work); Sarah 



Frances, born July 22. 1855, is the wife of 
Benjamin Lassette, of Taylor county, Texas; 
Lainey was born December 13, 1857, and 
died between seventeen and eighteen years 
of age; Andresv Jackson, born December 3, 
i860, is living in Callahan county, Texas. 

In early life, Mr. Burks became a mem- 
ber of the Primitive Baptist church, of 
which he was ordained deacon in 1845, and 
on the 27th of November, 185S, was or- 
dained a minister, and has engaged in 
preaching ever since. He has been a faith- 
ful and conscientious worker in the Master's 
vineyard, doing all in his power for the up- 
lifting of humanity, and the world is better 
for his having lived. His political support is 
given the Democratic party. 



at 



ILLIAM HENDERSON RUS- 
SELL, M. D. — Bosque county 
has few, if any, citizens more 
worthy of biographical honors 
than he whose name adorns this page, — Dr. 
W. H. Russell, — a man of great versatility, 
who has been closely connected in many 
ways with the interests of Bosque county, 
has kept pace with its progress and aided in 
its development, and stands to-day as one 
of its best and most honored citizens. To 
the portrayal of such a life the biographer 
reverts with no little satisfaction, finding 
both interest and profit therein. 

Dr. Russell was born in Pulaski county, 
Illinois, July 6, 1827, son of John and Sarah 
(Hairston) Russell, the former a native of 
Kentucky and the latter of Virginia, both 
having emigrated to Illinois, where they 
first met and at length were married. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject, Peter 
Hairston, was a Virginian by birth, served 
all through the Revolutionary war, and at 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



269 



its close, greatly broken in health by ex- 
posure in the army, settled in South Caro- 
lina, where he died shortly afterward. Of 
the history of the Russell family very little 
is known back of the Doctor's father, John 
Russell. John Russell moved with his fam- 
ily to Mississippi in 1835, and was for a 
number of years one of the wealthy planters 
and slaveholders of that state, being public- 
spirited and occupying a prominent and in- 
fluential position in his community. In his 
political views he harmonized with the 
Democratic party, but he never sought offi- 
cial honors. Both he and his wife were 
devoted Christians and consistent members 
of the Baptist church. She died in July, 
1847, and he survived until 1852. They 
were the parents of si.\ children, one of 
whom died in infancy, and of the others we 
make brief record as follows: Anastacia and 
her husband, D. Adair, both deceased, left 
four children: Mary G., deceased, was the 
wife of Ruben Loggins, and was for some 
years a resident of Te.xas, having emigrated 
to this state in 1856; Rowena, wife of 
James Loggins, came to Texas in 1858. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Loggins are deceased, 
and left two children; Dr. W. H., the fourth 
born, is the subject of this article; and 
Eliza and her husband, John Johnson, both 
died in Mississippi, leaving two children. 

W. H. Russell was reared on his father's 
Mississippi farm and received his early train- 
ing in the common schools near his home. 
He continued to reside in Mississippi for 
some years after his marriage, engaged in 
farming there, and in 1856 came to Texas 
and pitched his tent in Cherokee county, 
where he carried on agricultural pursuits 
until i860. That year he became identified 
with Bosque county. Selecting a location 
on Steel's creek, be purchased two hundred 



acres of wild land and settled upon the same, 
there being at that time only a few white 
families in this vicinity, and they all en- 
gaged in the stock business. Later he 
added to his original purchase another two 
hundred acres, and now owns four hundred 
acres. Like the other primitive settlers of 
the community, the subject of our sketch 
turned his attention to the stock business, 
raising both cattle and horses, and continu- 
ing the same until 1870. In the meantime 
he had begun the study of medicine under 
the tutorship of Dr. William Bateman, of 
Bosque county, had pursued his studies dil- 
igently for four or five years, and in 1870 
went to New Orleans and entered the State 
Medical University of that city, where he 
attended a course of lectures and received 
the degree of M. D. 

On his return from New Orleans, Mr. 
Russell entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession, being the first regular practitioner 
of his locality. Here he soon built up a 
practice that grew with the settlement of 
the country and that ramified into the sur- 
rounding districts for a distance of twenty 
miles, his faithfulness and his sympathetic 
devotion to those whom he served being at 
once apparent and gaining him a marked 
popularity. This high standing as a physi- 
cian he still maintains, and although he has 
for several years tried to retire he finds it 
almost impossible to do so, his old patrons 
insisting upon his attention. 

As early as 1875 Dr. Russell opened up 
a stock of drugs and groceries in his resi- 
dence, which was a great convenience to the 
pioneer community, saving the settlers many 
a long trip for supplies. Also he helped to 
secure a post-office, known as Russell's Gap, 
for the settlement, being appointed post- 
master, and serving as such for a number of 



270 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



years. When the railroad threaded this 
part of the country, Dr. Russell was among 
the first to see a business opening at Walnut 
Springs, and with a partner erected the first 
store building in the town and opened up a 
line of groceries, drugs and hardware. This 
store they conducted successfully for about 
three years, after which the Doctor sold his 
interest in it. Since then he has ventured 
no more in merchandising. Reverting to 
his farmstead, we further state that about 
1868 he began the cultivation of some of 
his land, increased the cultivated acreage 
from year to year, until now he has half of 
the tract under plow and producing excel- 
lent crops. He has a fine orchard of his 
own planting. The springs which furnish 
the water supply for his farm are among the 
best in the county. He has a comfortable 
residence, good farm buildings, and, in 
short, is pleasantly situated. 

Dr. Russell is a strong advocate of 
Democracy. He has always taken an en- 
thusiastic interest in politics and has fre- 
quently been an attendant upon the conven- 
tions of his party, but his interest has not 
been a selfish one, for he has cared little for 
official preference. About the only office 
he ever filled was that of district clerk, in 
which position he served four years, until 
the reconstruction period, when he was re- 
leased from further official duty. 

Dr. Russell was married in 1847 ^o Miss 
Sarah A. Holt, a native of South Carolina, 
born March 12, 1825, daughter of Israel and 
Elizabeth (Nelson) Holt. Mrs. Holt was a 
daughter of Maj. William Nelson, who 
served through the Revolutionary war as a 
major-general, and died in South Carolina, 
some years after that war. Israel Holt was 
married in South Carolina, and from there 
came with his family to Texas in 1858, first 



making settlement in Cherokee county. Af- 
terward he lived in Shelby county, and in 
that county passed the closing years of his 
life and died. He was a man of learning, 
educated above the ordinary, and was by 
occupation a teacher and surveyor. Btsth 
he and his wife were members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, south. A record of 
their family of seven children reads as fol- 
lows: John, who is one of the first settlers 
of eastern Texas, died m Shelby county; 
Mary, deceased wife of J. A. Lomax; Sarah 
A., wife of Dr. Russell; Martha, wife of 
Henry Carey, died in Shelby county; Leo- 
dicia, widow of Isaac Rundell, a resident of 
Bosque county; William, of Mississippi; and 
Elizabeth, wife of E. Covington, Shelby 
county. The Doctor and his wife have 
a large family, including children, grand- 
children and great-grandchildren. Of the 
children, eight in number, we record that 
Sarah Elizabeth is the wife of Calvin Wil- 
banks. Walnut Springs; Samuel H. is a 
widower and resides with his parents; Lucy 
A. is the wife of B. F. Brown, a teacher, 
farmer and stock-raiser of Stephens county; 
Mattie and her husband, Joseph Hale, are 
both deceased, and left a family of five 
children; Julia is the wife of R. A. Cureton, 
a farmer and stock mao of Bosque county; 
Kate, wife of Thomas Garbro, a farmer and 
stockman of Bosque county; William E. is 
a practicing physician of Duffau, Erath 
county, Texas; and Jessie, the youngest, is 
the wife of Dr. W. C. Jones, of Walnut 
Springs, Te.xas. And besides rearing their 
own children. Dr. Russell and his wife have 
brought up nine grandchildren, the four of 
their son Samuel and the five left by their 
daughter, Mrs. Hale; and more than this, 
they reared the Doctor's niece, Miss John- 
son, who is now the wife of T. N. Savage, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



271 



of Walnut Springs. The family tree has 
branched out until now the grandchildren 
of this honored pioneer number thirty-four, 
and the great-grandchildren four; and the 
families are among the most respected in the 
communities in which they live. 

The Doctor and his wife are church 
people, each, however, adhering to the 
creed in which reared, and showing by their 
lives that Christianity does not consist in 
creeds. He is a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church and she is a Methodist. 



>^AMES ALLEN EIDSON, the sen- 
^ ior member of the law firm of Eid- 
A 1 son & Eidson, Hamilton, Te.xas, oc- 
cupies an honorable position at the 
bar, which he has attained not more by 
force of his intellectual ability than by the 
weight of character and integrity. He is a 
native of Edgefield county. South Carolina, 
born April 29, 1848, his parents being ! 
Russell and Caroline (Bouknight) Eidson. 

He remained at his parents' home until 
he had reached the age of twenty-one, when, 
like many another strong and ambitious 
young man, he began life for himself by 
taking charge of a country school. In this 
occupation our subject was engaged for 
about a year, in the meantime reading law 
very effectively, so that he was admitted to 
the bar in the fall of 1870, in his native 
county. He removed to Collin county, 
Texas, in 1871, and for a temporary income 
took a country school north of McKinney, 
and continued in its charge for a period of 
eight months. But the budding barrister 
was not content with pedagogical labors, 
and in September of that }^ear was admitted 
to the county bar at Corsicana, and at once 
engaged in the practice of his life work. 



December 24 of the same year he located 
at Hamilton, where he has since remained. 

Mr. Eidson entered into partnership 
with J. G. W. PiersonandC. M. Rutherford, 
under the firm name of Eidson, Pierson & 
Rutherford. This arrangement was broken 
at the end of one year by the retirement of 
the junior partner, leaving the firm to con- 
tinue as Eidson & Pierson until 1881, when 
it was dissolved. Our subject practiced 
alone until 1890, when he associated with 
himself J. C. Roberts. In 1892 Mr. Rob- 
erts gave way to J. B. Allen, who was asso- 
ciated with him for some three years, when 
he retired, in August, 1895. Mr. Eidson 
was again alone until the opening of the 
year 1896, when his son Arthur, having 
been admitted to the bar, came into the 
office and became his partner, under the firm 
name noted above, Eidson & Eidson. 

While Mr. Eidson has done a very gen- 
eral law business, he has manifested espe- 
cial ability in the handling of land cases, so 
that he has been brought in contact with a 
most desirable class of office business. He 
has handled much land on commission in 
this and adjoining counties, and has won 
a very high place not only as a level-headed 
and clear-minded lawyer, of accurate judg- 
ment, and intimate knowledge of the law, 
but also as a keen and capable business man. 
It is hardly too much to say that our subject 
stands at the very head of the bar of Hamil- 
ton county, and that he is universally re- 
spected for his upright life, professional 
ability, and genial disposition. 

He was married August 11, 1S74, to 
Miss Charity Eli2abeth, daughter of James 
M. and Elizabeth (Standifer) Rice. Mrs. 
Eidson is a native of this county, and has 
done much to help her husband win and 
retain his high position. The names and 



272 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



birthdays of their children appear on the 
family records in this wise: Arthur Riche- 
lieu, born December 28, 1875. (He is his 
father's present partner, and is a young man 
of much promise. He was educated at the 
town schools, and was at Georgetown school 
for two years.) Clara Elizabeth, born 
August 16, 1877; John Russell, May i, 
1880; Joseph Harvey, November 16, 1884; 
Wilhelmine Catherine, November 22, 1S86; 
Kudora Mabel, March 22, 1889, and Barn- 
well Rhett, July 23, 1891. 

As might be expected, when the civil 
war broke out our subject rallied to the sup- 
port of the cause of the south, and served 
in the state troops from November, 1864, 
until the close of the war. He was. in 
Charleston at the time of the surrender, as 
a second lieutenant in Captain Yancy Dean's 
company. 

James R. Eidson, the father of our sub- 
ject, died in Edgefield district. South Caro- 
lina, November 3, 1895, in the same district 
in which he first saw the light, October 20, 
1 82 1. He was a man of prominence and 
much influence in the old south. He was a 
large slave-holder and a very successful 
planter. The mother of our subject died in 
1 88 1, aged fifty-seven. Besides our sub- 
ject, she was the mother of the following 
children: John Daniel, Cleopatria, Martha, 
Wilhelmine Catharine and Arthur Riche- 
lieu. The Eidsons were originally from 
England, but have long been associated 
with the south, the great-grandfather of our 
subject having served with Marion in the 
Revolution. 

Mr. Eidson is a man o{ fine literary 
ability and of unusual scholarship, having 
taken the degree of A. B. at Wofford Col- 
lege, Spartanburg, South Carolina, which 
institution he entered at an early age, hav- 



ing thoroughly prepared himself at private 
schools, so that he found no difficulty in 
taking a good position in the sophomore 
class. He is a Democrat of the old school, 
and was a candidate for the legislature be- 
fore the convention atGatesville, but, though 
he made a good fight, was defeated. His 
candidacy was of use to him, however, in 
that it brought him much more prominently 
before the people and made the public 
understand what manner of man he is. 



QB. GRACE, M. D., of Iredell, is 
one of the well-known and suc- 
cessful physicians and surgeons 
of Bosque county. He was born 
at Hillsboro, in Hill county, Te.xas, Janu- 
ary 28, 1868, and is a son of J. P. Grace, 
who located at Walnut Springs in 1878, 
where he erected the first house, and after- 
ward served as justice of the peace for eight 
years, and died there on the 12th of June, 
1895. His birth occurred in Clay county, 
Tennessee, in 1827. The Grace family is 
of Scotch descent, and was founded in 
Maryland at a very early day. It was well 
represented in both the Revolutionary and 
civil wars. 

The early days of the father were passed 
in Tennessee, where he acquired his educa- 
tion, and at the age of nineteen he came to 
Texas, locating first near Sulphur Springs, 
whence he later removed to Hillsboro. He 
wedded Miss Mary F. Jackson, who sur- 
vives him and now makes her home at Hico, 
Texas. Eight children were born to them, 
of whom five are still living, namely: O. A., 
wife of Dr. James H. Wysong, of Hico; 
AbbieA., wife of J. Dorenfield, of Belton, 
Texas; Marvin B., of this review; Beulah, 
wife of John Collins, of Hico; and J. E., 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



273 



of the same place. The father was quite a 
successful business man, and gave his chil- 
dren excellent educational advantages. For 
a time he was engaged in the dry-goods 
business at Brazos Point. His political 
support was always given the Democratic 
party, and he also served as sheriff of Hill 
county. Honored and respected by all who 
knew him, he was a most popular citizen, 
prominent in Masonic circles, and a local 
preacher of the Methodist church for years, 
being an active and zealous worker in the 
cause of his Master. 

Dr. Grace was but five years of age 
when brought by his parents to Bosque 
county, where he obtained his primary edu- 
cation in the public schools, and completed 
his literary training at Georgetown, Texas, 
in 1887-88. He then began the study of 
medicine with Dr. J. H. Wysong, of Wal- 
nut Springs, and in 1891 graduated at the 
Texas Medical College and Hospital, and 
for two years was interne in the John Sealy 
Hospital, after which he located at Iredell, 
where he engaged in practice. He has ever 
been a thorough student of his profession, 
keeps well up in the advancement of medi- 
cine and surgery, and is one of the most 
successful practitioners in the county. 

In January, 1888, at Walnut Springs, 
was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Grace 
and Miss Dora Bailey, a lady of intelligence 
and culture, who belongs to a good family, 
and the daughter of J. Marimon Bailey, of 
Walnut Springs. They have become the 
parents of four children, but one died in in- 
fancy. Those living are Wysong Lee, 
Gladys May and Esther. 

In politics the Doctor is a firm believer 
in the principles of the Democratic party, 
socially is connected with the Masonic lodge. 
No. 405, of Iredell, and the Knights of 



Honor, No. 3742, of which he is past dic- 
tator, and religiously holds a membership 
in the Methodist church. In his profession 
he is talented and skillful in a marked de- 
gree, and is a young man of correct habits 
and of an upright moral character. An 
honorable career lies before him in his 
chosen calling. 



•y-rf ON. WILLIAM E. CURETON, a 
1'^^ worthy and honored representative 
\ , * of the agricultural interests of 
Bosque county, is the true type of 
the energetic, hardy and courageous men who 
have actively assisted in the development of 
this wonderful region. He was born in 
Ozark, Arkansas, on the 20th of July, 
1848, and is the eldest son of Captain Jack 
Cureton, whose sketch follows this. With 
his parents he came to Texas, in 1855, was 
reared to agricultural pursuits and still fol- 
lows that calling. He is one of the largest 
stock-raisers in the county, and at present 
his landed possessions consist of seven hun- 
dred acres near Walnut Springs, one hun- 
dred and twenty-five acres being under cul- 
tivation, and the remainder pasture land. 
He also has a fine orchard upon his place, 
consisting of three hundred trees, — pears, 
peaches and apples — and it is probably the 
only farm in Bosque county that produces 
apples in any considerable quantity. 

On the 15th of May, 1873, Mr. Cureton 
was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. 
Odle, a native of Texas, who departed this 
life June 30, 1879. To them were born two 
sons: Calvin M., the able editor of the 
Southern Arena, a monthly magazine pub- 
lished at Walnut Springs; and Hugh J., who 
is a printer and at work upon the same 
journal. 



274 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Cureton was elected representative 
to the state legislature on the Populist ticket 
and represented his district in the twenty- 
fourth assembly. He has been the recipient 
of numerous laudatory letters from cultured 
ladies and gentlemen throughout the state 
for his efforts and success in introducing and 
engineering through the legislature the bill 
of "consent," raising the age from twelve 
to fifteen years. This was no easy task, in- 
asmuch as others had tried in vain to get a 
bill passed of like character, and Mr. Cure- 
ton is deserving of much honorable praise 
for his untiring effort and final success in a 
noble cause. Socially, he is connected with 
the Masonic fraternity and the Farmers' Al- 
liance of Walnut Springs. 

Cai't.'MN J. J. Cureton, deceased. — 
Atnoug many whose names are now identi- 
fied with the history of Texas none perhaps 
are more worthy of honorable mention than 
this brave old frontiersman of Bosque 
county. In 1855 he emigrated to this state 
and from that time until 1865 was a noted 
character, having been prominently identi- 
fied with the Indian wars of the frontier. 
He was a soldier in the Mexican war, and 
March 15, 1861, enlisted in the Confederate 
service, raised a company and was elected 
its captain, serving until 1863, when he re- 
turned to his home and from that time was 
captain of a company of militia, guarding 
the frontier until the close of the war. 

It would seem to be almost superfluous 
to give a thorough sketch under this heading 
of one whose career has been a portion of 
the history of this state and of course known 
to all, and yet the sketch of this life of one 
so noted as an Indian fighter and frontiers- 
man certainly comes within the legitimate 
scope and purposeof this section of the work. 
We therefore give the following outlines as 



brief as possible and leave the details for 
the historical portions of this vcjlume. The 
name of Captain Jack Cureton will be long 
remembered, at least so long as there are 
any of the old Texans still living, for his 
gallant service in the defense of the frontier 
against the murderous savages. 

The Captain was a native of Arkansas, 
born in 1826, and on coming to Texas lo- 
cated on the Brazos river at Palo Pinto, 
being among the first settlers of that local- 
ity. He was an extensive farmer and cattle- 
raiser, owning some three thousand head of 
cattle. Like other self-sacrificing patriots, 
without the hope of reward, he and others 
left their defenseless homes and families to 
avenge the sufferings of the frontier people 
from the terrible raids of the Comanche In- 
dians. During the years 1859 and 1 860 the 
condition of the frontier was truly deplor- 
able, the people being obliged to stand in a 
continued posture of defense. Captain 
Cureton was with the Ross expedition, or 
rather re-enforced Captain Ross when he 
followed the Comanches from Fort Belknap, 
and was in command of a company of sev- 
enty volunteer citizens. He was in the en- 
gagement of Salt creek, and also fought the 
last Indian battle of Dove creek, January 
8, 1865. He died May 12, 1881. 

Mrs. Cureton, whose maiden name was 
Eliza M. Price, still survives her husband, 
and their family consisting of six children, — 
four sons and two daughters, — are also liv- 
ing, namely: William E., whose name in- 
troduces this narrative; John C. and James 
W. , stock-raisers of New Mexico; Richard 
A.; Melissa C, the wife of William V. 
Grounds, of Arizona; and Dorinda M., wife 
of O. L. Lockett, of Meridian, Texas. 

Mrs. Cureton draws a pension for the 
Captain's service in the Mexican war. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



275 



aAPTAIN JAMES EDWARD 
S M I T H.— In the great and fer- 
tile state of Texas are some exten- 
sive farmers who bring to their 
calling rare business skill and excellent judg- 
ment. Some of the most enterprising of 
these may be found in Hamilton county, 
among whom is the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch. On coming to the coun- 
ty, in December, 1876, he purchased three 
hundred acres, but has added to that tract 
from time to time until he now owns three 
thousand acres, four hundred of which is 
under cultivation and to this he gives his 
personal supervision. This valuable place 
is adorned with a line country home, sub- 
stantial barns and other outbuildings, all of 
which are plentifully supplied with water 
from a bored well. 

The Captain was born in Houston coun- 
ty, Georgia, January 29, 1837, and is the 
son of Gabriel and Elizabeth (Engram) 
Smith. The paternal grandfather, who also 
bore the name of Gabriel, was born in North 
Carolina; where on reaching manhood he 
was married, and has four children, namely: 
Gabriel, Jonathan, Daniel, and Millie, who 
married William Suggs. Edward Engram, 
the maternal grandfather, was twice mar- 
ried, having four children by his first wife, — 
Oliver, Robert, John and Elizabeth,— and 
by the second Seburn, Henry, Frankhn, 
Edward and Amanda. He was of English 
descent, and died November 17, 1843, at 
the age of fifty-nine years, nine months and 
two days. The Smith family also was from 
England. The father of our subject was 
born in North Carolina, April 11, i8o[,and 
when a young man removed to Georgia, 
where he wedded Elizabeth Engram, whose 
birth occurred in that state, March 26, 181 i. 
They became the parents of the following 



children: James E., Franklin, Jane, Aman- 
da, John, Oliver, Jerome, and Gabriel, who 
died in infancy. The father, who is an 
earnest Democrat and member of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church, passed away in 
Georgia, August 29, 1852, and his wife on 
the 30th of January, 1855. 

On the 25th of February, 1862, ou*r sub- 
ject enlisted in the Fifty-first Georgia regi- 
ment and served under Eweli and Long- 
street. At the end of a year he was pro- 
moted captain, with which rank he served 
until the second battle of Manassas, when 
he lost the two middle fingers on the left 
hand and was compelled to return home, 
thus terminating his military service with 
the exception of thirty days spent as a 
recruiting officer. He was then elected 
sheriff of Clay county, Georgia, which posi- 
tion he resigned in December, 1866, when 
he removed to Roberts county, Texas, pur- 
chasing three hundred acres of land there on 
the Brazos river, for five dollars per acre. 
He added to this another three-hundred- 
acre tract, a half of which he had under 
cultivation at the time of his removal to 
Hamilton county, where he has since been 
numbered among the most prominent agri- 
culturists. 

Captain Smith was united in marriage 
October 11, 1S54, with Miss Sarah Sutton, 
who was bora in Early county, Georgia, 
June 26, 1837, and was the daughter of 
William and Elizabeth (Perry) Sutton. 
Their family now comprises the following 
children: James Buchanan, born June 25, 
1855, married Josie May, and is engaged in 
farming in Hamilton county; William Ga- 
briel, born December 21, 1858, married 
Julia Little, and also carried on agricultural 
pursuits in Hamilton county, where his 
death occurred August 26, 1S93; Leola, 



276 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



born November 30, 1859, died June 17, 
1862; Edgar Warren, born February 11, 
1862, married Nellie Bond, and manages a 
farm in Hamilton county; Leanna, born 
May 18, 1864, died May 8, 1865; Alice 
Parthenia, born September 15, 1866, be- 
came the wife of Hal Williams, a stockman 
of Hamilton county, and died December 18, 
1888; and Mollie, born August 10, 1870. 

Mr. Williams was killed by the Indians 
in Montana in 1890, and his widow is now 
at home with her parents. 

Politically, the Captain is identified with 
the Democratic party, and socially is a 
Mason, being initiated into the mysteries 
of that order at Fort Gaines Lodge, in 
Georgia, in 1856, and now belongs to Rock 
House Lodge at Hamilton. Since 1848 he 
has been a faithful member of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church, and is now serving 
as deacon. He is a genial southern gentle- 
man, always pleasant and affable, well 
informed on the current events of the day, 
and his hospitality is proverbial. 



>T^AMES J. LUMPKIN, M. D.— In 

J this brief sketch we give the biog- 
/• 1 raphy of one who is a leader in the 
medical profession. Biography is 
not to give voice to a man's estimate of him- 
self and his accomplishments, but rather to 
have a perpetual record establishing his 
character by the consensus of opinion on 
the part of his fellow men. That great 
factor, the public, is discriminating and 
takes cognizance not of objective exalta- 
tion, not yet of objective modesty, but 
delves deeper into the intrinsic character, — 
strikes the keynote of individuality and 
pronounces judicially and unequivocally 



upon the honest worth of man, invariably 
distinguishing the clear resonance of the 
true metal from the jarring dissonance of 
the baser. In no better way can we gain a 
conception of the divine elements which 
have entered into our social and commercial 
life and which will import to the future 
American type features which cannot be 
conjectured at the present time. Dr. 
Lumpkin came to Te.xas a poor but honest 
man, yet he was rich, having plenty of vim, 
push and determination, being endowed by 
nature with a quick perception, and through 
his own efforts has placed himself in the 
front ranks of the most progressive and 
prosperous men of Bosque county. 

By tracing the genealogy of the Lumpkin 
family, we find that they located on this 
continent previous to the Revolutionary 
struggle, two brothers having come to the 
colonies with General Braddock in 1755, 
and from one of these the Doctor has 
descended. His paternal grandfather was 
a native of Virginia, and by his marriage 
had two children. One of them, Abraham 
F. Lumpkin, was the father of our subject. 
He was born in Fairfield county. South 
Carolina, and on reaching manhood mar- 
ried Miss Patience Pickett. The parental 
household included twelve children, namely: 
Marium, now the widow of Rev. James 
Connor, of South Carolina; Reuben P., 
William T., Abraham F., Philip P., Troy 
T., John R., Robert K. , Simon H., James 
J., Lucius O. and Edward L. 

Dr. Lumpkin is also a native of Fairfield 
county. South Carolina, born February 29, 
1852, and was reared and educated there. 
At the age of twenty years he began the 
battle of life, first taking up the study of 
pharmacy, in which he passed e.xamination 
I and was found duly qualified. He then 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



277 



took a course of medical lectures at Charles- 
ton in 1S74, and graduated two years later. 

Emigrating to Texas the same j'ear, the 
Doctor has since successfully engaged in 
practice at Meridian, and established the 
first exclusive drugstore in the city in 1878. 
He owns no less than seven farms in Bosque 
county, besides uncultivated land, and busi- 
ness property in the city. He has also 
dealt largely in cattle and other stock until 
of late. However, he still gives the greater 
part of his time and attention to his profes- 
sional labors, although he is a capitalist, 
money lender and probably pays more taxes 
than any one man in the county. 

On the 8th of January, 1878, Dr. Lump- 
kin was united in marriage with Miss Ida E. 
Fuller, a native of Texas and a daughter of 
Moses W. Fuller, a pioneer of the early 
'50s. Mrs. Lumpkin is a lady of culture 
and refinement, who graduated at a cele- 
brated school at Lockport, New York, and 
is a member of the Episcopal church; and 
the Doctor is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south. A prominent mem- 
ber of the Masonic order, the Doctor be- 
longs to Meridian Lodge, No. 268, A. F. 
& A. M. ; Meridian Chapter, R. A. M. ; and 
Waco Commandery, No. 10. K. T. 



'HE NUTT family of Granbury and 
Hood county, so ably represented 
in mercantile and social circles by 
the brothers J. F. and D. L. Nutt, 
are descended on the paternal side from 
David Nutt, grandfather of these gentlemen, 
who, according to the best information ob- 
tainable, was a native of England. When 
but a boy, in company with a brother also 
in his minority, he left their native land to 
seek a home and fortune in the western 



world. The accumulating mist of years 
has obscured the data of their arrival upon 
American shores, yet data exist to justify 
the placing of that event previous to the 
breaking out of the Revolutionary war in 
1775. These brothers settled in North 
Carolina where, so far as known, they made 
permanent homes and became useful and 
respected citizens. Tradition asserts that 
the grandfather, David Nutt, was a man of 
local prominence and efficiently served the 
people of his county in the capacity of 
sheriff. From the best evidence now extant 
it appears that the name was originally Mc- 
Nutt and that the orthographic change 
occurred in this branch of the American 
family when David Nutt was sheriff. He 
was married in North Carolina to Rachael 
Cates, by whom he had a large family of 
children. Four of his sons located in Ten- 
nessee, probably all in Bedford county, and 
one of the number, David, Jr., was the fa- 
ther of the Nutt brothers of Granbury. 

David Nutt, Jr., was married in Tennes- 
see to Miss Sarah Ann Landers and con- 
tinued his residence in that state until 1844, 
when with his family he removed to Newton 
county, Missouri, where he purchased land 
which was cultivated by his sons while he 
applied himself to his trade of blacksmith- 
ing. There the family resided until 1S59, 
when the parents and four of their children 
— Jacob, Abel, Susan A. and D. L. — 
moved to Texas to join their son and brother, 
Jesse F., who had preceded them to the 
Lone Star state, locating in what is now 
Hood county in 1858. Mr. Nutt purchased 
a small tract of land near the present site of 
Granbury, — the property now owned by 
James H. Henderson. Subsequently he 
settled in Granbury, where he lived until 
his death, which occurred in 1872, when he 



278 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



attained the age of seventy-five years. He 
was well advanced in life when he reached 
Texas and until the end of his days he lived 
in retirement, cared for by his sons, who 
quickly became important business factors in 
the locality and highly prosperous men. 
Mrs. Nutt departed this life in 1890, aged 
eighty-three years. She was a lady of ster- 
ling Christian qualities and was an accept- 
able member of the Baptist church. She 
was a daughter of Christopher and Phceba 
(Lee) Landers, who removed from Ken- 
tucky to Tennessee in the early settlement 
of that state. The Lee family was origi- 
nally from Virginia and tradition states was 
connected with the family of that name so 
distinguished in the affairs of the Old Do- 
minion. 

Of the twelve children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Nutt, eleven grew to maturity and at 
present four survive, namely: Jesse F. ; 
Jacob; Henry, who resides in Neosho, Mis- 
souri; and D. L. The deceased are Robert 
L. ; Elizabeth P., wife of A. J. Wright; Mary, 
whodied unmarried; Phceba, who was the wife 
of M. F. Landers; Abel; Susan Ann, whose 
first husband, H. A. Landers, was killed at 
the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, in 1863, 
after which she became the wife of Ray 
Hopping; John M. ; and an infant daughter, 
a twin sister of Susan Ann. 

Of the Nutt brothers it may be stated 
that since 1869 they have been associated in 
mercantile pursuits and in business affairs, 
and their history, considered from this 
standpoint, is as one. Jesse F. was born 
in Bedford county, Tennessee, January 19, 
1833, while Jacob's birth occurred in the 
same county, on the ist of January, 1835; 
and D. L. was born in Newton county, 
Missouri, Jannary 6, 1848. Their early 
bojhood days were passed in a frontier 



home with practically no advantages for ob- 
taining an education. In 1844 the parents 
removed with their family to Newton coun- 
ty, Missouri, then a western frontier settle- 
ment, in which the elder children grew to 
man's estate and assisted in the develop- 
ment and cultivation of the father's farm. 

On the loth of April, 1853, Jesse F. 
Nutt was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Hon. Abel and Sarah 
(Shipman) Landers. In 1858, in company 
with her parents and their children, Jesse 
Nutt and his wife came to Texas, and the 
following year he was joined bj- his parents 
and a part of the familj' as stated above. 
The terrible misfortune of blindness befell 
the two brothers in early life, Jesse F. los- 
ing his sight in 1854 and Jacob the following 
year, both from disease of the eyes. Their 
active business career opened in 1867, at 
Stockton on the Brazos, a small hamlet 
which first bore the name of Landers' Cross- 
ing and was located about three miles up 
the river from the present city of Granbury. 
Their joint capital at the time amounted to 
thirty dollars. Both were persevering by 
nature, and affliction had made them doubly 
patient. They economized at every point, 
bought goods in small quantities, alwaj's us- 
ing up the accumulating surplus, however 
small, in this way. In 1868 Granbury was 
settled and they moved at once to the new 
town and built the second house, — a log 
one, — in which they opened up business. 
They gradually prospered, and when their 
business outgrew their store they erected 
another, sixteen by twenty feet, a part of 
the lumber used in the construction being 
hauled from east Texas with ox teams. For 
this they paid five hundred dollars, at the 
rate of ninety dollars for a thousand feet. 
In course of time this structure was out- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



279 



grown by their constantly increasing busi- 
ness, which necessitated the erection of 
their present commodious stone building, 
at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and their 
stock is one of the largest in the county, 
while the volume of their trade aggregates 
thirty-five thousand dollars annually. The 
brothers together gave their attention to 
their mercantile business until 1883, when a 
tract of six hundred and forty acres was 
purchased by them on the Paluxy creek, at 
which time Uncle Jake, as he is familiarly 
•called, went to the farm to give it his per- 
sonal supervision, and Uncle Jesse and D.L. 
remained in charge of the store. This 
widened interest proved a source of profit, 
under Uncle Jake's able management, and 
since then by purchase they have added to 
the original tract until at the present they 
own two thousand and five hundred acres 
of good land. 

Thus we have presented a career which 
for the success attained under the disadvan- 
age of blindness, the lack of useful business 
training and an insignificant capital, is, we 
believe, unparalleled in business annals. As 
their financial resources increased, their 
naturally generous natures adopted a liberal 
policy in encouraging public improvement. 
They donated to the Granbury College the 
splendid and beautiful campus of that insti- 
tution, and to encourage the location of the 
county seat at Granbury they and Thomds 
Lambert offered to donate forty acres of land 
for a town site. This was eventually ac- 
cepted by the commissioners appointed by 
the court to decide upon the location. To 
churches and schools they have given freely, 
besides aiding every enterprise whether pub- 
lic or private that is calculated to add to the 
well-being of the community. For many 
years the Brazos river remained unbridged 



at Granbury, — a serious detriment to the 
city's interests; and to do away with this the 
Nutt Brothers, Captain Thrash, Dr. Hanna- 
ford and a few others erected the magnifi- 
cent iron bridge that now spans the Brazos 
at this point. The cost of this structure 
was twenty-five thousand dollars. Subse- 
quently the bridge was sold to the county at 
TDne-half its original cost. 

These brothers all have intense religious 
natures J. F. and J. being exemplary members 
of the Baptist church, while D. L. is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. 
These three brothers are similar in nature, 
quiet and unostentatious in manner, of 
kindly temperament and of even disposi- 
tions, rarely disturbed by the turmoils and 
commotions incident to life. 

John M. Nutt married one of the daugh- 
ters of John Cline about i860, and in 1865 
was accidentally killed, leaving three chil- 
dren ; his wife died a few years later. Robert 
L. Nutt married Miss Elizabeth Lattimore, 
and died about 1848; 'three children survived 
him. Abel married Miss Indiana Rylie, 
daughter of Y. J. Rylie, of Hood county. 

To Jesse F. Nutt and wife have been 
born four children, two of whom died in 
infancy. Abbie became the wife of Henry 
J. Iverr, and Josie married A. V. Harlson. 
These two gentlemen comprise the well- 
known firm of Kerr & Harlson, of Granbury. 
While "Uncle Jake" has always been an 
admirer of ladies and by ladies admired in 
turn for his manliness of character, his life 
has been one of " single existence," yet he 
took upon himself the responsibility of rear- 
ing and educating a number of children, 
nieces and nephews. Of two, Ora and 
Mattie, daughters of his brother Abel, he 
assumed paternal care when they were ten 
and twelve years of age, respectively. Ora 



280 



JUS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



became the wife of A. F. Warren, of Hood 
county; Mattie died February 27, 1895, at 
the age of twenty years. When Henry A. 
Landers, his brother-in-law, fell in the battle 
of Mansfield, Louisiana, Uncle Jake opened 
his home for the reception of his two father- 
less children, Georfje \\'. and Belinda, both 
of whom he reared and educated. The latter 
became the wife of John L. Glenn, of Hood 
county, and the former now resides in 
Granbury. Susan, his sister, and the widow 
of Mr. Landers, married for her second hus- 
band Ray Hopping, by whom she had three 
children, all of whom Uncle Jake reared and 
educated. They are named as follows: 
Jesse S. ; Flora, who married Jesse Nutt, Jr., 
of Hood county; and R. C, who married 
Lela Jones. 

David L. Nutt, the youngest brother of 
the trio, was united in marriage February 
28, 1872, with Miss Sudie A., daughter of 
Captain Peter Garland, by whom he has 
four children, namely: Mattie, now a 
talented and popular young lady; and Henry 
Lee, a young gentleman of most promising 
talents. The deceased children were Sallie 
L., who died January i, 1891, and Joseph, 
whose death occurred February i, 1894. 

About 1880 D. L. Nutt erected his 
present handsome home as a private resi- 
dence; but as there was a dearth of hotel 
accommodations in Granbury, he subse- 
quently built additions to the original 
structure and converted his home into a 
public hostelry, which has since been main- 
tained greatly to the comfort and satisfaction 
of commercial travelers and all others requir- 
ing transient homes. As host and hostess 
Mr. Nutt and his amiable wife are without 
peers as entertainers, and all who stop 
beneath their roof are made to feel at home. 
He is genial yet undemonstrative in manner, 



and there is a warmth of sincerity in his 
language and ways that denotes the true 
friend. He has business qualities of the 
highest order, and the phenomenal success 
that has attended the Nutt Brothers' busi- 
ness is in no small degree attributable to his 
able and conservative management. In 1864 
D. L. Nutt regularly enlisted in the home 
guards, a military organization to suppress 
the depredations of hostile Indians, and was 
active in the service until the close of the 
civil war. He is a Mason of the Royal Arch 
degree, having been admitted to the Gran- 
bury Lodge in 1871. 



5>^R. JOHN RICHARD RIEGER, 

I I one of the prominent pioneer phy- 
(/^^ sicians of Texas, now living re- 
tired in School Land Cove, Hamil- 
ton county, was born May 30, 1834, in Hick- 
man, now Carlisle, county, Kentucky, and 
was the son of George and Elizabeth (Traf- 
ford) Rieger, the former of GeFman and the 
latter of English lineage. The father died 
in 1 836, leaving his widow with two children, 
— John R. ; and Sarah Catherine, who mar- 
ried E. S. Emerson, and lived in Montague 
county, Texas, until 1862, when she, too, 
was called to her final rest and left several 
children. After the death of Mr. Rieger, 
the mother of our subject became the wife 
of T. J. Magruder, by whom she had five 
children, all now deceased. She passed 
away in 1855. Her people were from Posey 
county, Indiana. Her father, John Traf- 
ford, died in 1850, at the age of fifty-five 
years, in Kentucky, to which state he had 
removed from Little Wabash, Illinois. By 
his marriage to Catherine Johnson, he had 
the following children: Sutton, Rebecca, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



281 



Elizabeth, John Rote, Billy, Moses and Jane. 
Richard Rieger, the paternal grandfather of 
our subject, moved from Virginia to Ten- 
nessee, later to Kentucky, and in Johnson 
county, that state, died, in 1850, at the age 
of seventy-five years. He married Sally 
Alsup, and they had eight children, — George, 
Joseph, Woodford, John, Lucinda, Cinda- 
reila, Polly Ann and Richard T. 

At the age of seventeen years, our sub- 
ject began life on his own account. Going 
to Dyer county, Tennessee, in 1852, he 
worked for wages for a time. On the loth 
of December, 1856, he arrived in Parker 
county, Te.xas, where he started with Mr. 
Davidson for San Antonio, but on reaching 
McLennan county, Mr. Davidson learned of 
the removal of his relatives from that city 
and declined to go further. The Doctor 
then worked for seven months for A. D. 
Marony, at the end of which time he re- 
turned to Parker county and attended the 
school of Thomas W. Toler for fifteen 
months. In the summer of 1865 he went 
to Brazos county, where he remained for a 
few months. 

Dr. Rieger began the drug business in 
1856, and in 1859 and i860 read medicine 
under his brother-in-law. Dr. J. B. Conger. 
He never attended a medical school, but 
after pursuing his studies for some time he 
began practice at Woodland, Freestone 
county, Texas, where he remained for nine 
years. He came to Hamilton county, in 
May, 1876, and August ist following he lo- 
cated upon his present place, buying two 
hundred and thirty-five acres of Robert S. 
Howell, to which he has since added a hun- 
dred-acre tract, and has made many valua- 
ble and useful improvements, including a 
good residence. The place is known as 
School Land Cove, although his land is not 

18 



school land. He gave up his practice in 
1890. 

On the 5th of May, 1859, Dr. Rieger 
was united in marriage with Miss Ann Eliza 
Mitchell, who was born July 13, 1839, in 
Benton county, Arkansas, and is the daugh- 
ter of David and Eliza (Davidson) Mitch- 
ell. Seven children graced their union: 
George David, born January 4, 1862, died 
October 2, following; Guy, born September 
7, 1867, died May 16, 1868; John M., born 
November 13, 1868, married Lizzie Thorn- 
ton, and is now a lawyer of Comanche, 
Texas; Albert C, born September 28, 1872, 
is engaged in teaching in Tom Green county, 
this state; Walton T., born September 9, 
1876, is also located in the same county; 
Jewel, born November 29, 1879, is attend- 
ing school at Comanche; and Ewell Mitch- 
ell, twin brother of the last named, died 
September 7, 1880. 

The Doctor was sworn into the Con- 
federate service March 31, 1862, becoming 
a member of Company E, Ninteenth Texas 
Cavalry, of the Trans-Mississippi Division, 
and was on duty mostly in Louisiana and 
Arkansas, but at the time of the surrender 
of Lee was stationed near Sterling, Texas, 
where the troops disbanded and he returned 
home. Politically, Dr. Rieger was a Demo- 
crat until seven years ago, when he joined 
the Prohibition party, with which he has 
since voted. Both he and his wife are 
worthy members of the Christian church, to 
which he has belonged for thirty years, and 
is now serving as elder. In his earlier life 
medical schools were few, and it was next to 
impossible for a young man in limited cir- 
cumstances residing in Texas to attend the 
medical colleges of the east. Hence the 
Doctor did as others in his day and under 
the same conditions. He was a close student 



HI STOUT OF TEXAS. 



under a practical physician, and from this 
worked into a practice along the frontier of 
his state, thus carrying the healing art to 
many who would have been deprived of it 
without the existence of such devoted prac- 
titioners as our subject. 



aHARLES W. TIDWELL is the 
popular and efficient clerk of 
Bosque. He cannot claim the 
distinction of a pioneer, but is 
justly entitled to the next highest honor, — 
that of a native son. He was elected to 
the office which he now fills in 1892, and 
re-elected two years later. Although com- 
paratively a young man his official career 
has been highly satisfactory to the citizens 
of ^Ieridian and Bosque county. From 
early manhood he has taken an active inter- 
est in political matters, being a stanch and 
steadfast advocate of Democracy, and may 
always be found allied with the progressive 
wing of the Democratic party. 

Mr. Tidwell was born in Limestone coun- 
ty, Texas, on the 25th of March, 1863, 
and is the fifth in order of birth in a family 
of seven children born to John \V. and 
Frances R. (McGee) Tidwell. The father 
was a native of Tennessee and a farmer 
by occupation. He emigrated to Texas as 
early as 1851, and was recognized as one of 
the substantial and progressive pioneer 
farmers of the Lone Star state, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1875, came to Bosque county. He is 
now deceased, but the mother of our sub- 
ject, who is a native of Mississippi, survives 
him, with six other members of the family. 
In the usual manner of farmers' sons, 
Charles W. Tidwell spent his boyhood and 
youth, attending the public schools of Bosque 
county, and early becoming familiar with 



the labors that fall to the lot of an agricul- 
turist. He completed his education by a 
business course at Bryant & Stratton's Com- 
mercial College at St. Louis, Missouri, in 
1885. Returning to his native State he 
again engaged in mercantile pursuits until 
elected to the office he now fills. 

On the 17th of November, 1886, Mr. 
Tidwell was united in marriage with Miss 
Rebecca Mingus, a native of Missouri, and 
they have become the parents of four chil- 
dren — Roberta, Gerald, Ruby and Winnie. 
The parents are members in good standing 
of the Methodist church, and Mr. Tidwell is 
prominently identified with Meridian Lodge, 
No. 268, F. & A. M., in which he now 
occupies one of the important official chairs. 
In all places and under all circumstances 
he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly 
valuing his own self-respect as infinitely 
more preferable than wealth, fame and 
position. 



HOMAS B. KING, the subject of 

this sketch, resides at Stephenville 

in Erath county, and is at this date, 

April, 1896, county judge of Erath 

county. 

Judge King was born on his father's farm 
near Richmond, Missouri, on April 12,1838. 
His father, Austin A. King, was then cir- 
cuit judge of the largest judicial district in 
the new west, and was afterward, 1848-52, 
governor of Missouri. Governor King's 
grandfather, John Sevier, was six times 
governor of Tennessee. From this stock 
sprang the Seviers, Conways and Rectors of 
Tennessee and Arkansas. On the maternal 
side Mr. King's mother was a Miss Roberts, 
of Albemarle county, Virginia, being con- 
nected with the large and influential families 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



of the Tuckers and Harrises and Randolphs 
of that section. 

Judge King, in his sixteenth year, en- 
tered the State University at Cohimbia, Mis- 
souri, and, after having passed through the 
entire curriculum of that institution, grad- 
uated at the same in the class of 1858, and, 
though the youngest of the class, received 
the highest honor by being awarded the 
honor of delivering the valedictory address. 
On graduating, he entered upon the study 
of law, and soon after settled at Liberty, 
Missouri, where he at once had a good prac- 
tice. In the meantime, at the age of 
twenty-two, he married Miss Emma Chiles, 
a niece of General Sterling Price. The civil 
war coming on, he moved to Jeflferson City, 
where he filled a position in the office of the 
secretary of state, which he held until the 
close of the war, when he resigned though 
offered double salary, as he did the work of 
two departments. 

The stormy scenes and outrages which 
were enacted along the Missouri and Kan- 
sas borders from 1854 to the beginning of 
the war, amidst which his boyhood was 
spent, rather set young King against the 
whole war business before the regular war 
came on; and the only part he took in it was 
to alleviate the sufferings and keep down, 
as far as possible, all asperities of passion 
regardless of sides. Not many months after 
his marriage his wife died, which event, 
coupled with the butchering, burning and 
bloodshed on all sides along in the early 
'60s, caused him to lose all desire for politi- 
cal life, except to heal breaches through 
which woes so immeasurable were flowing. 
Inheriting from his mother the strongest of 
religious tendencies, at the close of the war 
he entered the ministry; but, always being 
open and free to seek the truth in any field 



that might be found, before the close of the 
fourth year, when certain ordination doc- 
trinal vows had to be taken, he knew that 
he could not conscientiously vow that he 
believed what he did not believe. Hence, 
with great personal pain and forsaking a 
seemingly bright opening, he quietly with- 
drew from the Methodist conference, with 
the utmost good will to all, and, so far as he 
knew, with the kindest feelings on the part 
of those whom he left; and, while to-day he 
cherishes the memories of the old-time 
preachers who made their homes at his own 
mother's house, yet he could hardly see 
with them that there were ' ' three persons 
in the Godhead," but rather, that there is, 
nor can be, "only one Wise God," who is 
the Lord Jesus Christ; and besides this only 
God there is no other God, He being the 
First and Last, the Mighty God, the Won- 
derful, Counselor, the Heavenly Father, the 
Prince of Peaqe, in whom dwells bodily ' ' all 
fulness of the Godhead." The admission 
that there is but one God and that the Lord 
Jesus Christ is that only God, so alters the 
body of doctrine that springs from a belief 
of three personal Gods that not one stone is 
left on top of, or cohering with, another. In 
fact, the belief in the sole and supreme 
Godship, or divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
causes the passing away of all old things 
in spiritual thought, and substitutes in their 
place such truths as necessarily usher in the 
second coming of the Lord, which all men 
of Judge King's faith believe is now, and has 
been for many years, taking place, — that all 
old things are gradually passing away and 
all things are being made new. Judge King 
is what is commonly known as " Sweden- 
borgian," being thus identified with a people 
whose faith is as beautiful as it is rational, 
and as scriptural as it is practical. 



284 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



On June 2, 1864, Mr. King married Miss 
Clara Bingham, whose father, George C. 
Bingham, is known as the " Missouri Artist," 
and was at that time state treasurer of 
Missouri. Many of General Bingham's 
paintings hang in the public buildings of 
Missouri, — several in the capitol, for which 
he was paid from two thousand dollars to 
four thousand dollars. His daughter, Clara, 
was educated mostly in Europe and was 
herself possessed of great artistic talent, and 
was, by the Missouri legislature, voted a 
five hundred dollar medal as an honor for a 
portrait in needle-work of George Washing- 
ton, wrought by her artistic fingers before 
she was fifteen years of age. The portrait, 
as exact as a painting, hangs over the door 
of the chamber of representatives in the 
Missouri capitol, a gift from Mr. Bingham 
to the state. 

In 1873, Mr. King with his estimable 
wife and four children — Horace, Allie, 
Emma and Bingham— moved from Mis- 
souri to Erath county, Texas, where they 
have since lived. ' Besides the above named 
children they had raised Austin, Clara, Don, 
Laura and Fanny, all of whom, though 
modest and childlike, stand generally first 
at school, having won many school medals 
and are well liked by all who know them. 
Judge King has taught his children, as one 
rule of life, " Never receive any pay until 
you have earned it ; " and another, ' ' Demand 
nothing until j'ou convince persons in 
whose service you are that you deserve it. " 

Mr. King came to Texas with the intent 
to devote his life to farming and stock-rais- 
ing, to which for several years he devoted 
his time. But he saw that with the de- 
pressed condition of the agricultural classes 
it would be impossible for him, out of the 
profits of even a large ranch, to live and edu- 



cate his children. He resumed the practice 
of law, in which, had he had the heart as he 
had the adaptability and talent, he would 
have been, as in his college course, at the 
head. But he had a feeling bordering on 
disgust at the usual sharp, tricky, and fo.xy 
practices which go so greatly in these days 
toward money- making success at the bar. 
Hence, with his law business, he coupled 
a real-estate bureau, and succeeded in 
educating his children, which was his sole 
aim. But his final ambition is to find agri- 
culture restored to its lost estate and retire 
to the country to spend his last days looking 
into the faces of the big mellow-eyed milk 
cows, the tinkling of whose bells and the 
distant lowing of whose mellow throats are 
much more congenial to him than are the 
sinister contentions of attorneys or the hun- 
gry and hoarse brawlings of politicians. 

Judge King is what might be called a de- 
vout believer in the political doctrines of the 
People's party, and was elected county 
judge in 1894 as one of the standard-bearers 
of this party. He firmly believes that the 
true and only permanent remedy for exist- 
ing economic evils is that all should have 
homes and that all products of labor should 
have equal and inexpensive transportation 
to market, and, when reaching the market, 
be met with a volume of money equal to the 
needed volume of products, and so unfet- 
tered by corners, trusts and monopolies 
that producers and consumers could live and 
have life abundant. Hence, from the first, 
on through and up to date, he advocated 
what the People's party deem the essential 
trinity of Christian civilization, — homes for 
the people, cheap transportation and suffi- 
cient cash to pay as you go, — all of which 
are involved in the land, transportation and 
financial problems. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



285 



As radical as his views are, both rehg- 
iously and politically, he yet entertains them 
in such utmost charity and advocates them 
in such fairness of altruistic sincerity that 
among those differing with him he finds 
some of his best friends. 



J. ELLIS & COMPANY, is the 
title of a well known livery firm, 
proprietors of the " Iron Barn." 
The members of the firm are T. J. 
Ellis and Major W. R. Bratton, and they 
conduct one of the leading livery stables in 
this section of the state. 

Mr. Ellis was born at Cave Springs, 
Georgia, September 20, 1838, a son of 
James and Ollie (Varner) Ellis, both repre- 
sentatives of prominent old families of 
Georgia. The paternal grandparents were 
Radford and Elizabeth (McCoy) Ellis, na- 
tives of North Carolina. The former was 
a prosperous and prominent farmer and 
slave-owner, and was also proprietor of a 
fine merchant mill. In the Baptist church 
he was a leading member, and all who 
knew him respected him for his genuine 
worth. He served in the Revolutionary 
war, as did the maternal grandfather of our 
subject. James Ellis was an extensive 
planter and slave-owner, and both he and 
his wife were prominent in the Baptist 
church, in which he served as deacon. In 
politics he was a stalwart Democrat. His 
death occurred December 25, i86r, and his 
wife died April 5, 1862. They had eight 
children: Matthew V., who is living in 
Georgia at the age of seventy-eight; Rad- 
ford and Susan H. , both deceased; Elizabeth, 
wife of W. H. Dykes, both deceased; Jack 
L. , of Georgia; James M., deceased; Mar- 



tha P., wife of J. B. Appleton, of Alabama; 
and T. J., of this review. 

The last named remained with his par- 
ents until after his marriage, which occurred 
in i860. In July of the following year he 
entered the Confederate service, as a mem- 
ber of Company C, First Georgia Cavalry, 
which was joined to the Army of the Ten- 
nessee. He continued at the front, partici- 
pating in many hard-fought engagements 
until 1865, when with Johnston's army he 
surrendered in North Carolina. Upon his 
return home he found that nearly all the 
fences and buildings had been destroyed and 
his stock killed. It indeed was a sorrowful 
home-coming, but he hopefully began the 
work of replacing the lost possessions, and 
embarked in the stock business, at length 
becoming prominent as a breeder of fine 
horses and mules, and continued in that 
business until 1889, when he came to 
Comanche county .and purchased a farm. 
This he sold in 1891 and embarked in the 
livery business. His first stable was burned, 
causing him heavy loss. In 1894 he entered 
into partnership with Major Bratton, and 
they now conduct the leading stable in the 
town. 

Mr. Ellis was married in i860 to Susie 
M. Trippe, a lady of an intelligent and good 
family, whose parents, James J. and Martha 
(Patillo) Trippe, were both natives of 
Georgia. Their last days were spent in 
Alabama, and in the Methodist Episcopal 
church they held membership. They reared 
a family of eight children, but only William 
H. and Susie are now living. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ellis had four children, three yet living, — 
Ollie, wife of W. E. Trippe, a hardware 
merchant of Birmingham, Alabama; Jennie, 
wife of Dr. T. E. Garrett, of Durant, Indian 
Territory; and James C. , at home. Mr. 



286 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and Mrs. Ellis belong to the Methodist 
church, and are highly esteemed people. 
In his political faith he is a Democrat, and 
in Georgia faithfully served for ten years as 
justice of the peace, but has never been an 
aspirant for office. 

Major W. R. Bratton is an early settler 
of Te.xas, a veteran of two wars, and a man 
of prominence in the community where he 
makes his home. He was born in Mason 
county, Kentucky, May 8, 1830, and at the 
age of two years went with his parents to 
Madison, Indiana. His father, Hiram 
Bratton, a native of Kentucky, married 
Edith Moore, who also was born in the 
same state. He was a steamboat captain, 
and while on the lower Mississippi in 1832 
became a victim of the cholera. In 1839 
Mrs. Bratton removed to western Indiana, 
where she became the wife of Peter Smith, 
and in 1844 the family emigrated overland 
to Texas, locating on a farm in Matagorda 
county. In 1852 they went to Williamson 
county, where Mr. Smith engaged in farm- 
ing and stock-raising until his death, which 
occurred in 1862. His wife survived him 
four years. Both were members of the 
Christian church. The sister of our sub- 
ject, Emily Bratton, is the wife of O. Bene- 
dict, who came to Texas selling clocks, and 
is now a farmer and stock dealer of Kansas. 

The Major spent about twelve years of 
his boyhood in Indiana, and when a youth 
of fourteen came to Texas with his mother. 
In 1S46 he left home, and the same year 
enlisted in McCullough's regiment for the 
Mexican war, serving from the first battle 
at Palo Alto until the close. He then re- 
turned to the Lone Star state and did duty 
on the frontier protecting the pioneers for 
two years, when he was relieved by the 
regular United States forces. In 1850 he 



returned to Indiana, where for two years he 
attended school, acquiring his education 
without aid from home. In 1855 he se- 
cured employment in a dry-goods store, 
where he remained until 1859, when he 
again came to Texas. While in Indiana he 
was appointed postmaster of ' Eugene, of 
that state, by Franklin Pierce, and filled 
the office for two years. After taking up 
his abode in Williamson county, Texas, he 
also served as postmaster, and in addition 
engaged in merchandising. At the inaugu- 
ration of the civil war he sold his store and 
joined Colonel Gurley's regiment, the Thir- 
teenth Texas Cavalry, which was attached 
to the trans-Mississippi department. He 
was made first lieutenant of his company, 
and did service in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Indian Territory. He participated in many 
hard-fought battles, but was never wounded 
or captured, and after his captain was made 
major of the regiment he had full command 
of his company. 

On the close of the war, Mr. Bratton re- 
turned to Williamson county, where he 
again engaged in merchandising. During 
the reconstruction period he was robbed of 
all his goods in a single night and there was 
no law to protect him then. Soon after- 
ward he became manager of the mill owned 
by J. W. Adkins, and in this capacity made 
several trips to San Antonio and other 
markets, where he found a sale for the mill 
products. In 1866 he once more opened 
a store, which he conducted with fair suc- 
cess for eleven years. In 1877 he sold and 
removed to Brown county, where he pur- 
chased a farm. In 1882 he disposed of that 
property and came to Comanche, where he 
has since followed the livery business. He 
has been associated with several partners, 
but is now connected with T. J. Ellis, and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



287 



the "Iron Barn," of Comanche, of which 
they are proprietors, is one of the best 
equipped Hvery stables in this section of the 
state. 

Major Bratton married Miss Frances 
Pyle, who was born in Vermilhon county, 
Indiana, October 22, 1833, a daughter of 
Robert Pyle, formerly of Ohio, who removed 
from the Hoosier state in 1859 to Texas. 
He was a farmer by occupation, and both 
he and his wife are now deceased. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bratton have four children, as follows: 
Eva, wife of Albert Wulfgen, of Colorado 
City; Robert M., of Goldthwait, Texas; 
May, wife of Ernst J. Carmerbu, of Waco, 
Texas; and Florida, widow of Dr. Mays. In 
his social relations the Major is a Royal 
Arch Mason, and in religious belief he and 
his wife are zealous Methodists. In politics 
he was a Democrat until after the late war, 
since which time he has been an ardent Re- 
publican. 



aAPTAIN MOSES HURLEY 
stands conspicuously forth as one 
of the most prominent men in 
western Texas. He is a progres- 
sive and liberal-minded gentleman, who has 
made a success of his life's work, and is 
now living in the enjoyment of the accu- 
mulated fruits of his labor. There are few 
men whose lives are crowned with the 
honor and respect which are so freely 
accorded him wherever he is known, but in 
many ways he has advanced the interests of 
the state, and in all the relations of life he 
has never deviated from a course which 
his judgment would indicate to be right and 
honorable between his fellow men and 
himself. 

A native of Tennessee, the Captain was 



born in 1829, a son of Rev. Henry and 
Debby (Bowen) Hurley, the former a native 
of North Carolina and the latter of Ten- 
nessee. The maternal grandfather, John 
Bowen, was a Revolutionary patriot and a 
well known man of his day, being a recog- 
nized leader in matters of public import- 
ance. The parents of our subject were 
married in Tennessee, and in 1836 removed 
to Missouri, settling in Lawrence county. 
It was there he was ordained to preach the 
gospel according to the tenets of the Primi- 
tive Baptist church, and for many years 
thereafter his labors were devoted to the 
ministry. In 1845 he came with his family 
to Texas, traveling overland with an ox 
team. He first located in the Merciers 
colony in Hunt county, where he was given 
six hundred and forty acres of land, upon 
which he made his home until 1858. During 
that time he was engaged in preaching the 
gospel and in doing ministerial work in the 
settled portions of the state. In 1858 he 
came to Erath county and the same year 
organized the first Primitive Baptist church 
within its borders, preaching there until his 
death, which occurred in 1869, when he had 
reached the age of seventy-two years. The 
mother passed away in 1871, aged sixty- 
eight years. They had a family of four 
sons and eight daughters, of whom five are 
now living, namely: Elizabeth Boucher, 
Mrs. Mary F. Fooshee; Moses, William B. 
and Robert T. 

Rev. Henry Hurley was well fitted by 
nature and training for the part which he 
took in the development of the Lone Star 
state. He possessed unlimited courage to 
meet all kinds of danger, and to the call of 
duty he ever responded, no matter what 
sacrifice was thereby required. He worked 
and labored in the interests of his fellow 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



men when for personal safety he had to be 
as familiar with the use of the rifle as with 
texts of scripture, and in his long journeys 
through the country he carried a double- 
barreled shotgun and a six-shooter in order 
to defend himself, should the occasion de- 
mand, against the murderous redskins who 
infested the country through which he 
traveled and preached, proclaiming the doc- 
trine of " peace on earth, good will to men " 
in a country where such a faith was much 
needed. In his early life he had been inured 
to the hardship of frontier life, had there 
learned the use of firearms and frequently 
accompanied the celebrated Davy Crockett 
of Alamo fame on many hunting expeditions. 
He was a man of stout build, about five 
feet eight inches in height, with dark com- 
plexion and black eyes, and weighed about 
one hundred and sixty-five pounds. Al- 
though a member of the Baptist church, he 
was a man of very broad views, recognizing 
the brotherhood of humanity and the fact 
that all churches were striving to bring the 
world to a knowledge of the saving power 
of Christ. This led him often to invite 
ministers of other denominations to fill his 
pulpit. He loved all men and was loved by 
them in return. He was a powerful preacher 
and possessed a natural eloquence that car- 
ried conviction to the hearts of his hearers. 
Into his declining years he carried the men- 
tal and physical vigor of early manhood, 
and was thus enabled to continue his labors 
with undiminished ardor until late in life. 
The good such a man does cannot be meas- 
ured, but his influence is felt by all who 
knew him as a blessed benediction, and his 
memory is cherished by hundreds of friends 
throughout Texas. 

The childhood days of Captain Hurley 
were spent in Tennessee and Missouri. After 



the removal of the family to the latter state 
he attended school and acquired a good 
knowledge of the common English branches 
of learning. He was sixteen years of age 
when his parents moved to Texas, and two 
years later, in 1848, he enlisted for service 
in the Mexican war as a member of the 
regiment commanded by Colonel Jack 
Hayes and was made orderly sergeant of 
Captain Snell's company. During the war 
he was stationed principally in San Antonio. 
After the cessation of hostilities he returned 
to his home, where he remained until his 
marriage. 

That important event in his life occurred 
in 1857, the lady who became his wife be- 
ing Miss Mary Tucker, daughter of J. M. 
and Lurana (Gregory) Tucker. They re- 
moved to Fannin county, Texas, where they 
lived for a year and a half, while Mr. Hur- 
ley acceptably filled the offices of justice of 
the peace and county commissioner. In 
1858 he removed to Erath county, settling 
three miles from Dublin, where he lived ten 
years. In 1868 he came to his present 
home, purchasing at the time one hundred 
and sixty acres of land. He now owns three 
hundred and ninety acres, a well improved 
tract, much of which is under cultivation. 
He is also extensively engaged in raising 
horses and mules of the best grades from 
pedigreed stock. 

During the late war Captain Hurley was 
a member of the home guard and did yeo- 
man service on the frontier against the In- 
dians. He had many adventures and par- 
ticipated in many fights with the savages 
who planned and carried out every form of 
attack imaginable, being unexcelled in 
treachery and craftiness. Such warfare as 
the home guard was obliged to participate 
in was often more arduous and dangerous 




^/^. 



-(^- ^ft.^/e4nen 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



than that in which the boys in gray and 
blue took part. On one occasion Captain 
Hurley was wounded in the chin. He is a 
gentleman of dauntless courage and great 
determination, who was never known to 
flinch in the performance of any duty. 

Socially, the Captain is a valued and 
honored member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, belonging to both the sub- 
ordinate lodge and the encampment, and 
for six years has represented the Stephen- 
ville lodge in the grand lodge and has been 
district deputy grand master for four years. 
Politically he is a stalwart advocate of the 
principles of Democracy. On all matters 
of general interest, especially concerning 
the public welfare, he is well informed. He 
is an entertaining converser, a logical rea- 
soner and is an eloquent and forceful speaker 
on the stump. In parliamentary proceed- 
ings he is well versed, and in logical dispu- 
tations his services are often in demand as 
moderator, while as presiding officer he has 
few if any equals in the county. Mr. 
Hurley enjoys a very wide acquaintance in 
the state of his adoption and is justly a fa- 
vorite with his numerous friends. 



>Y*AMES M. STEPHEN.— In all Erath 
J county there is no family deserving of 
m J more prominent mention than the 
one to which this gentleman belongs. 
From the earliest settlement of the county 
he has been one of its residents, and has 
always taken an active interest in its de- 
velopment and upbuilding. It was in honor 
of his father that the name of Stephenville 
was given to the county seat; and it was an 
honor well deserved, for he was most prom- 
inent in opening the way to civilization in 
this locality, and largely aided in laying the 



foundation upon which the present pros- 
perity and advancement of the county rests. 
Pioneer life, with its attending hardship 
and inconveniences, became very familiar 
to the family. Their home was upon the 
broad, unbroken prairie, far from other set- 
tlements and in constant danger from Indian 
depredations. 

Mr. Stephen, of this review, was born 
in Washington county, Texas, on the 2d 
of March, 1846, and was the youngest child 
born to John M. and Miranda E. (Walker) 
Stephen. The father was a native of Mis- 
souri, born December 29, 18 14, and a son 
of James Stephen. He came to the Lone 
Star state in a very early day, and when 
the settlers attempted to gain independence 
from the Mexican rule he entered the ser- 
vice and aided in establishing the republic 
of Texas. He was married to Miss Walker 
August I, 1837, and resided in Washing- 
ton and Burleson counties, following the 
occupation of farming until 1854, when, 
with the true pioneer spirit strong within 
him, he started out in search of a suitable 
location further west. He pushed on into the 
Indian Territory, surveyed the land now 
comprised in Erath county and located the 
tract on which Stephenville stands. The 
following year he removed a negro family 
to this place and began the development of 
a farm. The succeeding year he moved 
his family to the home which he had pre- 
pared for their reception, and in 1855 laid off 
the town site of Stephenville. This place 
was made the county seat of the new county, 
and, as before stated, was named in honor 
of its founder. He established the first mer- 
cantile store there, carrying a general line 
of goods, such as would be in demand by 
the settlers living here on the frontier. He 
also engaged in farming and stock-raising 



290 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and thus laid the foundation for a suc- 
cessful business career. After a time he 
changed his place of residence to a farm a 
mile and a half east of Stephenville. 

While residing there Mrs. Stephen, the 
mother of our subject, died, passing away 
on the 5th of March, 1859. She left two 
children, while two had preceded her to 
the eternal home. The eldest son, Samuel, 
was killed by the Indians, December 27, 
1S58, at the age of seventeen years, and 
John Brown died at the age of six months. 
A daughter, Mary A., was married Decem- 
ber 17, 1S54, to Dr. W. W. McNeill, and 
has since died; and our subject completes 
the family. The father was again married 
April 5, i860, his second union being with 
Eveline Bellina, a native of Illinois, who 
came to Te.xas at ah early day. They had 
three children, but all are now deceased. 
After the death of his first wife Mr. Stephen 
removed to what was known as the old 
Colonel Holcomb farm on the Bosque river. 
At the time it was a barren tract, but he 
transformed it into richly cultivated fields, 
made excellent improvements upon it and 
resided there until his death, which occurred 
on the 31st of October, 1862. Only one 
who has gone through such experiences can 
understand what the term " pioneer life " 
means. Surrounded by the comforts of 
civilization, which railroads bring, with 
thriving towns only a few miles away, one 
cannot realize what it is to go into an unin- 
habited region, far from friends, and estab- 
lish a home. It requires fortitude and real 
bravery. The pioneers of Erath county 
not only had the usual experiences which 
fall to the frontiersman, but were in con- 
stant danger from the Indians. The greatest 
sorrow which came into the lives of John 
and Miranda Stephen was the loss of this 



son at the hands of the treacherous savages. 
The parents were both consistent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. 
Stephen took a very active part in its work, 
was one of the organizers of the church and 
afterward served as its steward. He will be 
well remembered by many of. the old settlers 
here as a man of sterling worth, possessing 
many admirable qualities which commanded 
the respect and confidence of all who knew 
Jiim. 

The subject of this review was a child 
of nine years when he came to Erath county 
with his parents. He lived in a manner 
similar to that of all pioneer lads, early 
learning all kinds of farm work, but having 
few opportunities to acquire an education, 
for schools had not then been established. 
He worked in the fields or assisted in the 
care of the stock, and after the death of his 
father, the home having been broken up, he 
engaged in stock-raising for himself. Dur- 
ing the war he served in the militia, enlist- 
ing when only sixteen years of age. His 
duty was in the line of frontier service, and 
he remained with his command until after 
the cessation of hostilities. He then en- 
gaged in farming, in company with his 
brother-in-law. Dr. McNeill, the business 
association between them continuing for 
three years, when he purchased his present 
farm, first becoming owner of two hundred 
acres of wild land, which he at once began 
to improve. From time to time he has 
added to his property until his possessions 
now aggregate more than one thousand 
acres, of which four hundred acres are under 
a high state of cultivation. This is one of 
the finest farms in all the county, with its 
well-tilled fields, its good buildings, its im- 
proved machinery and the other accessories 
found upon a model farm of the nineteenth 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



291 



century. In his business dealings he has 
been very successful, owing to his indomita- 
ble perseverance and dauntless energy and 
industry. 

Mr. Stephen was married on the 2ist of 
August, 1887, to Miss Florence Fay, a most 
estimable young lady. She is a native of 
Erath county and a daughter of E. S. Fay, 
who came to this locality when it was a 
wild, frontier region. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen 
have had four children,— Ollin W., Ethel 
A., and two who died in infancy. The 
parents are worthy members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and their well- 
spent lives are in harmony with their pro- 
fession. In their home hospitality reigns 
supreme, and the Stephen residence is a 
favorite resort with their many friends. In 
his political views Mr. Stephen is a Demo- 
crat, but so engrossing are the cares of his 
extensive estate that he has no time for 
political office, even though he had inclina- 
tions in that direction. 



>y»OSEPH H. ALEXANDER, M. D., 

J is one of the able and prominent 
A I medical practitioners of Meridian. 
This being his birthplace the formal- 
ity of an introduction is unnecessary. He 
has been well and favorably known from his 
childhood, and enjoys the confidence and 
respect of the entire community, not only as 
a gentleman but also as a thorough and 
well-read physician of the regular profession. 
The Doctor was born on the 22d of July, 
1870, and in his native city was reared and 
educated. He is a son of Thomas C. and 
Catherine ( Little ) Alexander, highly re- 
spected citizens of Meridian. The father's 
birth occurred in Maury county, Tennessee, 
September 15, 1824, and he is a son of 



Silas Alexander, a native of North Carolina. 
The advent of the family into the latter 
state antedates the Revolutionary war, and 
our subject springs from a long-lived and 
prolific family. His father emigrated to 
Texas in 1848, and in 1855 located at Merid- 
ian, where he has since resided. In past 
years he was prominently engaged in cattle- 
raising and also practiced law, which he had 
made a special study while a resident of 
Tennessee, and was admitted to practice in 
this state in 1849. He served in the Me.xi- 
can war and held a commission in the Con- 
federate army during the civil war, being 
first lieutenant in the Tenth Texas Infantry, 
commanded by Colonel A. Nelson and later 
by Roger Q. Mills. After hostilities had 
ceased. Captain Alexander returned to Merid- 
ian, being somewhat broken down in 
health, and has never fully recovered his 
former strength. After practicing law for a 
time, he began merchandising, which line of 
business he still follows. The Captain has 
been twice married and reared two families, 
the last marriage being consummated at 
Meridian in 1869. 

By the second union there are seven 
children, of whom the Doctor is the eldest. 
Prior to beginning his professional studies he 
had followed the printing business, which he 
began when only fourteen years of age, and 
at one time was foreman on the Alliance 
Sun. This journal ceased publication sev- 
eral years ago and soon afterward our sub- 
ject entered the office of Dr. J. J. Lumpkin, 
whose sketch appears on another page of 
this work. Dr. Alexander took a course of 
lectures at the Texas Medical College, at 
Galveston, and was graduated at the Mem- 
phis Hospital and Medical College in 1891. 
Since his return to Meridian he has engaged 
in the practice of his profession, and also 



292 



niSTORT OF TEXAS. 



carries on the drug business with his brother. 
He is now enjoying a large and hicrative 
practice, and may well be numbered among 
the rising young physicians of the state. 

In Bosque county, on the 20th of July, 
1892, was performed a wedding ceremony 
which united the destinies of Dr. Alexander 
and Miss Belle Lumpkin, a native of South 
Carolina, and their union has been blessed 
by the birth of two children, — Elmo and 
Kathlinc. 



Vj^AMES POWELL WORD.— Among 
■ the later additions to the ranks of 
/• 1 the legal fraternity in Bosque county 
is the gentleman with whose name 
this article commences. Although a recent 
arrival his attainments in the line of his 
professional duties have already won for 
him a high standing at the bar of the 
county, as well as among the people of 
Meridian and its vicinity, — the scene of his 
present labors. 

Mr. Word first made his appearance on 
the stage of this life in Pontotoc county, 
Mississippi, on the 4th of June, 1858, and 
is the fifth child in the family of James O. 
and Evatine (Strickland) Word. When a 
mere child his mother died, passing away 
in i860. The father, who was a native of 
Georgia, removed to Carroll county, Georgia, 
in 1862, where he followed farming, and to 
that calling our subject was reared. When 
about si.xteen years of age he began the 
battle of life on his own account, his edu- 
cation having previously been secured in 
private schools. In 1875 he returned to 
the haunts of his childhood in Mississippi, 
and for a year or more worked upon farms 
for wages. He then planted crops on the 
shares for a time. 



On coming to Texas, Mr. Word made 
his iirst location at Tyler, and later for a 
few months was engaged in operating a cot- 
ton gin in Rusk county. For several months 
he was then engaged in teaching, after 
which he was employed as a salesman in a 
mercantile house at Pine Hill for a year. 
We next find him at Iredell, Bosque county, 
where he conducted a school for some five 
years, reading law in the meanwhile. The 
following three years were .spent as a sales- 
man in a mercantile establishment, and 
during this time he completed his law studies 
and was admitted to practice on the 17th 
of October, 1892. He followed his pro- 
fession at Iredell until the fall of 1894, 
when he permanently located at Meridian, 
where he has established a good and con- 
stantly increasing practice. Politically, Mr. 
Word was formerly a Democrat, but is 
now as stanch and steadfast as an advocate 
of the People's party, and is their candidate 
for county attorney. 

In Bosque county, on the 5th of Octo- 
ber, 18S5, was celebrated the marriage of 
Mr. Word and Miss Alice Hendricks, a 
native of Texas, and a daughter of W. J. 
Hendricks, who came to this state in 1S66. 
Four children now grace this union, — Bar- 
ney F., James E. , William H. and Lola 
Ethel. 



aOLONEL J. A. JAQUESS, de- 
ceased, was a prominent citizen of 
Bosque county, where, as a leader 
among men, his memory is held in 
reverence and honor. He was very influ- 
ential in public affairs, as by his strong 
force of character and undoubted integrity 
he gained the confidence of the people, who 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



293 



saw in him a man wliom they could trust as 
a guide and well fitted to hold public office. 

Mr. Jaquess was born in Campbell 
county, Kentucky, February 14, 1830, and 
was the son of James and Mary (Howard) 
Jaquess, the former a native of France and 
the latter of Cincinnati, Ohio, where her 
people were numbered among the prominent 
families. The Colonel secured a good edu- 
cation in a Catholic college at Vincennes, 
Indiana, and while young served as a lieu- 
tenant in the Mexican war. For a time he 
was engaged in merchandising in New Or- 
leans, and in 1856 joined General Walker's 
army in the Nicaragua expedition as an offi- 
cer, while during the civil war he served as 
colonel of the First Louisiana Infantry. 
While a resident of Louisiana he also served 
as a member of the legislature, representing 
the city of New Orleans. 

After the close of the civil war Colonel 
Jaquess was engaged in the cotton trade at 
Mobile, Alabama, being associated in busi- 
ness with Colonel Parker, a brother-in-law 
of General Ben Butler, and also served as 
tax assessor of that city. It was in March, 
1879, that he came to Texas for the benefit 
of his health, and purchased a good farm of 
two hundred acres, on which he engaged in 
sheep-raising. In early life a Whig, but 
later a Prohibitionist, he took an active in- 
terest in the party in Bosque county, and 
socially was a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity. 

On the 4th of July, 1848, in Louisiana, 
was celebrated the marriage of Colonel 
Jaquess and Miss Eliza Simpson, a lady of 
culture and refinement, who is a daughter 
of John Simpson, of Virginia, of Scotch de- 
scent. Her mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Aglia Tyler, belonged to a promi- 
nent family, and was a cousin of President 



Tyler. The father was an extensive planter 
and slave-owner. George W. Simpson, the 
brother of Mrs. Jaqu'^ss, was an officer in 
the Confederate army, and for three years 
was held a prisoner on Johnson island. He 
is now a railroad official, and makes his 
home at Jacksonville, Florida. 

Eight children were born to the Colonel 
and his estimable wife, only two of whom 
lived to maturity: Parthenia, who is profi- 
cient in music, is now the widow of James 
Kline, who died at Waco, Texas, August 
26, 1889, leaving three sons, — John Jaquess, 
James Gerard and Lumpkin. The other 
daughter, Charleta, died in 1878, and was 
a young lady loved and respected by all who 
knew her. Mrs. Jaquess still lives upon the 
old homestead near Meridian, where she is 
surrounded by all the comforts of life, and 
is passing the evening of her life among 
many warm friends, who have for her the 
highest regard. 



m 



LLIAM C. JONES, M. D., is 
one of Bosque county's most 
prominent and progressive physi- 
cians and surgeons, located at 
Walnut Springs. Practical industry wisely 
and vigorously applied never fails of success. 
It carries man onward and upward, bring- 
ing out his individual character and power- 
fully stimulating the action of others. It 
is this untiagging spirit of industry that has 
laid the foundation and has built the com- 
mercial greatness of the southwest. The 
career of the subject of this sketch happily 
illustrates the foregoing observations. Born 
and reared amid adverse surroundings, his 
indomitable will and energy, combined with 
sterling integrity, have placed him in the 



294 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



front ranks of the medical fraternity of this 
section of the country. 

Dr. Jones was born in Hickman county, 
Tennessee, July 17, 1861, and is the second 
in the family of four children born to Richard 
W. and Eliza (Wadkins) Jones, the former 
a native of Tennessee and the latter of Vir- 
ginia. Both were descendants of early and 
influential southern families. The father 
was by occupation a farmer, and from the 
rocky soil of Tennessee obtained a living 
for himself and family until 1871, when he 
removed to Texas. 

In this state the Doctor was reared to 
farm life, and his literary education was ob- 
tained in the public schools. His ambition 
was of the most practical kind, which an 
intelligent, energetic youth would be almost 
certain to have. He did not believe the road 
to wealth and position could be traveled 
rapidly, but he determined to labor faith- 
fully and diligently to rise above the condi- 
tions which surrounded his boyhood. At 
the age of twenty years he began the study 
of medicine under the guidance of Dr. 
Scott Milam as his preceptor, and took his 
first course of lectures at Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity, of Nashville, Tennessee, after which 
he engaged in practice some eighteen months 
at Eulogy, Bosque county. His second 
course was received at the Bellevue Medical 
College of New York city, and he graduated 
at that institution in 1886, since which time 
he has been in constant practice at Walnut 
Springs. He took a post-graduate course at 
the Post-Graduate Medical school and Hos- 
pital of New York in 1895. 

The Doctor is also proprietor of a drug 
store, and some seven years ago established 
the Walnut Springs Hospital for employees 
of the Te.xas Central and the Waco & 
Northwestern Railroad Companies, and at 



this writing is the chief surgeon of that insti- 
tution. He is a member of the State Med- 
ical Association and also holds a member- 
ship in the Texas and National Associations 
of Railway Surgeons. Socially he is con- 
nected with the Knights of Honor of Wal- 
nut Springs. 

On the 17th of July, 1887, Dr. Jones 
was united in marriage with Miss Jessie 
Russell, a native of Texas and a daughter 
of W. H. Russell, M. D., and of this union 
four children have been born, namely: Lute 
R., Ethel, Mabel and Clara. 



HOMAS SOLOMON VAUGHN, 

a pioneer settler of Texas, now 
living on his fine farm near Potts- 
ville, in Hamilton county, was 
born on the 28th of February, 1836, in 
Yalobusha county, Mississippi, and is a son 
of John and Malinda (Reed) Vaughn, who 
brought their family to Texas in the fall of 
1837, locating first at Cedar Creek, Wash- 
ington county, but on account of the Indi- 
ans they went to Montgomery county three 
years later. Their next move made them 
residents of Brazos county, whence they 
went to Robertson county, and later across 
the line to Rogers' prairie in Leon county. 
The father died September 4, 1850, at the 
age of forty-five years. He was a native of 
Virginia, and having lost his parents when 
a very small child he was reared by an uncle. 
The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
John Reed, was of Irish descent, and in 
his family were the following children: 
Hester, Nancy, Malinda, Lucy, Betsy, 
Mary, who wedded Mr. Milej', George, 
Amanda, and Solomon. 

Shortly after the death of his father, 
Thomas S. Vaughn started out in life for 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



295 



himself, first driving a team between Hous- 
ton, Dallas, Fort Worth and other points, 
and during that time made his home in 
Leon county. After a few months he be- 
came owner of a couple of teams and en- 
gaged in the freighting business. He next 
began dealing in cattle, having a herd of 
one hundred and fifty. His personal inter- 
ests were interrupted, however, by the 
breaking out of the civil war, and on the 
2 2d of May, 1862, he entered the Confeder- 
ate service as a member of Company B, 
Gould's battalion. Walker's division. He 
served in the cavalry for six months in 
Arkansas and Louisiana, taking part in all 
the engagements in which his command 
participated. 

The war over, Mr. Vaughn returned to 
Leon county, and explored the central and 
western portions of the state looking for a 
location, and at length pre-empted land 
east of the Leon river, about four miles 
from Jonesboro. He afterward exchanged 
that land for other lands and added to it 
until he had four hundred and eighteen acres, 
eighty of which was under cultivation, some 
of the improvements having been made 
upon the land before he purchased it. Later 
he exchanged this for a cotton gin at Potts- 
ville and a farm of two hundred and forty 
acres on the Hoover branch up the Cow- 
house, exchanging with E. Manning. On 
the nth of November, 1875, he bought of 
T. J. Rosser and wife his present place 
comprising two hundred and forty acres, 
and the following November removed there- 
on. He has also purchased seven hundred 
and ninety-two acres of land adjoining. 
His cotton gin was operated by another 
party and finally sold to J. C. C. Martin & 
Son, Mr. Martin being his son-in-law. Dur- 
ingthe early day she experienced much trouble 



with the Indians, having at one time five 
head of horses taken by them. In 1873 he 
sold his stock of cattle, numbering at that 
time nine hundred head. From September, 
1874, to March, 1S95, he was in the sheep 
business, at times having as many as twenty- 
four to twenty-six hundred head. At pres- 
ent (summer of 1896) he has a little over two 
hundred head of horses and mules. He 
also owns and operates a cotton-gin, at 
Indian Gap. 

On the 20th of May, 185S, at Rogers' 
Prairie, Leon county, Mr. Vaughn married 
Miss Eliza Clark, who was born in Arkansas, 
September i, 1837, and is the daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary Ann (Pierce) Clark. 
Her father emigrated to Texas in 1842, lo- 
cating first in Hopkins county, but his last 
days were passed in Leon county, where he 
died in August, 1866, at the age of eighty 
years. He was a native of Tennessee, 
whence he removed to Nebraska, later to 
Arkansas and Missouri, and finally became 
a resident of the Lone Star state. In the 
war of 18 1 2 he served under General Jack- 
son, participating in the battle of New Or- 
leans. At the early age of nineteen years 
he became a minister of the Missionary Bap- 
tist church, and was the first missionary 
sent to Missouri by the Board of American 
Baptist Missions. On arriving in Texas he 
spent some time in the Red River Associa- 
tion, and in 1852 became a member of 
the Trinity River Association. 

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn 
comprise the following children: Theodocia, 
born July 25, 1859, died at the age of three 
months; Owen, born July 28, i860, died 
December 14, 1888; Thomas Lewis, born 
December 13, 1862, married Katie Walton, 
by whom he has three children, — Austin, 
Viola and William, — and with his family 



296 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



now resides in Coke county, Texas, where 
he is engaged in farming and ginning cotton; 
Julia Ann, born June 29, 1865, married J. 
C. C. Martin, now of Comanche, Texas, by 
whom she has five children — Solomon Tay- 
lor, Lorena, Grover Cleveland, Georgia Belle 
andOrelia; Malinda Aryella, born September 
7, 1 868, died September 4, 1 873 ; Mary Eme- 
line, born July 2, 1873, is the wife of G. P. 
Pierce, and they have four children, — Lou- 
ella, Esther Ethel, Nora Vida and Thomas 
Marcus; Francis Marion and James Monroe, 
twins, born October 7, 1875, are engaged 
in farming in Cooke county, Texas; and Mar- 
tha Lulu, born September 14, 1879, is at 
home. 

Mr. Vaughn is a type of the old stock- 
man of his section of the state, which is now 
fast becoming extinct, and has taken a 
prominent part in the affairs of the locality. 
He cast his first vote in support of the Know 
Nothing party, but is now an ardent Demo- 
crat. He joined the Masonic order at 
Jonesboro in 1872, and now holds his mem- 
bership in Rock House Lodge, No. 417, F. 
& A. M., of Hamilton; joined Sycamore 
Grange, when organized, of which he became 
treasurer, and also belongs to the Farmers' 
Alliance. He is a conscientious, Christian 
gentleman, of the strictest integrity, and for 
twenty-seven years has been an active mem- 
ber of the Baptist church. 



HG. B. DUNN, M. D., a retired 
physician who is now living near 
Selden, Texas, where he is success- 
fully engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, is one of the esteemed and valued 
citizens of Erath county. He comes of an 
old Virginian family, the Old Dominion 
having long been the ancestral home of the 



Dunns. His grandfather, James Dunn, 
received from King James a patent for a 
tract of land in Virginia. He married a 
Miss Harvey, also a representative of one 
of the old families of Virginia, and their son 
James became the father of the Doctor. 
He married Elizabeth Collins, a native of 
Virginia and of Irish descent. 

Our subject was born in Albemarle 
county, Virginia, in 1837, and spent his 
boyhood days there. His early educational 
privileges were supplemented by a course in 
the high school at Standardville and in 
Roanoke College, in Salem, Virginia. Before 
he was graduated the civil war was inaugu- 
rated and he laid aside his text-books and 
volunteered for service in the Confederate 
army. He joined the boys in gray in 1862 
and was stationed at Camp Lee, where he 
was assigned to duty in connection with the 
hospital. It was his experience in this way 
that probably influenced him to take up the 
study of medicine. He attended medical 
lectures at Richmond, Virginia, and was 
there equipped for practice. 

When the war was over Mr. Dunn 
returned to his old home, where he arrived 
the night of General Lee's surrender. For 
two years he remained in Virginia, and in 
1867 removed to Lincoln county, Missouri, 
where he engaged in the practice of medi- 
cine until coming to Texas in 1880. His 
first location in the Lone Star state was in 
Grayson county, whence the following year 
he came to Erath county, taking up his 
abode upon his present farm. He purchased 
sixty-one acres of partially improved land, 
and with characteristic energy began its 
further development. He has prospered in 
his undertakings and as his financial 
resources have increased has extended the 
boundaries of his farm until it now com- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



297 



prises six hundred and eighty-five acres, of 
which one hundred and ten acres is under 
cultivation. The improvements upon the 
place are modern in style and in keeping 
with the progressive spirit of the nineteenth 
century. His residence is a commodious 
structure, of a pleasing styleof architecture, 
and its furnishings are tasteful and comfort- 
able. The house stands in the midst of a 
well cultivated farm, which is justly regarded 
as one of the best in this section of the state. 
In 1870 was consummated the marriage 
of Dr. Dunn and Miss Virginia A. Gentry, 
the estimable daughter of Reuben and S. 
E. Gentry. They have one child, Alva E. 
In his political views the Doctor is a Demo- 
crat, and socially he is an esteemed mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows lodge in Stephen- 
ville. He is a gentleman of pleasing per- 
sonality and courtly address, and is the 
possessor of that quiet and inborn dignity 
which commands attention and respect 
everywhere. He is a man of broad general 
information, well versed in the current 
affairs of the country, and being an agree- 
able conversationalist is regarded as a wel- 
come addition to any circle. 



a 



OLONEL WILLIAM STONE is a 
worthy example of the old-school 
southern gentleman, — true and up- 
right in all things, straightforward 
in business, genial and pleasant in manner, 
and most hospitable in his home. For 
many years he has been a resident of Texas, 
and his well-spent life has won him the con- 
fidence and respect of all. He has now 
reached the age of seventy-eight, but the 
years have dealt kindly with him, and he is 
now one of the honored and highly esteemed 
citizens of Comanche county. 



A native of Warren county, Tennessee, 
he first opened his eyes to the light of day 
early on a Monday morning, June i, 1818, 
and was always called by his father ' ' Early 
Bill." As he grew he became familiar with 
farm life in all its aspects, but his school 
privileges were meager. The blood of one 
of the heroes of the Revolution runs in his 
veins, his grandfather, William Stone, hav- 
ing entered the colonial army and received 
several wounds while fighting for the inde- 
pendence of this nation. He afterward 
located in South Carolina, where he became 
a farmer and tobacco-raiser, — one of the 
substantial planters of that state. He thor- 
oughly indorsed the principles of the De- 
mocracy, and instilled them into the mind 
of his grandson and namesake, — our sub- 
ject. He married a Miss McClure, a native 
of Wales, who reached the advanced age of 
one hundred and two years, while her 
mother lived to the extreme age of one hun- 
dred and eighteen years! 

James Stone, the father of the Colonel, 
was a native of South Carolina, and made 
farming his life work. He was an opponent 
of slavery, and was a warm supporter of the 
Democratic party. He came to Texas with 
his son William in 1843, having in the mean- 
time spent ten years in Arkansas, and took 
up his abode in Ross county, where he de- 
veloped a large farm. This he afterward 
sold and removed to Hunt county, where he 
died about 1852. He always followed farm- 
ing and stock-raising, and was a man of 
good business ability, who won success in 
his undertakings. He served as deputy 
sheriff and in other offices, and ever dis- 
charged his duties with the utmost prompt- 
ness and fidelity. He married Miss Eliza- 
beth Guest, a native of Tennessee and a 
daughter of William Guest, of English and 



298 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Cherokee blood. Mrs. Stone, who was a 
consistent member of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian church, died in Erath county in 
1857. In the family were eleven children, 
all of whom reached mature years, were 
married and reared families of their own, 
namely: Martin, now deceased; William; 
Sarah, wife of H. B. Corattus; James, de- 
ceased; Polly A., wife of A. Pruitt; Mar- 
garet, wife of John Welch; Matilda, wife of 
Willis Rhodes; J. B. and Redmond, both 
deceased; John A., a resident of Texas; and 
Larkin, deceased. The only two survivors 
of this family are William and John. 

Although the educational advantages 
which our subject enjoyed were limited to 
three weeks' attendance at school in his na- 
tive state, he has become a well informed 
man as the result of observation, practical 
experience and reading. He was reared in 
Tennessee and when a young man went to 
Missouri, where, in 1837, he was united in 
marriage to Miss Elizabeth Stinnett, a na- 
tive of Illinois and a daughter of John Stin- 
nett, of Tennessee, who removed from that 
state to Missouri, where he followed farm- 
ing. He served as a captain in the Black 
Hawk war, and when last heard from was 
living in Missouri, at the age of ninety years. 
Six years after their marriage Mr. Stone 
removed his family to Texas, locating in 
Hunt county, where he engaged in the cat- 
tle business and also opened up a small 
farm. Subsequently he went to Tarrant 
county, and in 1857 came to Comanche 
county, where he has since continued the 
stock business. At one time he was one of 
the most extensive stock owners in the 
county, paying tax on ten thousand head of 
cattle. He bought a tract of land, devel- 
oped a farm and there engaged in caring for 
his herds until the war. He also had many 



head of horses, but suffered great losses 
through theft. During and after the war 
he drove cattle to Mexico. The thieving 
became so great in this section of the state 
that some rigorous measures were taken by 
the settlers who were compelled to protect 
their own interests, and seventy-two men 
were shot and killed when caught in the act 
of stealing stock! Mr. Stone was very suc- 
cessful in his business dealing and made a 
considerable fortune, but lost not a little of 
his property during the war. He closed out 
his stock business in 1868. 

During the period of reconstruction Col- 
onel Stone figured prominently in the pub- 
lic affairs of the state, aiding to adjust 
everything to the new order and laboring 
for the best interests of Texas with an ardor 
that showed his devotion to the cause of the 
"Lone Star" and proved of great benefit 
to the state. In 1866 he took up his abode 
in Comanche, where he embarked in gen- 
eral merchandising as a member of the firm 
of Stone, Kingsbury & Homesley, and con- 
ducted the business for six years. Since 
that time he has practically lived retired, 
engaging in no business save the care of his 
investments. He has sold his farms, but 
still owns some real estate in Proctor, which 
he rents. The year in which occurred the 
sixtieth anniversary of his birth was largely 
devoted to hunting, and he killed more 
than one hundred buffaloes, selling their 
hides. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Stone were born three 
children, but one died in childhood. -Martha 
became the wife of G. Ratliff, who died in 
the army, and later she wedded H. R. Mar- 
tin, a prominent citizen of Comanche coun- 
ty. Margaret married Enoch James, of 
Alabama, who came to Texas with his 
parents during his childhood days. He was 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



299 



first a stockman and later a merchant at 
Comanche. A prominent and influential 
citizen, he supported the Democracy and 
served for four years as county clerk, also 
as justice of the peace. His death occurred 
in 1878 and his widow is now keeping house 
for her father. She has seven children: 
Williams., a minister of the Presbyterian 
church; Andrew L., a minister of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church; Thomas, Richard, 
Mattie, Elizabeth and Harry. Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Stone died in 1846, in the faith of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church, of which 
she was a faithful member. In 1848 the 
Colonel married Miss Malinda Ratliff, 
daughter of William Ratliff. She too was 
a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church and a lady of culture and intelligence 
who proved to her husband a faithful help- 
meet. 

Colonel Stone has always given a loyal 
support to the Democracy. Although not a 
member of any church he is a true Christian 
man, whose life has been in harmony with 
the underlying principles of religion, and 
profanity has formed no part of his speech. 
He is jovial and genial, with the old-time 
courtesy of the true southern gentleman. 
His experiences have been many and often 
of a thrilling nature during the early 'days of 
the state, but now he is quietly resting from 
all labors, enjoying the hours as they pass in 
the midst of relatives and friends, who have 
for him the respect and reverence which 
should always accompany old age. 



<>^ ANIEL PINGREE, M. D., one of 

I 1 the most prominent citizens of 

^^ Hico, is to-day at the head of the 

city government, serving in the 

capacity of mayor. His capable adminis- 



tration of the municipal affairs has largely 
advanced the interests of the town, and has 
won him high commendation. 

The Doctor springs from a family that 
has for more than two hundred and fifty 
years been identified with American history, 
the first ancestor, Moses Pingree, coming 
from England, and locating in Ipswich, 
Massachusetts, in 1640. He was accom- 
panied by his brother Aaron, who, however, 
had no descendants. Our subject is of the 
sixth generation in America, and the com- 
plete family genealogy has been prepared 
by William Pingree, now deceased, of Per- 
kinsville, Vermont, a prominent lawyer. 
The Doctor was born in Springfield, New 
Hampshire, January 26, 18 19, a son of 
Andrew* and Abiah (Straw) Pingree, who 
removed to Kane county, Illinois, in 1838. 
He started out in life for himself at the age 
of nineteen, and for eleven years engaged 
in school-teaching, being thus employed in 
Tennessee, in 1846. There he determined 
to enter the medical profession and pursued 
his studies with Dr. Alfred Moore, of Shelby 
county, Tennessee, also with Dr. Nicholas 
Hard, of the Indiana Medical College, re- 
ceiving his degree from that institution in 
1849. For a year he engaged in practice 
in Germantown, Tennessee, then went over- 
land to California, where he practiced until 
1859, when he returned to Illinois. He 
was then a member of the medical frater- 
nity of that state until 1883. On Christ- 
mas day of that year he went to Fort Worth, 
Texas, and in May, 1884, came to Hico. 
He purchased nearly three thousand acres 
of land near Carlton, Texas, of which one 
hundred and twenty-five acres are under 
cultivation. 

The Doctor was married November 10, 
1 8 59, to Jane Havenhill, daughter of George 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



and Sarah (Clark) Havcnhill. She was 
born in Litchfield, Kentucky, November 5, 
1825, and died in July, 1884. They had 
three children: Walter Scott, who was 
born July 22, 1863, and died in July, 1884; 
Ellen Douglas, born February 26, 1865; 
and Jennie, born January 3, 1868. The 
two last named remain at home, are educa- 
ted, and very much respected. 

The Doctor gives his political support 
to the Democratic party. He has taken an 
active part in city affairs, has served as 
alderman for three years, and for the past 
six years has been mayor of Hico. He is a 
wide-awake, progressive man, alive to the 
best interests of the city, and gives his sup- 
port to all measures calculated for its ben- 
efit. The cause of education also' finds in 
him a warm friend. Religiously he is con- 
nected with the Universalist church. 



aAPTAIN FREDERICK BROW- 
DER GENTRY, one of the highly 
esteemed and popular citizens of 
Hamilton county, is the only sur- 
vivor of the San Jacinto fight in this section, 
and there are not over twelve veterans who 
are still living. A native of Tennessee, he 
was born in Williamson county, January 10, 
1810, and is the son of Nicholas Gentry. 
His mother, also a native of Tennessee, 
died when our subject was two years old, 
leaving four children: Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Wilson Winn, and lived in Tennessee; 
George, who married and had a family, and 
died in Comanche county, Texas; the Cap- 
tain; and Caroline, who became the wife of 
Stephen Fuqua, and was a resident of Ham- 
ilton county, where her children still live. 

When the Captain was fourteen years of 
age his father married again, his second 



union being with Polly Nunn, by whom he 
had the following children: James, Thomas, 
Nicholas, William, Amanda, Louisa, and 
several others that died young. With their 
father, these children came to Texas in 
1842, locating first in Washington county, 
but are now scattered over the state. Their 
father was born in Nashville, Tennessee, 
was in the Cherokee war, and after a resi- 
dence in the Lone Star state of two years, 
died, in 1844, at the age of over seventy 
years. The paternal grandfather of our 
subject, who was a native of North Caro- 
lina, helped to build the fort at Nashville, 
Tennessee, in pioneer days, and with his 
oldest son, was caught outside its limits and 
killed by the Indians. He had several chil- 
dren, amongwhom were George Washington, 
who died in Falls county, Texas; Samuel, 
who married a sister of Governor Cannon, 
of Tennessee; Nicholas, the father of our 
subject; and a daughter, who married a Mr. 
Boyd. 

In December, 1835, Captain Gentry left 
Tennessee, going to New Orleans, and then 
to the mouth of the Brazos river, where he 
disembarked. In a company of twelve, in- 
cluding Mr. Cooper, Henry Horn, Jeans 
Lemarsand Dr. David, all from Tennessee, 
started for Washington county, with the 
intention of joining Austin's company, but 
the trouble being over all returned with the 
exception of our subject, who remained to 
take care of Mr. Cooper, who was ill. With 
Mr. Horn he later started up the Brazos 
river to Washington county, which they 
reached the last of December. Near the 
present site of Independence, he located 
with James Swisher, who had married his 
cousin, and come to Texas in 1S33. 

With that gentleman Captain Gentry 
remained until the ist of March, 1836, when 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



he joined Houston's army, as Santa Anna 
was expected to arrive at any time. He 
belonged to the company formed by Captain 
W. W. Hill, at Independence, composed of 
sixty-five men, and started to relieve Travis 
at San Antonio. At Gonzales they joined 
Neil's army of four hundred men, of which 
Houston took charge. San Antonio had 
been taken by Santa Anna, so the force fell 
back to the Colorado, then to the Brazos, 
and later to Harrisburg and Lynch's Ferry, 
reaching the latter place before Santa Anna 
came up the next morning. The army at 
this time numbered nine hundred and fifty- 
three men, but many were ill and were left 
with the supplies, so that only seven hun- 
dred and eighty-three took part in the battle 
against Santa Anna, whose army was fifteen 
hundred strong. However, the Texans 
took six hundred prisoners, whom they held 
in captivity for two years. Santa Anna 
escaped but was followed to see that he left 
the State. 

Being discharged. Captain Gentry re- 
turned to Washington county on the ist of 
June, 1836, but on the reorganization of 
the company he again joined it and was 
sent to Nashville, on the Brazos, where for 
three months he was engaged in scouting 
among the Indians. He was again dis- 
charged and returned to Washington county 
on the 1st of October, where he worked 
until the fall of 1837, when he made a trip 
back to Tennessee, remaining there until 
September of the following year. He then 
came overland back to Washington county, 
where he was employed for a year, and 
then purchased five hundred acres of land 
at Long Point. During his ten years' res- 
idence there he participated in many en- 
gagements with the Indians. 

In 1847 Captain Gentry removed to 



Gonzales county, where he bought two hun- 
dred acres of land and engaged in farming 
and stock-raising until 1856. In the spring 
of that 3'ear he came to Hamilton county 
with three hundred and thirty-seven head of 
stock, and the next fall brought his family. 
Near the village of Hamilton he had six 
hundred and forty acres on the Leon river 
given him by the government, and this fine 
farm he still owns, two hundred acres of 
which have been cleared and are now 
rented. Upon that place he resided until 
1874, when he removed to Hamilton, where 
the following year was passed. Purchasing 
a tract of three hundred and twenty acres 
on Warren's creek, he moved there, and 
now has four hundred and eighty acres in 
that place. He erected a mill there, run by 
water power, and two years later added a 
circular saw, and afterward a gin, but has 
since sold the gin. The post-office at Gen- 
try's Mill was named in his honor. 

On the 14th of December, 1856, four- 
teen horses were taken by the Indians from 
Captain Gentry, and they drove them to 
Camp Cooper, where Agent Bayton took 
them, and twelve were afterward recovered 
by our subject. Shortly after this he was 
appointed captain, by Governor Houston, 
of a company of fifty men, organized to fight 
the Indians, and at the close of the civil 
war was reappointed by President Johnson. 
Since coming to Hamilton county the Cap- 
tain has lost through the Indians ten thou- 
sand dollars' worth of horses and other 
stock. 

In Washington county, on the 2Sth of 
October, 1840, was celebrated the marriage 
of Captain Gentry and Miss Rebecca Patton 
Barnett, who was born in Williamson coun- 
ty, Tennessee, June 9, 1823, and is the 
daughter of George Washington and Eliza 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



(Patton) Barnett. The birth of her father 
occurred December 12, 1793, in South Car- 
olina, and when a young man he went to 
Tennessee. He was married in Williamson 
county, that state, July 6, 1820, to Miss 
Eliza Patton, who was born there July 3, 
1S02, and was the daughter of Isaac and 
Ann (Patton) Patton. In 1830 Mr. Barnett 
removed to Mississippi, where he lived for 
two years, and then went overland to 
Te.xas, reaching Milam county in December, 
1833. The party was composed of himself, 
wife and three children; Mrs. Gentry, 
William and James; and also Mr. Johnson 
and three sons; Gabriel Jackson, and his 
three children, a brother-in-law of Mr. Jack- 
son, named Craddock; and Mrs. Perkins, a 
widow, who was going to join her brother 
living in Matagorda county. In the fall of 
1S34, Mr. Barnett went to Washington 
county, where he purchased four hundred 
acres of land, and the following year partic- 
ipated in the Indian wars and in the cap- 
ture of San Antonio. He was one of the 
signers of the declaration of independence 
which made Texas free, March 2, 1836. 
About 1845 he became a resident of Gon- 
zales county, where he owned five thousand 
acres of land, most of which came through 
Austin's colony, of which he was a member. 
Indians were seldom seen through that sec- 
tion of the country, but while out hunting 
cattle he was surprised and killed by them, 
October 14, 1849, and his body was not 
found until seventeen days later, when only 
the bones remained. By profession he was 
a doctor. He was prominently connected 
with political affairs, serving several terms 
as senator, and religiously was a consistent 
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church. 

Mrs. Gentry is the oldest in a family of 



seven children, the others being as follows: 
James Alexander, born April 25, 1827, died 
in Gonzales county; William Lockridge, 
born January 3, 1830, is still living in that 
county; Isaac Patton, born August 18, 1834, 
died in Williamson county, Texas; Mar- 
garet Ann, born December 14, 1836, mar- 
ried John McCoghn, and lived in Gonzales 
county until her death; George Washing- 
ton, born March 12, 1835, died at the age 
of four years; and John Work, born May 
24, 1845, died in Gonzales county. 

The Captain and his estimable wife are 
the parents of three children: Elizabeth 
Augusta, born in Washington county, Texas, 
October 11, 1841, married A. P. Shockley, 
October 28, 1S71; George Nicholas, born in 
Washington county, August 29, 1845, is 
now living in Hamilton county; and Emily 
Eliza, born in Gonzales county, January 8, 
1849, is the wife of Marion Graves. 

Captain Gentry uniformly votes the 
straight Democratic ticket, but has never 
sought or held political office. As a citizen 
he meets every requirement and manifests a 
commendable interest in everything that is 
calculated to promote the welfare of his 
county and state. He contributed his share 
toward the protection of the early settlers 
during pioneer days against the hostile In- 
dians, valiantly fought for the liberty of 
Texas, and well deserves a prominent place 
among her honored and representative citi- 



aAPTAIN JOHN ROCH is a gen- 
tleman very familiar to the citizens 
of Comanche and Erath counties, 
for he is one of the leading citizens 
of this locality and is very prominent in po- 
litical affairs. His long connection with 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Texas and his honorable identification with 
its best interests justly entitle him to repre- 
sentation in a work of this character, whose 
province is to portray the lives of those who 
have had a marked influence in shaping the 
county; and it is therefore with pleasure 
that we present a sketch of his life to our 
readers. 

Captain Roch was born of Irish parent- 
age, March 22, 1844, in Portland, Maine, a 
son of Bernard and Mary (Murrey) Roch, 
both of whom were natives of county Ros- 
common, Ireland, where their marriage was 
celebrated. In 1844 they crossed the At- 
lantic to the United States, locating at Port- 
land, Maine. The father was a mechanic 
and became prominent as the inventor of 
the Blasedell brick machine, the fame of 
which became widespread. He lived at 
two or three different places in Maine and 
died in Taunton, Massachusetts, in Septem- 
ber, 1854. His wife survived him for many 
years and died in Taunton in 1888. Both 
were members of the Catholic church. They 
reared a family of four children, and lost 
two others in childhood. Those yet living 
are Ed, Tom, Kate and John. The first 
named came to Comanche county in i86g 
and is now engaged in farming. 

Captain Roch was reared and educated 
in Taunton, Massachusetts, but never at- 
tended school after he was eleven years of 
age. However, he has obtained an excel- 
lent fund of knowledge through his own efforts 
and is to-day a man of broad general infor- 
mation. In his youth he was apprenticed 
to a machinist, and after working all day he 
would attend night school. All thought of 
study and of work, however, was put aside 
in 1 86 1, for the president issued his call for 
troops and the patriotic ardor of the young 
man prompted his enlistment in the three- 



months' service with the Taunton Light 
Guards. On the expiration of his first term 
of enlistment he joined the boys in blue of 
the Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry, 
with which he was connected for three 
years, serving with the Army of the Poto- 
mac. His duty was often very arduous and 
he was five times wounded, in three battles. 
At Gaines' Mill he was shot through the 
neck; at Fredericksburg, while making a 
charge against a stone wall, was shot through 
the left leg; and at the memorable battle of 
Gettysburg was shot through both thighs 
and the left breast. He entered the service 
as a private, but when mustered out held 
the rank of captain and was brevetted major. 
In 1866 Captain Roch went to Little 
Rock, Arkansas, and from there crossed the 
plains to New Mexico as wagon-master of a 
freighting- train. About a year later he 
came to Comanche county with some stock- 
men and has here since made his home. 
He was first employed as a cowboy, but 
upon his marriage in 1869 he preferred a 
more quiet life and began the operation of 
the first steam mill of the county, located 
at Hazel Dell. The wild and unsettled con- 
dition of this part of the state made his life 
fraught with all the hardships and dangers 
incident to residence on the frontier. In 
February, 1870, he received a wound in- 
flicted by an Indian arrow, which struck 
under the right shoulder blade and came 
out in front. At that time four men were 
opposing twenty-eight Indians. F. M. 
Brown was shot in the arm and in the 
cheek, Mr. Wallace was shot in the arm, 
and Mr. Grissom, the fourth member of the 
party, escaped uninjured. Mr. Brown suc- 
ceeded in killing the chief of the band and 
another Indian also was shot. A party 
started in pursuit of the red men, killing 



304 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



seven of them, while among the white men 
Freeman Clark lost his life. Our subject 
now has in his possession an Indian comb 
which was taken from the fellow who shot 
him, and this he still cherishes as a relic of 
the bygone days when the pioneers were in 
constant danger from Indian depredations. 
He was also in other raids and fights against 
the Indians. 

The Captain continued his milling oper- 
ations at Hazel Dell for two years and then 
removed to Duncan Creek, where he oper- 
ated the mill formerly owned by Bob Leslie, 
who had been killed by the red men in 1876. 
For two years Mr. Roch did business there 
and during that time he was elected justice 
of the peace and also served as county com- 
missioner and tax assessor. In 1877 he 
purchased a tract of unimproved land and 
for a time was engaged in its cultivation. In 
1880 he pursued a course of study in New 
Orleans to fit himself for work as an optician 
and has since been practicing his profession. 
His excellent work has won the public con- 
fidence and he has been very successful in 
his endeavors, having now a good business 
in this line. 

Mr. Roch has always been a stanch 
Democrat and is the acknowledged leader 
of his party in Comanche county. He is 
chairman of the executive county commit- 
tee, and though he has never been a politi- 
cal aspirant had he so desired he could un- 
doubtedly have secured any office within the 
gift of the people of this community. He is 
a forceful, interesting and instructive speaker 
and has done considerable campaign work 
for his party. He has been delegate to every 
state convention since the reconstruction 
and his opinions are received with deference 
in the counsels of his party. He has long 
been a member of the Independent Order 



of Odd Fellows, is past senior vice-com- 
mander of the Grand Army of Texas and 
was delegate-at-large from this state to the 
national encampment at Indianapolis, In- 
diana. He was formerly a member of the 
Methodist church and served as superintend- 
ent of the Sunday-school, but is not now 
connected with any religious denomination, 
although a believer in the underlying prin- 
ciples of Christianity. 

Captain Roch was married in 1869 to 
Miss Mary A. Marshall, a native of Arkansas, 
who came to Texas with her father, Bailey 
Marshall, one of the first settlers and a 
farmer and stock-raiser of Comanche county. 
He is still living, at the advanced age of 
eighty-five years. There were two sons by 
this union: Ed, who married Odie Pinson 
and is farming the homestead; and Tom, 
who was killed by a horse, October 28, 1 894. 
The mother died April 20, 1873. In Janu- 
ary, 1874, Captain Roch married Miss Fanny 
Cams, who was born in Coryell county, 
Texas, in May, 1855, a daughter of Ed 
Cams, of Georgia, who became one of the 
early farmers of this state and died in July, 
1888, while his wife passed away in May, 
1893. Mr. and Mrs. Roch became parents of 
the following named children; Mary, wife of 
Walter Holt, a farmer; Irrna, wife of New- 
ton Hoover; Ella, twin sister of Irma, now 
deceased; Laura; Lee and Grant, twins, the 
former at home, the latter now deceased; 
Will, Kate, James and Sam D., at home; 
Ella, Phil C, Fanny and Katie, who are 
now deceased. 

The Captain yet resides on the farm 
which he purchased of Governor Pease, be- 
coming owner of three hundred acres. He 
afterward bought three hundred acres addi- 
tional of the same survey and improved his 
present property, one hundred acres of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



305 



which is under a high state of cultivation. 
In addition to the cultivated fields is a good 
orchard, and the many improvements upon 
the place include substantial outbuildings 
and a commodious two-story frame residence, 
which is pleasantly situated fourteen miles 
northeast of Comanche and four miles north 
of Proctor. In all life's relations our sub- 
ject has been found true to his duty; and 
his high sense of honor, his integrity and 
sterling worth class him among the best citi- 
zens of his adopted county. 



^>^EV. J. N. CHANDLER.— In all 
I /<^ central Texas there is no man 
\ , P more worthy of representation in 
this volume than the gentleman 
whose name introduces this biographical 
notice. He has been a most important 
factor in the development of this region. 
His labors have promoted the material 
prosperity of the community, but more than 
all he has labored for the spiritual welfare 
of his fellow men and his upright life and 
words of entreaty have led many into the 
straight and narrow way, making them 
good citizens, honorable in all the relations 
of this life and fitting them for the life to 
come. 

Mr. Chandler was born in Hart county, 
Georgia, September 7, 1S28, — making him 
sixty-eight years old the 7th of September 
this year, — a son of Henry F. and Fannie 
(Harbin) Chandler. His father was born 
in Georgia and was a son of Joseph 
Chandler, a native of Virginia, who was of 
English ancestry and served throughout the 
Revolutionary war in defense of American 
independence. The maternal grandfather 
of our subject carried dispatches from 
George Washington to one of his officers 



during the war. Henry F. Chandler was a 
farmer by occupation. He died at the age 
of seventy years, but his wife died when 
J. N. was a small boy. In the family were 
ten children, all of whom reached years of 
maturity, while five daughters and two sons 
are yet living. 

The youth of Rev. J. N. Chandler was 
spent on a farm and his labors there were 
alternated by attendance at the common 
schools of the neighborhood. He assisted 
his father until he had reached his majority, 
when he engaged in farming on his own 
account and also followed teaching in his 
native state. He was married November 
22, 1849, to Miss Mary Burton, a native of 
Franklin county, Georgia, and a daughter of 
John H. Burton. She was only three years 
old when her mother died, and she was 
reared by an uncle. 

During the late war Mr. Chandler was 
living in Banks county, Georgia, where he 
organized a company, of which he was 
appointed captain. It was made Company 
A, Twenty-fourth Georgia regiment, which 
was attached to the Virginian army. Long- 
street's division. He participated in many 
hard-fought battles, commanded his regi- 
ment at Gettysburg and valiantly led his 
men in the engagements at Chickamauga, 
Malvern Hill, White Oak Swamps and 
Fredericksburg. He continued in the serv- 
ice until the close of the war and was made 
lieutenant-colonel. 

In 1865 Mr. Chandler emigrated to 
Texas, crossing the country with teams and 
reaching his destination after sixty-two days 
of travel. He located on the Brazos river 
in Hood county, where he purchased two 
hundred acres of wild land, at two dollars 
and a half per acre, although he was only 
able to make a partial payment upon it. 



30G 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



He cleared and improved his farm, built his 
residence, even making the chimneys, and 
after four years sold this place for two 
thousand and two hundred dollars. He 
then moved to Somervell county and bought 
a tract of land on Squaw creek, two miles 
from the Brazos river. He still owns that 
place, which now comprises one thousand 
acres of land, two hundred being under 
cultivation. In 1891 he took up his resi- 
dence in Bluff Dale, where he embarked in 
the lumber business. 

In 1855 Rev. Chandler received a license 
to preach in the Baptist church in Banks 
county, Georgia, and entered upon the work 
of the ministry in 1870. After the war he 
was elected by the men of his company as 
their pastor and continued his ministerial 
work in Georgia until he came to Texas. 
For many years after locating in this state 
he was the only preacher for miles around, 
and he was the organizer of fifteen churches 
in Somervell and Hood counties. He 
preached every Saturday and Sunday for 
fifteen years and at the same time managed 
his farm. He is now the efficient and 
beloved pastor of the church in Bluff Dale, 
where he is doing a good work. He is 
known far and wide, and his kindly, sympa- 
thetic nature has won him the love of all, 
irrespective of denominations. 

There is no man more deserving the 
respect and confidence of the people of 
central Texas than Rev. Chandler, for he 
has labored unceasingly in their interests 
and has done much for the advancement of 
the community. In 1892 he was chosen to 
represent his district in the state legislature 
and served for one term. His political sup- 
port is given the Democracy. 

By the marriage of J. N. and Mary 
Chandler were born two children, one of 



whom is yet living, Morris, a farmer, of 
Somervell county, Texas. Mrs. Chandler 
died, and Mr. Chandler was again married 
November 4, 1858, his second union being 
with Miss Ilivia J. Jones, of Franklin 
county, Georgia. Their children were five 
in number, four sons and a daughter, two 
yet living: Joseph, a prominent physician 
of Weatherford, Texas; and Charles, a 
druggist, of Glen Rose, Texas. The third 
marriage of our subject was celebrated Jan- 
uary 15, 1870, the lady of his choice being 
Miss A. H. Cole, of Parker county, Texas, 
by whom he has six children, three surviv- 
ing, namely: Dora, aged twenty-two years; 
Paul, aged sixteen; and Eddie, aged eleven. 



>Y*AMES F. Mccarty, M. D.— Prom- 

■ inently identified with the medical 
/• 1 fraternity of Comanche county, and 
also with its progressive business in- 
terests, is the gentleman whose name heads 
this biography. While he can scarcely 
claim to be a Texas pioneer, he certainly 
enjoys the distinction of the next best honor, 
— that of a native son. 

Dr. McCarty dates his birth in Van 
Zandt county, July 27, 1853, and was the 
third born in the family of eight children of 
Dr. Benjamin F. McCarty and M. J. nee 
Garrett, both natives of Alabama. The 
senior Dr. McCarty was a skilled physician 
and surgeon, a successful practitioner for 
many years, and became a resident of the 
Lone Star state in 1848. He was a partici- 
pant in the Mexican war. The subject of 
our sketch was reared and educated in 
Hopkins county, this state, and devoted his 
early life to mercantile pursuits, the drug 
business chiefly. He studied medicine 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



307 



under the able tutorship of his father, after 
which he attended lectures at Nashville, 
Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, and 
graduated at the School of Medicine at the 
last named place with the class of 1882. 
On his return to Texas after having com- 
pleted his medical course, he established 
himself in the practice of his profession in 
Van Zandt county, remained there several 
years, and then was for one year associated 
with Dr. R. A. Miller of Dublin, Erath 
county. In 1889 he located in Comanche, 
since which time, in addition to practicing 
his profession, he has been identified prom- 
inently with many public enterprises of the 
city. He has an interest in a drug estab- 
lishment here, which is conducted under 
the firm name of Hamilton & McCarty and 
which takes front rank with the business 
houses of Comanche. He was the origina- 
tor and is the owner of the telephone ex- 
change of the city, which was organized in 
1895, now having nearly a hundred sub- 
scribers, and which is of inestimable value to 
the businesss men of the town. As a prac- 
titioner, the Doctor is popular and enjoys a 
large and lucrative practice. Upon his 
office tables are to be found the latest med- 
ical and scientific journals. He is a con- 
stant student, takes a pride in keeping 
abreast with the times professionally, and 
is also well posted on all subjects of general 
interest. He is a member of the Van 
Zandt County Medical Association, and in 
social and political circles also we find him 
prominent and active. He was a charter 
member of Comanche Lodge, No. i 54, K. 
of P., in which he was honored by being 
elected its first chancellor commander, and 
which position he filled with his usual dig- 
nity. His political affiliations are with the 
Republican party. At this writing he is 



chairman of the Republican county com- 
mittee. 

More than twenty years ago, January i 5, 
1876, Dr. McCarty led to the hymeneal 
altar Miss Fredona Riley, like himself a 
native of Texas, with whose life his was 
blended until her death January 27, 1896. 
Their happy union was blessed in the birth 
of six children, namely: May, now the 
wife of James Burk, Gerome, Judson, Hal. , 
Frank and Flora. Two sons and one 
daughter are deceased. 



* w ^ ON. ABEL LANDERS, pronn- 
l'^^ nently connected with public affairs 
\ W in the early settlement of Hood 
county, was a native of Kentucky 
and reared in Tennessee, where he married 
Sarah Shipman. They had a family of 
eleven children, three of whom are now 
(1896) living, viz.: Christopher Lee and 
Robert, farmers in Erath county; and Eliza- 
beth, wife of J. F. Nutt, one of the found- 
ers of Granbury, and now a leading mer- 
chant of this place. 

Mr. Landers was reared on a farm in the 
early days of Tennessee and enjoyed but 
meager advantages for acquiring an educa- 
tion, but he was one of those positive and 
determined characters who rise in spite of 
adverse surroundings, and by much reading 
and far more observation he acquired a good 
stock of useful knowledge, enabling him to 
discern motives and press circumstances to 
most advantageous results. 

He emigrated to Missouri about 1S37 
and located in Newton county, where he 
soon became identified with public affairs. 
He was first elected justice of the peace and 
so acceptably performed the duties of that 
office that he was next elected to represent 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



his party in the legislature, and again twice 
re-elected, so faithful and unswerving was his 
fidelity to his constituents, and then elected 
to the state senate. In 1S58 Judge Landers 
removed with his then large family and 
other relatives to Texas, settling on the 
west bank of the Brazos river, in what was 
then Johnson county. He bought a choice 
body of land and engaged in farming and 
stock-raising, and was soon after elected 
justice of the peace, and upon the organiza- 
tion of Hood county in 1867 he was elected 
its first county judge, serving for several 
years. During this period many ve.xed pub- 
lic questions came before him, which he dis- 
posed of without much regard for prece- 
dents which happened to stand in the way 
of reaching what he deemed just results; 
and though the location of the county site 
at Granbury where it remains was most bit- 
terly contested, yet his personal influence 
and efforts were so great that he succeeded in 
overruling all opposition and by a direct- 
ness of purpose and methods of his own in- 
vention established the county site at this 
place in spite of several popular elections 
against it but finally in its favor. Subse- 
quent events as well as public sentiment 
have fully attested the wisdom of his judg- 
ment. 

Judge Landers was a man of the people 
but of great determination, often amount- 
ing to bluntness which in others would have 
been offensive, but not so in him. He was 
public-spirited; in politics a Democrat; in 
religion a "hard-shell" Baptist. His good 
wife died a few years after their arrival in 
Te.xas, and he about 1873, leaving in Hood 
and adjoining counties many descendants 
and collateral relatives besides friends of 
lifelong attachment who had emigrated from 
Missouri to Texas with him. 



'■^ EVEN B. THOMAS, M. D.— 

I j Among the prominent and progress- 

I ^ ive medical advisers of Comanche 

county, Texas, is the young man 

to a brief review of whose life we would now 

direct attention. Dr. Leven B. Thomas, who 

is a native of Tennessee and dates his birth in 

the city of Memphis, November 8, 1866, 

he being the youngest of the seven children 

of Isaac B. and Emma (Seward) Thomas, 

both natives of Tennessee. 

He was reared in his native state, com- 
pleted a literary course there, and then 
entered a commercial college at Bowling 
Green, Kentucky, where he received a 
thorough business training. On leaving 
the college he accepted a position as book- 
keeper for the Planters' Oil Mill Company, 
of Memphis, and while acting in this ca- 
pacity spent all his leisure moments in the 
study of medicine, there laying the founda- 
tion for his professional studies. Later he 
came to Texas and was a student in the 
office of Dr. W. S. McLean, an eminent 
practitioner of this state, and finally en- 
tered the Vanderbilt Medical College, of 
Nashville, Tennessee, at which well-known 
institution he graduated with the class of 
1891. While in Nashville he had valuable 
clinical experience in the hospitals. He 
was employed as physician for the county 
work house, at Memphis, Tennessee, and 
also was for eighteen months first assistant 
physician at the Poor and Insane Hospital 
of Shelby county, that state, in these po- 
sitions proving himself a benefactor to many 
a poor sufferer and at the same time gain- 
ing an experience equal to that of many 
years of ordinary practice. 

In 1892 Dr. Thomas located at Coman- 
che. Here his gentlemanly bearing and his 
skill and success as a practitioner at once 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



> 



brought him to the front and gained for him 
a lucrative and growing practice, which he 
maintains to the present time. He is a 
member of the North West Texas Medical 
Association. 

Dr. Thomas was united in marriage, in 
January, 1896, to Miss Hattie Fields, a 
native of Texas and one of the most esti- 
mable and charming young ladies of Co- 
manche. 

Thus briefly is outlined the life history 
of one of the rising young professional men 
of Comanche county, and it is fair to pre- 
dict, judging the future by the past achieve- 
ments, that he will one day take rank with 
the eminent physicians of his state. 



^'"^EORGE HENRY DENISON.— 
■ ^j\ The progressive and enterprising 
^LM spirit so essential to a successful 
commercial career is possessed by 
this gentleman, a merchant of Shive, and 
also the popular postmaster of the town. 
He is one of the native sons of the Lone 
Star state, his birth having occurred near 
Caldwell, in Burleson county, Texas, on the 
28th of December, 1841, and his parents 
being George Henry and Sylvia (Bunker) 
Denison. The Denison family is of Irish 
lineage and was established in America in 
colonial days. The grandparents were Jed- 
ediah and Abigail Denison, the former born 
December 23, 1759, and the latter August 
10, 1769. Their children were Charles, 
born January 22, 1786; Jedediah, Decem- 
ber I, 1787; Jeremiah C, January 18, 1790; 
Abigail, July 19, 1793; William, June 20, 
1795; Gideon, February 20, 1798; Eliza, 
March 6, 1800; Richard A., January 27, 
1802; George Henry, May 6, 1804; and Ed- 
ward, May 30, 1806. 



The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
Isaac Bunker, was born March 3, 1780, and 
was ri^arried January 2, 1804, to Mary 
Smith, who was born August 12, 1781. The 
names and dates of birth of their children 
are as follows: Slocum, born November 
12, 1805; John, June 11, 1807; David, No- 
vember 24, 1808; Thomas Smith, April 14, 
181 1 ; Peleg, December 21, 18 12; Isaac, 
October 10, 18 14; Sylvia, May 10, 18 17; 
Henry, August 8, 18 19; Mehitable, born 
March 15, 1821; Joseph, May 15, 1823; 
Justin Harvey, born March 21, 1827; Han- 
nah, February 20, 1829. The Bunker 
family is of Scotch origin. The grand- 
father and his sons, Isaac and Joseph, be- 
came residents of Texas and located much 
land in this state. 

The father of our subject, George Henry 
Denison, Sr. , was a native of Connecticut, 
was a graduate of Yale College and a physi- 
cian by profession. He began practice in 
Ohio, and in the spring of 1839 removed to 
Houston, Texas, whence, in 1840, he went 
to Burleson county. He met his death by 
drowning, while attempting to ford the 
Brazos river on his way to the Methodist 
quarterly meeting, of which he was a mem- 
ber, being a local preacher of that church. 
On the 1st of January, 1830, Mr. Denison 
married Eunice D. McLane, a native of 
Connecticut, and shortly after removed to 
the Buckeye state. They had four children, 
namely: Sarah Abigail, who was born No- 
vember 2, 1830, and died in childhood; 
George Henry, who was born October 20, 
1832, and also died in childhood; Ezra 
Done, who was born January 9, 1836, and 
is a farmer of Runnels county, Texas; and 
Eunice McLane, who was born May 16, 
1837, and became the wife of C. B. Wilk- 
inson, an early settler of Texas, and after 



310 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



his death married Wilham Donald, who is 
also deceased, while she is a resident of 
Williamson county, Texas. The m<fther of 
this family died in Ohio and the father was 
married October i8, 1838, to Sylvia Bunk- 
er, who was born in Ohio, May 10, 1817. 
She died July 15, 1886. Their children 
were Arthur Bunker, born in Houston, 
Texas, July 25, 1839, now engaged in farm- 
ing four miles from Waco, Texas; and George 
Henry, of this review. After the death of 
Mr. Denison his widow became the wife of 
John Ethelbert King, who is now living in 
Belton. Of their marriage, celebrated Oc- 
tober 19, 1842, the following children were 
born: Willis Justin, born November 2, 
1843, now deceased; Mary Margaret, born 
March 21, 1846, also deceased; Sylvia Re- 
becca, born January 21, 1849, deceased; 
John Thomas, born March 11, 1851, now 
living in Armstrong county, Texas; Alice 
Elizabeth, born February 17, 1858, wife of 
W. W. Morris, a merchant of Cornhill, 
Texas. 

After his father's death Mr. Denison, 
whose name heads this sketch, continued to 
make his home with his mother, and in 
1855 accompanied heron her removal to 
Williamson county, Texas. He was a 
young man of nineteen years at the time of 
the outbreak of the civil war and a pa- 
triotic defense he gave to the south, enlisting 
in June, 1861, in Captain Mullins' company 
of the Twelfth Texas Cavalry. His service 
was mostly in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Texas, and he was wounded by a shell in 
the right hip when participating in the bat- 
tle of Yellow Bayou. When the war was 
over he returned to Burleson county, where 
he engaged in farming and stock-dealing. In 
October, 1873, he cameto Hamilton county, 
where he purchased three hundred and 



sixty acres of unimproved land on the Leon 
river below the city of Hamilton. Here he 
resumed agricultural pursuits, which he suc- 
cessfully followed for a number of years. 

Mr. Denison was married January 11, 
1872, to Susan Eleanor Leeper, daughter 
of Charles and Frances (Knott) Leeper. 
She was born in Burleson county, Texas, 
October 15, 1850, and died July 8, 1876. 
Of their three children only one is now liv- 
ing, namely, Ada Wilson, who was born 
November 2, 1872, and was married No- 
vember 16, 1890, to Charles Baker Hooks, 
whose death occurred December 22, 1891. 
Mr. Hooks has since resided with her father. 
She has a little daughter, Nora Arminta, 
born October 1 1 , 1891. The other children 
of Mr. Denison's first marriage were William 
Arthur, born March 3, 1875, and died 
April 25, 1875; and Susan Eleanor, who 
was born on the 8th of July, and died on 
the 26th of September, 1876. On the 27th 
of November, 1877, Mr. Denison was again 
married, his second union being with Eliza- 
beth Bodenhamer, who was born in Mis- 
sissippi, October 31, 1848, and came to 
Texas in 1870. She was called to the home 
eternal February 7, 1887. Mr. Denison 
was again married, August 29, 18S8, when 
Mrs. Ellen Elizabeth Osburne became his 
wife. She was the widow of Alexander 
Osburne and a daughter of George Moran 
and Rebecca (Roddy) Fletcher. Her birth 
occurred in Burleson county, December 6, 
185 1, and she is a representative of one of 
the old families of the state. Her grand- 
father, Major Ephraim Roddy, came to 
Texas in 1831 and married Harriet Harri- 
son Earle. Their children were John, 
Amaryllis, Balys, Rebecca, Eleanor, and 
Joseph. The father was a lawyer by pro- 
fession and died in Liberty Hill, Texas, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



311 



May 17, 1872, at the age of eighty-six 
years. 

Mr. Denison abandoned agriculture in 
1 89 1 and on the 24th of December moved 
to his present home in Shiva and purchased 
the general store of J. W. Shive, in honor 
of whom the town was named. The stock 
was then small, but he has increased it to 
meet the demands of his constantly growing 
trade until his goods will now invoice two 
thousand dollars and his sales amount to 
eight thousand annually. He devotes his 
energies untiringly to his business and there- 
in lies the secret of his success. The post- 
office at this place was established in 1886, 
with J. W. Shive as postmaster, until suc- 
ceeded by the subject of this sketch in 1892. 
In politics he was formerly a Democrat, 
but since 1892 has voted with the Populist 
party. Since the age of sixteen he has 
been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south, and has held all its lay of- 
fices and largely advanced its interests. He 
was made a Mason in Neal Lodge at 
Lexington, Texas, in 1868, and took the 
Royal Arch degrees at the same place in 
.872. 



>Tr»ESSE CARAWAY, deceased, was 
m one of Hood county's pioneer set- 
/• 1 tiers, taking up his residence within 
her border in 1859. He lived in 
the beautiful and productive valley of Pa- 
luxy and aided in transforming its wild 
lands into rich and fertile fields. He wit- 
nessed almost the entire growth and prog- 
ress of the region, living through the period 
when the Indians made frequent depreda- 
tions in the neighborhood, and through the 
early day of settlement when the few homes 
were widely scattered over the trackless 



prairie. He left the impress of his individ- 
uality on the improvement and develop- 
ment of this region, and therefore deserves 
mention among the honored founders of 
the county which now takes its place among 
the best in the state. Jesse Caraway was 
a man whom to know was to respect, for 
his life was upright and straightforward in 
every particular. 

He was a native of Duplin county, North 
Carolina, and a son of Bryant Caraway, 
who was born in the same state and was a 
descendant of a notable English family and 
a cousin of Rufus King, vice-president of 
the United States. His father married a 
Miss Reeves, and about the year 1830 re- 
moved with his family to Tennessee, be- 
coming one of the first settlers of Gibson 
county, where he lived neighbor to Davy 
Crockett, the famed explorer and hunter; 
and between the two gentlemen there 
sprang up a warm friendship. Mr. and 
Mrs. Caraway spent their remaining days 
in that state and reared to maturity five 
children. He followed agricultural pursuits 
and died at an advanced age. 

Jesse Caraway passed the days of his 
childhood and youth on the homestead farm 
and attended the district schools near by. 
He remained with his parents until his mar- 
riage, which occurred in 1838, when he es- 
poused Miss Elizabeth Keathley. Thfe lady is 
a native of Duplin county. North Carolina, 
and a daughter of Daniel and Lieuhamy 
Keathley, who were of Irish descent. With 
a wife to care for, Mr. Caraway now began 
farming, on his own account, and continued 
that pursuit in Tennessee until his emigra- 
tion to Texas in 1859. He traveled with 
teams across the country, and after a jour- 
ney of four weeks arrived at his destination. 
He purchased a tract of wild land in the 



312 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



Paluxy valley and bepjaii the arduous task 
of making a home and developing a farm 
on the frontier. He also engaged in raising 
stock, but his business was largely inter- 
rupted through the period of the civil war. 
He served as a meinber of a minute com- 
pany engaged in protecting the frontier. On 
one occasion, while riding a spirited horse, 
he ran into a band of Indians, who fired 
upon him and he barely escaped with his 
life. When hostilities had ceased he re- 
sumed farming and stock-raising, which he 
carried on continuously until his death. He 
placed one hundred acres under a high state 
of cultivation, transforming it into one of 
the best improved farms in the Paluxy val- 
ley. He was industrious and energetic, and 
was most honorable and upright in all his 
business relations. 

Mr. and Mrs. Caraway were the parents 
of six sons and four daughters, as follows: 
L. J., of Thorp Spring; Bryant, of Alma, 
Arkansas; Adam, of Marshall, Texas; Archie, 
who is living on the old homestead; John, 
of Anson, Texas; William, deceased; Ada- 
line, wife of J. R. Jones, of Erath county; 
Lieuhamy, wife of George McDermitt, of 
Erath county; Ann, wife of Albert Roberts, 
of De Leon, Texas; and Amanda, deceased 
wife of Joel Counts. 

Mr. Caraway was an active and consist- 
ent member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and also belonged to the Masonic 
fraternity, and strange to say he was never 
known to speak an unkind word to his wife. 
He took an active interest in all affairs that 
tended to promote the material, educational, 
social or moral welfare of the community, 
and was one of the founders of the church 
with which he was so long connected. He 
left behind him the memory of a noble and 
well spent life and an example that is wor- 



thy of emulation. He passed away May 
1 8, 1893, and his wife, a most estimable 
lady who had a large circle of friends, is 
still living, making her home on the old 
homestead. 



''I-* J. CARAWAY is one of the most 

I I prosperous, intelligent and influen- 
I ^ tial agriculturists of Hood county. 
To sketch the life of a busy man of 
affairs and in a manner to throw a well 
focused light upon the principal events of 
his life, is the task in hand to portray the 
life of the gentleman whose name introduces 
this biographical notice. Seven years ago 
he passed the fiftieth mile-stone on life's 
journey, yet he is to-day remarkably well 
preserved and presents the appearance of a 
man at the zenith of his powers. He is a 
man highly honored in Hood county, for he 
is recognized as one of its most public- 
spirited and progressive citizens, and his 
genuine worth merits the high regard in 
which he is held. For many years he has 
been identified with the history of this local- 
ity, and as a business man and political 
leader he is well known. His residence is 
now in Thorp Spring. 

Mr. Caraway was born on the old home- 
stead of the celebrated Davy Crockett, in 
Gibson county, Tennessee, April 21, 1839, 
and is the eldest son of the late Jesse Cara- 
way, whose sketch precedes this. He was 
reared on a farm and educated in the best 
schools in the neighborhood of his home. 
With his father's family he came to Texas 
and assisted in the arduous task of opening 
up a new farm; hut, his tastes and desires 
being in the line of professional life, he 
took up the study of law, in the office of 
W. H. Blaine, of Stephenville, who was an 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



313 



eminent practitioner, having been a pupil 
of the Hon. Richard Coke. He was Hcensed 
to practice by Judge N. W. Battle, oi Waco; 
but in the meantime the war broke out and 
he went to Hempstead, Texas, and enlisted 
in Captain \V. A. Taylor's company, of the 
Twenty-fourth Texas Cavalry, commanded 
by Colonel F. C. Wilkes, who was an inti- 
mate friend of our subject. 

This regiment, together with that of 
Colonels Gillespie and Carter, formed what 
was known as Carter's brigade. The three 
colonels were Methodist ministers, and no 
more distinguished and intellectual colonels 
could be found in the service. The brigade 
moved first to Shreveport and then to 
Arkansas Post, where with his command 
Mr. Caraway was captured, January ii, 
1862. He was taken to Camp Butler, near 
Springfield, Illinois, where lie was confined 
for three months, and then sent to City 
Point, Virginia, where he was exchanged. 
He made his way to the Model Farm and 
then to Petersburg, where he was confined 
in a hospital. During that time the brave 
and gallant "Stonewall" Jackson was 
killed. After partially recovering from a 
severe attack of pneumonia Mr. Caraway 
received a furlough and returned home, but 
after a short time reported to Henry E. 
McCullough and was assigned to duty in 
Captain L. W. Goodrich's company, of the 
Thirtieth Cavalry, with which he spent the 
last two years of the war, in the Indian 
Territory and Arkansas. As third lieutenant 
of his company he participated in the battles 
of Diamond Grove, Cabin Creek, Roseville, 
Poison Springs and in the demonstration 
before Fort Smith. When the war was 
over his company was disbanded, near Mar- 
lin, Texas. 

He then went to Waco, Texas, and en- 



tered the law office of S. H. Renick, one of 
the ablest jurists of Texas, with whom he 
studied until his eyes failed and he was 
forced to abandon the profession, thus put- 
ting aside the ambition of his life. Nature 
seemed to have fitted him for the law. He 
possessed a keen, analytical mind, strong 
powers of comprehension and a ready fac- 
ulty of presenting his views so that he wins 
followers. These qualities, so essential at 
the bar, would undoubtedly have made his 
career as a lawyer a brilliant one; but Fate 
ordained otherwise. He then turned his at- 
tention to merchandising, in Stephenville, 
but the confinement of in-door labor af- 
fected unfavorably his health, and his phy- 
sician advised some occupation that would 
keep him much of the time in the open air. 
He therefore returned to the calling to 
which he had been reared, and has since 
carried on general farming, in which he has 
enjoyed success. Although it was impossi- 
ble to carry out the hopes of his youth, 
without idle regret he turned his attention 
to agriculture, made the most of his oppor- 
tunities, and to-day is the owner of one of 
the finest farms in the Brazos valley,— a 
farm containing four hundred acres of highly 
cultivated land. The legal profession of 
Texas lost one of its brightest members, the 
mercantile interests one of its best business 
men, but the agricultural community gained 
a leader. In whatever he undertakes he is 
always at the front, and he has added dig- 
nity to the calling with which he is now con- 
nected. On his farm he has an elegant resi- 
dence, which he erected in 1890, and he also 
has one of the finest dwellings in Thorp 
Spring, to which place he moved for the 
purpose of affording his children better edu- 
cational privileges. 

Mr. Caraway was married in 1865 to 



314 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Miss Texanna J. Martin, who lived and died 
a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church; she was a daughter of Robert 
and Angeline Martin. They had one son, 
Robert Jesse, who died at the age of twenty- 
three years and was buried in the cemetery 
on the Paluxy. The date of Mrs. Cara- 
way's death was 1866; and July 8, 1869, 
Mr. Caraway married Miss Catherine Thorp, 
a daughter of Pleasant Thorp, the founder of 
Thorp Spring. By this marriage there are 
seven children: Josephine B., wife of Lee 
Conway, of Parker county, Texas; Lee P., 
of Denison, this state; Ella E., wife of D. N. 
Hodge, of Grand View, Johnson county, 
Texas; John C, of Parker county; Nettie 
v., William J. and Armanda J. 

The parents are active and consistent 
members of the Christian church, and Mr. 
Caraway is a trustee of Add Ran University, 
a school of that denomination. He also be- 
longs to the Masonic fraternity, and is pres- 
ident of the Texas State Farmers' Congress. 
He has served as county judge, is a recog- 
nized leader in the Democratic party, and 
has been largely instrumental in the elec- 
tion of many of the prominent men who 
have held high positions in the state and 
nation. Among these are Colonel W. L. 
McGaughey, who was elected land com- 
missioner, and Hon. John H. Taylor, whose 
record is well known to the early settlers. 
He has always been a warm personal friend 
and supporter of Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, 
of Weatherford. Few men are more thor- 
oughly informed on the questions and issues 
of the day than Mr. Caraway. He studies 
a question in its entirety and masters it in 
every detail. He believes in the doctrine of 
state rights as advocated by Jefferson, and 
in bimetallism. He is one of the most far- 
seeing men in Texas, and his influence is 



ever strongly exerted in behalf of those prin- 
ciples and movements which he believe will 
benefit the greatest majority. All who know 
him esteem him highly for his conscientious 
fidelity to principle, and his friends are lim- 
ited in number only by the number of his 
acquaintances. 



* w ^ ON. NEWTON L. COOPER, a 

|rV prominent attorney of Granbury, 
\ W who has attained a conspicuous 
place at the barof central Texas as a 
successful criminal lawyer, was born in Ashe 
county, North Carolina. His parents were 
Samuel and Anna (Patterson) Cooper, the 
former a native of Maryland and the latter 
of Virginia. The family is of English and 
Scotch origin and was established on Amer- 
ican soil at an early date by the great-grand- 
parents of our subject. 

Mr. Cooper, of this review, was edu- 
cated in a private school and in Jonesville 
Academy in North Carolina. With a good 
English education to serve as a basis for fu- 
ture work, he went to Georgia in 1858 and 
taught school for two years, and in January, 
1 86 1, with the desire to become a profes- 
sional man, he commenced the study of law 
in the office of the Hon. James G. Inlow in 
Elijay, Georgia, and was admitted to the 
bar at that place before the Hon. George D. 
Rice, judge of the superior court of the Blue 
Ridge circuit. 

His sympathies and feelings being with 
the south he felt it his duty to join the Con- 
federate forces, and on the 17th day of Oc- 
tober, 1 86 1, he was mustered into the Con- 
federate service as a private in Companj' E, 
Eighth Battalion, Georgia Infantry, in which 
company he continued until the i8th day of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



315 



April, 1865, when General Johnston surren- 
dered his forces to General Sherman at 
Greensboro, North Carolina. He held the 
rank of first lieutenant for over two years 
and participated in many important engage- 
ments, where his coolness and bravery were 
especially manifested. During the great 
national struggle he was three times slightly 
wounded but never remained away from the 
scene of action exceeding two months in 
total time until hostilities were ended. 

After the surrender he remained in North 
Carolina, where his mother still resided, 
until in November, 1865. During the war 
his father died, in October, 1862. Lieuten- 
ant Cooper returned to Ellijay, Georgia, and 
commenced the practice of law in 1865, and 
in 1866 was elected county judge of Gilmer 
county. In June, 1867, he came to Texas 
and married Miss Sallie A. Lewis, on the 
27th day of June, 1867, a daughter of Col- 
onel E. D. Lewis, who lived near Weather- 
ford, Texas. After his marriage he and his 
bride returned to Ellijay, Georgia. In 1870 
he was elected to the legislature of the 
state, and in May, 187 1, resigned the office 
and came to Texas, and on the 4th day of 
August, 1 87 1, settled in Granbury, Texas, 
where he has since resided, except for two 
years, during which time he was a resident 
of Dallas, Texas, where he was a member of 
the law firm of Russell, Cooper & Lemmon. 
Granbury, at the time he located there, was 
a mere hamlet, not having over fifty or sixty 
inhabitants. By a strict attention to bus- 
iness and an honest treatment of clients he 
has won a liberal share of the law practice, 
both in civil and criminal cases. He has 
been more generally engaged in the criminal 
practice, and has been retained as counsel 
in many of the important criminal cases 
that have come up for trial in this part of 



the state. Mr. Cooper has a very remark- 
able memory for dates and incidents, and 
rarely takes any notes in any case prepara- 
tory to arguing the case. He has always 
been a close student of his profession and 
other literature. He has a keen and com- 
prehensive knowledge of authorities, and 
readily grasps the strong points in his case 
and does not fail to discover the weak points 
of his adversary. Before a jury he is quiet 
and confident, for his cases are well pre- 
pared and his declarations are clear and 
forcible. If he fails in the lower courts he 
has a very clear idea of the results in a 
higher court, and when he so feels he rarely 
fails to get a reversal. 

Mr. Cooper was made a Mason on the 
1st day of January, 1867, in Ellijay Lodge, 
in Georgia. He is a charter member of the 
Knights of Honor, of Granbury Lodge, No. 
2369, which was organized in February, 
1 88 1. He is liberal in religious thought, 
and while he believes in a supreme power 
he does not believe that anyone knows his 
attributes, either in this or any other age. 
He is not a member of any religious denom- 
ination, but his wife and one or two of .his 
daughters are members of the Presbyterian 
church. They have had five children, 
namely. George Lewis, who died at the 
age of six years; Dora Lee; Hugh H., who 
was educated in the public school and Gran- 
bury College, studied law in his father's 
office and was admitted to the bar at Gran- 
bury in March, 1894, and is now associated 
with his father in the practice of the law, 
under the firm name of N. L. Cooper & 
Son; Kate Lorena and Nannie Olena com- 
plete the family. The Cooper home is 
truly a hospitable one and the members of 
the family occupy a high place in the esteem 
and affections of their many friends. 



816 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



@L. BOOKER, who occupies dis- 
tinctive preferment as county sur- 
veyor of Somervell county, Texas, 
has been identified with the interests 
of Hood and Somervell counties since 1874, 
these years having been given to official serv- 
ice, to teaching and to farming and stock- 
raising. 

Mr. Booker is a native of the Big Bend 
state. He was born in Sullivan county, 
Tennessee, July 6, 1842, his parents being 
J. S. and M. E. (Waterman) Booker. The 
Bookers are of German origin, settled in 
America during the colonial period, and 
later scattered to various parts of the 
country, J. S. Booker's native state being 
Tennessee. The mother of our subject was 
born in Virginia, the daughter of Bostonians 
who were of English descent. In 1873 J. 
S. Booker and his family left Virginia and 
came to Te.xas, locating first in Lamar 
county and a year later coming to Hood 
county, where he followed farming, milling 
and stock-raising. He and his wife had nine 
children, namely: G. L. , whose name intro- 
duces this sketch; Amanda, who died at the 
age of seventeen years; Lucretia, wife of 
Frank Simpson, of Delta county. Texas; 
Walter, who died at the age of fourteen 
years; next were twins that died in infancy; 
Alice, widow of G. Howington, Dublin, 
Erath county, Texas; N. E., Stephens 
county, Texas; and Minnie, wife of Almond 
Shepherd, of Stephens county. The mother 
of this family was a member of the Meth- 
odist church, south. Politically, the father 
was in early life an old-line Whig, but after 
the war gave his support to the Democrat 
party. He and his son, our subject, were 
both members of Company I, Forty-eighth 
Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in the war, the 
former serving two years in this company. 



Then for one year he was captain of a re- 
serve force. Soon after the seven days' 
fight before Richmond the elder Mr. Booker 
was honorably discharged and returned 
home. The son participated in several bat- 
tles in the valleys of Virginia, was in the 
engagement around Petersburg and at the 
battle of Appomattox. 

At the close of the war the subject of 
our sketch went to school for three years, 
then he engaged in teaching and was occu- 
pied in that profession in Virginia until their 
removal to Texas, and the first two 3-ears 
after their settlement here he taught school. 
He was then deputy county clerk three 
years, deputy sheriff two years, and in 1882 
was elected sheriff, which office he filled 
about one year. On his retirement from 
the sheriff's office he turned his attention to 
farming and stock-raising, which he has 
since followed, dividing his time between 
this occupation and teaching. During his 
school-days Mr. Booker made a specialty of 
the study of civil engineering, has ever since 
given more or less attention to the business, 
and in 1889 was elected to the office of 
county surveyor, which he has since filled 
acceptably. Mr. Booker has occupied his 
present farm since 1884. This place com- 
prises six hundred acres, forty-five of which 
are under cultivation and utilized for a 
diversity of crops. 

February 24, 1881, was consummated 
Mr. Booker's marriage to Miss Nannie D. 
Fuller, a native of Georgia and a daughter 
of Samuel O. and E. S. (Bates) Fuller. She 
has been a resident of this county since 
1878. Her father was a member of the 
Twenty-fourth Georgia Regiment during the 
late war and was killed in a skirmish near 
Sevierville, Tennessee, at the age of forty 
years. Her mother is still living and is now 




rf-J:: 



.em^. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



317 



a resident of Stephens county, Texas. Mr. 
and Mrs. Booker have had eight children, 
all of whom are living except Nora E., who 
died at the age of five years. The others 
are Olin, Phenie, Lorena, Nellie, Lizzie, 
Samuel and Karl. 

Fraternally, Mr. Booker is identified 
with Glen Rose Lodge, No. 525, A. F. & 
A. M., and his affiliations are with the 
Democratic party. Religiously, he is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south, while his wife has a membership in 
the Missionary Baptist church. 



'HOMAS Y. LEWIS, M. D., Dub- 
lin, Texas. — Holding marked pres- 
tige among the professional men of 
Erath county, enjoying high popu- 
larity, and maintaining a representative po- 
sition as identified with the stock and farm- 
ing interests of the county, it is of special 
importance that the life history of Dr. 
Thomas Y. Lewis be given prominence in 
this work. 

Dr. Lewis is a native of Illinois. He 
was born in Shelbyville, that state, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1837, son of Thomas and Jane 
(Armstrong) Lewis. The records of the 
Lewis family show Thomas to be a favorite 
name, the Doctor, his son and grandson, 
his father and grandfather all bearing the 
name of Thomas. Grandfather Lewis died 
in 1S24. Dr. Lewis has and highly prizes 
as an heirloom the silver watch which his 
grandfather carried. This watch was made 
in England in 18 10 and has engraved on it 
the grandfather's obituary and the names of 
his family. Of his children, we record that 
Thomas, the Doctor's father, was the 
eldest; Joseph came next; Sarah, who 
died unmarried; A. S., still a resident 



of Boston, Massachusetts; and there were 
two others of whom little or nothing is 
known by our subject. The eldest son, 
Thomas, born and reared in Boston, 
left the east in 1827 and established his 
home in Illinois, where he engaged in mer- 
chandising, he being the only one of the 
family to go west. TherS he died in April, 
1838, the year following the Doctor's birth; 
and of the three children born to Thomas 
and Jane Lewis, only Thomas Y. is living. 
Subsequently Mrs. Lewis became the wife 
of Dr. William Keller, of Shelbyville, Illi- 
nois. Her father, William Armstrong, was 
a Kentuckian who moved from that state to 
a place near Vincennes, Indiana, at an early 
date and was one of the pioneers of the 
Hoosier state. He and his good wife were 
the parents of the following children : James, 
who located near Austin, Texas, in 1833, 
became prominent as a lawyer and was hon- 
ored with a seat in the state legislature; 
next in order of birth was Jane, the Doctor's 
mother; Isabelle married Samuel Paddock 
and located in Terre Haute, Indiana; An- 
drew and Edward, twins, lived in Indiana; 
Elizabeth married Charles Woodward, of 
Shelbyville, Illinois; William came to Texas 
in 1836 and located near Austin, and to him 
belongs the distinction of having surveyed 
much of Erath county and western Texas, 
then called Palo Pinto county; Benjamin, 
who died in Indiana; John, who also died in 
the state of Illinois: and Mary, deceased 
when young. 

Early in life Thomas Y. Lewis, the im- 
mediate subject of this review, and to whom 
we now direct attention, chose the medical 
profession and at once bent his energies in 
that direction. He began the study of 
medicine under the tutorage of Dr. J. Y. 
Hitt, of Greensburg, Indiana, and subse- 



318 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



quently was a student in the office of Dr. 
A. L. Kellar, of Sullivan, Illinois. In 1856 
he entered the University of Louisville, at 
Louisville, Kentucky, took a course there 
and also in the Kentucky School of Medi- 
cine at that place, receiving a diploma 
from the latter institution February 25, 
1858. Returning to Illinois, the young 
physician began the practice of his profes- 
sion at Sullivan, where his honorable and 
upright bearing as a gentleman and his eager 
and sympathetic attention to those who re- 
quired his assistance, gained him a popular- 
ity among the good people of the town and 
surrounding country and at the same time 
won for him recognition from the leaders in 
the medical ranks. He remained in Sulli- 
van until the latter part of 1881, when he 
removed to Texas, landing here on the 
20th of December. Previous to this time 
Dr. Lewis had visited Texas and had been 
favorably impressed with the location and 
surroundings of Dublin, and had determined 
to make it his future home. Here he at 
once established himself in practice, with 
his former success, and has ever since 
maintained a high standing as a practitioner. 
By June, 1884, the demands on his time 
and attention having so increased, he found 
it necessary to have an associate in bus- 
iness and accordingly formed a partnership 
with Dr. J. J. McLemore, whose skill as a 
physician and high standing as a gentleman 
show conclusively Dr. Lewis's wisdom in 
the selection of a partner. Drs. Lewis and 
McLemore still practice together. 

And not only as a physician but also as 
a business man and financier has Dr. Lewis 
shown marked ability. He has made in- 
vestments in real estate until he is now re- 
garded as one of the large landholders of 
Erath county. His ranch, comprising 1,500 



acres — one of the finest in the county — has 
a reputation far and near for the excel- 
lency of its stock, — Durham cattle and Nor- 
man horses. On this ranch there are four 
tenant houses, the families living in them 
being employed by the Doctor to attend to 
the cultivation of his broad acres and take 
charge of his fine stock. 

Dr. Lewis was married June 22, 185S, 
to Cordelia B. Elder, daughter of James 
and Didanna (French) Elder. Mrs. Lewis 
was born October 31, 1 841, is a lady of 
pleasing personality, and has all these years 
presided with charming grace over the Doc- 
tor's home. Of their children we record 
that Eva, who became the wife of F. M. 
Craig, of Illinois, was born August 9, i860, 
and died April 17, 1885; Thomas Edward, 
born December 2, 1862, and now a resident 
of Fort Worth, Texas, married Miss Laura 
Gray, of Mississippi, who died two years 
afterward, and after her death her one-year- 
old son died; Minnie, born December 17, 
1864, died October 4, 1865; and Edith, 
born March 17, 1873, is the wife of S. S. 
Davis, of Dublin, Texas, and has two chil- 
dren, — Lewie and Thomas, aged five and 
three years. 

Fraternally, Dr. Lewis has long been 
identified with the Masonic order, having 
been initiated into its mysteries in April, 
1858, a short time after attaining his ma- 
jority. He now affiliates with Dublin lodge. 
No. 540, A. F. & A. M. While in Illinois 
he was received into the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. The Doctor is an earnest 
advocate of temperance, and gives his sup- 
port to the Prohibition party. In municipal 
and educational affairs he has ever taken a 
commendable interest, more especially, 
however, in the latter, he having served as 
trustee of the Dublin schools two years, and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



319 



four years as superintendent of the schools 
of Moultrie county, Illinois, and was elected 
the first president of the Dublin National 
Bank in 1893. At the time he was twenty 
years of age he united with the Christian 
church, and has ever remained a consistent 
member of the same. Thus it is seen that 
Dr. Lewis early in life chose high ideals, 
has worked steadily toward them, and as 
the result of his efforts enjoys to-day an en- 
viable position in the high circles in which 
he moves. 

[P. S.— The main facts in this sketch 
were furnished by me; but the embellish- 
ments were furnished by the writers of the 
book. Very respectfully yours, 

T. Y. Lewis, M. D.] 



>^OHN CLARK PHILLIPS, the pop- 
k ular postmaster of Iredell, is one o 
/» 1 the leading and successful business 
^-'^ men and enterprising citizens of the 
place, where he has been engaged in busi- 
ness since 1878. 

He was born in Jackson parish, now 
Lincoln county, Louisiana, on the 20th of 
February, 1852, and is a son of Jonathan 
A. Phillips, a native of Georgia, who died 
of yellow fever at New Orleans in 1853, at 
the age of twenty-seven years. He had re- 
ceived a good practical education, which 
well fitted him for a business career, and 
was a merchant at Vienna, near New Or- 
leans. At the age of twenty-one he had 
married Miss Caroline Nail, who was born 
in Georgia, of which state her father, Na- 
than Nail, was also a native. The latter 
was a planter and a faithful member of 
the Baptist church, and died in 1894. The 
mother of our subject passed away in 1 890, 
at the age of sixty-four years. She was 



connected with the Methodist church, and 
at her husband's death was left with the 
care of five children, namely: Reuben, of 
Bosque county; Sally E., widow of David 
Sutphen, who died in Bosque county; Mary 
E., of Texas; W. W., also of Bosque coun- 
ty; and J. C. of this sketch. 

Reuben Phillips, the paternal grandfa- 
ther of our subject, now makes his home at 
Iredell, at the advanced age of ninety-two 
years, being the oldest citizen of the county. 
He was born in Georgia, of a prominent 
family, and became one of the early miners 
and gold diggers of that state. Later he 
was a successful planter and slave-owner. 
It was in 1852 that he first came to Texas, 
accompanying a friend and comrade, M. 
Wafer, who died in Bosque county, and was 
the first to be interred at Rock church. 
After this sad event Mr. Phillips returned to 
Louisiana, but in 1859 came again to Texas, 
and ten years later located permanently in 
Bosque county. At Iredell he is now a 
prominent member and class-leader in the 
Methodist church. His first wife died in 
Louisiana, and Jonathan A. was his only 
son. 

In 1859 our subject was brought to 
Texas, where he obtained his education. 
On starting out in life for himself he was 
engaged in merchandising for a time as a 
member of the firm of Heflin, Phillips & 
Company. Since 1890 he has engaged in 
the drug business, employing a registered 
and licensed pharmacist, and has a good 
store building twenty-five by sixty feet, 
where he carries a full line of pure drugs, 
medicines, druggist supplies and sundries. 
He has built up an excellent trade and is 
also the proprietor of a good livery stable. 
At Iredell, on the 8th of March, 187S, 
Mr. Phillips was united in marriage with 



320 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Miss Martha Heflin, who was born in 
Cherokee county, Texas, and is a daughter 
of David HeHin, now deceased, who was a 
native of Georgia. To them have been 
born the following children: Edith W., 
Maud M., Reuben J., Amy and Agnes, 
twins, Wilbur, Herbert, and four who died 
in infancy. 

Mr. Phillips and his wife hold member- 
ship in the Methodist church, and he is now 
trustee of the same and a member of the 
choir. He is prominently connected with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
belonging to the Lodge No. 184 of Iredell, 
in which he has held office, and is also a 
member of the encampment and grand 
lodge. An active supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party, he was appointed postmaster in 
1893, and is now acceptably filling that 
position. He is one of the leading and in- 
fluential citizens of Iredell, taking a com- 
mendable interest in educational and moral 
advancement, and is surrounded by many 
warm personal friends. In business, social 
and private life his honor stands unques- 
tioned and his career is one to which his 
family and friends may refer with just pride. 



<>^ ICHARD ADOLPHUS CURE- 

I ^Z TON, a well-to-do farmer and 
M . F stock-grower of Bosque county, 
belongs to one of its honored pio- 
neer families, and has contributed his share 
to the growth and development of this part 
of the state. 

He was born at Ozark, Arkansas, De- 
cember 9, 1854, and when an infant was 
brought to Texas by his parents, James J. 
and Margaret E. Cureton, a sketch of 
whose lives is given in the biography of W. 
E. Cureton, on another page of this work. 



Upon the frontier our subject grew up, 
early becoming familiar with the trials and 
privations that fall to the lot of the pioneer; 
and as schools were very scarce his edu- 
cation was necessarily limited. For several 
years he was extensively engaged in stock- 
raising upon the plains of El Paso county, 
Texas, sixty miles from a government post- 
office. 

Near Walnut Springs, in Bosque county, 
on the 22d of March, 1872, Mr. Cureton 
was united in marriage with Miss Julia Ann 
Russell, who also was reared to frontier life, 
becoming familiar with the wild llowers and 
birds to be found in this unsettled region. 
Indians still sulked around the homes of the 
pioneers, and the brave cowboy watched his 
herd of longhorns on the prairies. Her 
parents were W. H. and Sarah (Holt) Rus- 
sell, honored and respected citizens of 
Bosque county, whose sketch may be also 
seen elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and 
Mrs. Cureton have become the parents of 
four children, namely: James Houston, 
born April 29, 1878; Koss Barry, born Jan- 
uary 5, 1880; William Jackson, born Octo- 
ber II, 1884; and Elsie, born October 4, 
1892. 

Mr. Cureton now owns a fine farm of 
two hundred and ten acres in Bosque coun- 
ty, where he is extensively engaged in rais- 
ing sheep, and also has a large drove of 
cattle in the western part of the state. He 
is one of the most progressive and energetic 
farmers and stock-raisers in this part of the 
country, and is a complete master of the 
calling which he is following. He is six 
feet and four inches in height and weighs 
two hundred and ten pounds. His sterling 
integrity and honorable, upright manhood, 
fully entitle him to the position which he 
holds in the estimation of the people of the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



community. In his political views he coin- 
cides with the principles of the People's 
party, and takes an active part in the local 
campaigns of that organization. 



aC. WOOD, county commissioner 
of Erath county, Texas, and one 
of its leading and influential farm- 
ers, dates his birth in east Ten- 
nessee, May 12, 1848. 

Mr. Wood's parents are John D. and 
Eliza (Inman) Wood, both natives of Ten- 
nessee. His grandfather, John Wood, was 
a Pennsylvanian, of Scotch and German 
descent, who emigrated from the Keystone 
state to Tennessee at an early day and be- 
came prominent there as a pioneer farmer. 
John D. Wood was reared in Tennessee and 
made that state his home until 1854, at 
that time coming to Texas and locating on a 
tract of land in Cooke county, where he 
was engaged in the cattle business until 
1859. He then removed to San Saba 
county and turned his attention to the sheep 
industry, being thus occupied at the time 
the civil war came on. In 1862 he enlisted 
in the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, Confeder- 
ate army, and was with his command in 
Texas and Arkansas until late in the following 
year, when, on account of ill health, he 
was discharged. After recuperating he en- 
tered the home guard, in which he rendered 
efficient service in protecting the frontier 
from Indian raids until peace and quiet 
again reigned over the land. 

In 1 866, during the reconstruction period, 
he moved to Coryell county; but before 
this, in 1865, he drove his stock to Arkan- 
sas and sold out. He remained in Coryell 
county, variously employed, until 1871, 
when he took up his abode in Erath county, 



farming here one year and then engaging 
with his son C. C. in merchandising. Sub- 
sequently they purchased in partnership the 
farm now owned and occupied by this son, 
and they continued their operations together 
until 1 88 1, when the father turned the farm 
over to C. C. and moved out nearer the 
mountain a few miles away. There the 
father still resides and gives his attention to 
the sheep business. He and his good wife 
live alone, their children having married and 
scattered. Of their family we record that 
Mary is the wife of B. Turney, a stock man 
of McCullough county, Texas; C. C. is the 
next in order of birth; Margaret is the wife 
of G. W. Tabor, a furniture dealer of Hico; 
William M. died at the age of twelve years; 
M. A., widow of S. P. Gilentine, deceased, 
has four children; and L. M. is the wife of 
B. F. Beach, a prominent farmer and early 
settler of Erath county. The father of this 
family has passed his threescore years and 
ten, and he is still vigorous with seemingly 
a long lease yet on life. He filled some 
important public positions since coming to 
this state, such as justice of the peace, as- 
sessor and collector of taxes in Cooke coun- 
ty, and while living in San Saba county was 
appointed county sheriff, which position he 
resigned. Since 1893 he has given his sup- 
port to the Populist party. Previous to 
that time he was a Democrat. 

Having thus referred to his parentage, 
we would now direct attention to the life of 
C. C. Wood. He was only six years old at 
the time he accompanied his parents to this 
state, and he was brought up to the stock 
business, his advantages for schoohng of 
course being limited owing to the unsettled 
condition of the country. While his father 
was absent during the war young Wood, 
with the assistance of his mother's counsel, 



322 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



took charge of the stock. He married in 
Coryell county in 1869, and after this en- 
gaged in merchandising in partnership with 
his brother-in-law at Valley Mills, Bosque 
county. Upon the removal of his father to 
Erath county he sold his interest at Valley 
Mills, came here and joined his father and 
together they opened a country store, as 
above stated. When he took charge of 
the farm in 1881 it had but few improve- 
ments and only a small amount of land 
under cultivation. Its present improved 
condition is therefore due to his efforts. 
This place comprises one hundred and thirty 
acres, has a pleasant residence, and is ad- 
joining the town of Duffau, and here Mr. 
Wood now devotes his attention to farming 
and stock-raising, making a specialty of 
sheep. 

Of recent years he has taken an active 
part in politics, affiliating with the Demo- 
cratic party, and in recognition of his 
ability and enthusiastic interest in public af- 
fairs he has been honored with official posi- 
tion. He is now serving as county com- 
misioner and alfeo as justice of the peace. 

Turning now to that part of his life 
which is of a domestic nature, we find that 
Mr. Wood married in 1869 Miss Martha 
Slater, who was born in Mississippi, Jan- 
uary 13, 1851, daughter of William B. and 
Eliza (Sandifer) Slater. Mrs. Wood knows 
little of the history of her parents save that 
they died in Arkansas when she was young, 
they having moved to that state from Ala- 
bama, their deaths occurring about four years 
apart. In the Slater family were twelve 
children, namely: John, who died in Ar- 
kansas after having served through the late 
war; Charles, a veteran of the late war 
and now a resident of Erath county, Texas; 
William, who was killed at Pascagoula; 



James, a resident of Mississippi; George, a 
veteran of the late war, who died in Ar- 
kansas at the age of twenty years; Benja- 
min F. , a war veteran and now a farmer of 
Erath county; Newton, now of Alabama, 
also is a veteran of the war; Noel, who 
died at the age of thirteen years; Mary, 
widow of John Staton, has eight children 
and is a resident of Bell county, Texas; 
Martha, who is now Mrs. Wood; Laura, 
wife of W. W. Man, a Bell county farmer. 
Their parents were members of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wood have had eight children, one of whom 
died in infancy. Of the others we record 
that Annie is the wife of G. L. Sikes, a 
farmer of this locality; Mary E. is the wife 
of Walter Syer, a farmer; and the other 
five — Laura L., Lela M., Ola K., Alberta 
and Susadell are at home. 

Mrs. Wood is a member of the Chris- 
tian church. 



QATTHEW LEANDER PATTON, 
who is a conspicuous figure in 
agricultural and political circles 
in Erath county, and is justly 
numbered among the leading and influential 
citizens, comes of a family of long identifi- 
cation with the United States. Before 
American independence was achieved his 
ancestors had crossed the Atlantic to the 
new world. The great-grandfather of our 
subject, Matthew Patton, was a native of 
Dublin, Ireland, and leaving the Emerald 
isle he sought a home in the British provinces 
on this side the water. When the colonists 
attempted to throw off the yoke of English 
oppression he joined the American army 
and gave his life for the cause of freedom. 
The paternal grandfather of M. L. Pat- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ton was Alexander Patton, Sr., a native of 
North Carolina and a schoolmate of Andrew 
Jackson, with whom he afterward removed 
to Tennessee. He married Jane Starr, a 
daughter of Thomas Starr, a native of Eng- 
land, who on emigrating to the United 
States settled in South Carolina. Their 
son, Alexander Patton, Jr. , was the father 
of our subject. Born and reared in Ten- 
nessee, when he had arrived at years of 
maturity he married Frances H. Chenault, 
a native of Alabama and a daughter of Mor- 
ris Chenault, of French descent. Mr. Pat- 
ton went to Alabama when a young man, 
and afterward removed to Mississippi, where 
he followed farming and tanning until 1877. 
In that year he came to Texas, locating first 
in Ellis- county, whence he came to Erath 
county, where his death occurred in 1889, 
at the age of eighty-four years. His widow 
still survives him, and is now seventy-five 
years of age. In their family were eleven 
children, eight of whom are now living. 
The father was a member of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian church, and the mother 
belongs to the Missionary Baptist church. 
People of the highest respectability, they 
had a large circle of warm friends, who held 
them in the greatest esteem. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Tippah county, Mississippi, on the 14th of 
April, 1 84 1, and his boyhood days passed 
quietly, unmarked by any event of special 
importance. He became familiar with farm 
work in its various departments, and assisted 
his father in the development of the old 
homestead until after the commencement of 
the civil war, when, in September, 1861, he 
enlisted as a member of Company F, Sec- 
ond Mississippi Infantry. He served with 
the Army of Northern Virginia, and partici- 
pated in the battle of Seven Pines, the 



seven-days engagement near Richmond, the 
second battle of Manassas and many skir- 
mishes until the hotly-contested battle of 
Gettysburg. On the 3d of July, during that 
engagement, he was wounded in the left 
arm, and has never recovered from the 
effects. This unfitted him for further serv- 
ice and he returned home, where he re- 
mained until after the close of hostilities. 

Mr. Patton was married on the 6th of 
September, i860, to Miss Elizabeth Cut- 
birth, a native of Tennessee, born at Hard- 
eman, and a daughter of Daniel and Eliz- 
abeth (Reed) Cutbirth, formerly of Maury 
county, Tennessee, and descended from 
Irish ancestry. Mr. Cutbirth was a nephew 
of Daniel Boone, the noted pioneer and 
hunter of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Patton 
are the parents of seven children, and with 
one exception all are yet living: Jerome 
B. ; Thomas A., who died in infancy; Mat- 
thew Leander; William T. ; Elizabeth F., 
wife of John Sheridan; Daniel Jackson and 
Robert Lee. 

Mr. Patton and his wife began their do- 
mestic life on a farm in Mississippi, where 
they resided until 1871, the year of their 
arrival in Texas. In Cass county our sub- 
ject purchased a tract of land and erected a 
cabin, but soon after sold that property and 
removed to Parker county, where he lived 
for two years, when trouble with the In- 
dians caused him to seek a home in Ellis 
county. He continued his residence there 
until 1878, when he came to Erath county, 
where he purchased one hundred and 
twenty acres of land that was still in its 
primitive condition, not a furrow having 
been turned or an improvement made 
thereon. The work of cultivation and de- 
velopment was at once begun and has been 
i carried steadily forward until now well tilled 



324 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



fields surrounding his pleasant home tell to 
the passer-by of the enterprise and the pro- 
gressive spirit of the owner. Success has 
attended his undertakings, and he is now 
the owner of four hundred acres of valuable 
land, and has also given farms to each of 
his children. He is an excellent type of 
the honorable, practical, energetic business 
man of America, and his prosperity is the re- 
ward of his own labors. From an humble 
position he has worked his way upward to 
one of affluence and is now enabled to sup- 
ply his familj' with all the comforts that 
go to make life worth the living. 

His fellow citizens, appreciating his worth 
and ability, have called Mr. Patton from 
the retirement of private life to political 
office, and for six years he served as tax 
assessor of Erath county, being first elected 
to the office in 1886 and serving therein for 
six consecutive years, when he declined to 
allow his name to be used any longer as a 
candidate. His long continuance in office 
plainly indicates his fidelity to duty and the 
trust reposed in him, — a trust of which he 
is well worthy. He and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Baptist church, and socially he 
is connected with the Farmers' Alliance 
and Stephenville Lodge, No. 267, F. & A. 
M. His political affiliation is with the 
Democracy. 



^"YAMUEL A. BRIANT.— That hon- 
>^^^ ered resident of District No. 6, 
j \^/j Comanche county, Texas, whose 
life history now comes under re- 
view, is of North Carolina birth, and an- 
cestry tracing back to the Emerald Isle. 
The history of the Briant family is that of 
a loyal and valorous people, serving their 
country in times of war, and living useful 



and respected lives; and in this the subject 
of our sketch is not unlike his forefathers. 

He was born in Cleveland county. North 
Carolina, September 16, 1841, son of Lewis 
Briant, a native of South Carolina and 
grandson of Augustus Briant, who was born 
in Irelarid and settled in America at an early 
day. Grandfather Briant was a participant 
in the early wars of this country, and was 
for many years a resident of South Carolina, 
where he reared his family. His son Lewis 
was married there to Miss Narcissa Hemphill, 
a native of South Carolina, and daughter of 
James Hemphill, a representative of one of the 
colonial families of that state. They became 
the parents of seven children, all of whom 
were reared in Cleveland county, namely: 
Margaret, John, James, Elizabeth, Samuel 
A., William and Matilda; and of this number 
only three — Margaret, Elizabeth and Sam- 
uel A. — are now living. James was a Con- 
federate soldier and was killed in the battle 
of Seven Pines. The father died in the 
prime of life, at the age of forty-one, and 
the mother lived to the venerable age of 
seventy-eight. Hers was a beautiful Chris- 
tian character. She brought up her chil- 
dren in the fear of the Lord, teaching both 
by precept and example, and when she came 
to die was happy in the hope of immortal 
life. 

Samuel A. Briant thus had early Chris- 
tian influence, and was reared on the farm 
and received a common-school education. 
When the hostilities between the north and 
the south could no longer be suppressed and 
war was openly declared, we find him on 
the verge of young manhood and eager to 
give his support to the Confederate cause. 
He was among the first to enter the ranks, 
for four years he bravely battled for the 
cause that was finally lost, and was with 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



325 



General Lee's army at the time of the sur- 
render at Appomattox. At first he was a 
member of the Twelfth Arkansas Regiment, 
remaining with this command until after the 
fall of Port Hudson, where he was captured, 
but soon after made his escape, and from 
that time until the close of the war was with 
the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Infantry. 
Among the engagements in which he partic- 
ipated were those of Island No. lo. Deep 
Bottom and Petersburg, and, although he 
came out of the army without a wound, he 
made many narrow and almost miraculous 
escapes from bursting shells. 

The war over, Mr. Briant returned to 
his home in Cleveland county, which had 
been made desolate by the vicissitudes of 
civil conflict, and instead of being discour- 
aged he began with renewed energy to re- 
place the losses he had sustained. He re- 
mained in that county until 1872, when he 
removed to Pope county, Arkansas, and the 
following year came from there to Com- 
anche county, Texas. Here he purchased 
from the Deaf and Dumb Asylum one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land, settling on it and 
devoting his energies to its cultivation and 
improvement, and as he was prospered in his 
operations purchased more land until now 
he has four hundred acres, one of the best 
and most valuable farms in this part of the 
county, its location being a mile and a half 
from Sipe Springs. Half of this tract is un- 
der cultivation. He has a modern resi- 
dence, well furnished, and surrounded with 
an attractive lawn dotted over with flowers, 
shrubs and trees. The whole farm is well 
fenced and in the broad pastures are found 
a good grade of horses, cattle and hogs. In 
short, the home is delightful and the farm a 
model one. 

At the age of twenty-five years Mr. 



Briant chose for his life companion and 
wedded Miss Rossie Evans, daughter of 
David and Anna Evans, whose life has since 
been happily blended with his and who has 
been a helpmate in every sense of that 
word. The children of their union are as 
follows: James B., married and living on 
his father's farm; Anna P., wife of Mr. C. 
Johnson of Wood county, Texas; Minnie, 
wife of Green Rye, of Young county, Texas; 
and David, William and Albert, at home. 

Mr. Briant maintains a fraternal rela- 
tion with Masonic lodge No. 537, of Sipe 
Springs; in his political affiliations is Dem- 
ocratic; and religiously both he and his wife 
are identified with the Missionary Baptist 
church, in which he is a deacon. 



5>^ E. SCHOW & BROTHERS, Clif- 
|, 1 ton, Texas, has achieved a success 
^_ that has placed its members fore- 
most among the progressive mer- 
chants of central Texas and gained for it 
high standing in commercial circles. In 
this connection we are pleased to present a 
history both of the firm and its individual 
members. 

The house of P. E. Schow & Brothers 
was established in September, 1889, with a 
a small capital but with a large amount of 
energy, perseverance and business tact, and 
from the first has gone steadily forward. 
Indeed, the business of the firm has ex- 
panded far beyond the most sanguine 
expectations of its members. To-day they 
are not excelled in Bosque county, and 
probably few business houses of central 
Texas will equal them in volume of business. 
The last year, 1895, shows sales amounting 
to nearly eighty-five thousand dollars. The 
Messrs. Schow are all representative busi- 



326 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ness men, representing a large aggregate of 
wealth combined with a generous share of 
good judgment and enterprise. Their pres- 
ent building was erected in 1895, at a cost 
of nearly nine thousand dollars, has a corner 
location in the business center of the town 
and is adjacent to the railroad. It has a 
frontage of thirty feet, is one hundred and 
fifteen feet in length, is two stories high, 
and has a cellar, with a concrete floor, 
under the whole of the building, all being 
nicely finished and conveniently arranged. 
The first floor contains shelf hardware and 
groceries, while in the second story is found 
heavy hardware, stoves, ranges, etc., and 
also the saddle and harness manufacturing 
department. An elevator and other modern 
conveniences are of course necessary in an 
establishment of this kind and have not 
been overlooked. Adjoining the main build- 
ing on the south, and constructed of cor- 
rugated iron, is the large warehouse, 60 x 1 1 5 
feet, and containing wagons, carriages and 
all kinds of agricultural implements. The 
patrons of this establishment can be accom- 
modated with almost anything they call for 
from an ordinary sock needle to an anchor 
chain or threshing machine, for such is the 
completeness of the stock handled by the 
firm. Also they deal largely in cotton, 
handling many thousand bales annually. 

The members composing this firm are 
Otto E., John E. and Peter E. Schow, and 
to a personal sketch of each we now turn. 

Looking first to the ancestry of these 
gentlemen, we find their parents to be Evan 
and Bertha Schow, both natives of Norway, 
the latter of German origin. Evan Schow 
was born in 1798 and died in 1888. By 
occupation he was a landscape gardener, 
trained under government supervision, and 
for many years employed in that capacity. 



Their family consisted of nine children, five 
of whom are now American citizens. 

Otto E. Schow, the eighth in order of 
birth, was born in Norway, November 14, 
1867, and there spent the first sixteen years 
of his life. In 1884 he came to America 
and took up his abode in Texas, locating 
first at Waco, where he resided some fifteen 
months and whence he removed to Gates- 
ville. At the latter place he served an ap- 
prenticeship to the saddler's trade. About 
four years later, after visiting Oklahoma, 
he located in Clifton, and in the fall of 1889 
the three brothers embarked in their pres- 
ent business. 

John E. Schow, senior member of the 
firm, was born April 24, 1858, and came to 
America in 188 1. He resided in Waco two 
years and was married there July 29, 1885, 
to Miss Syverine Brown, a native of Nor- 
way, and they have five children, viz. : Carl 
E., Jennie S., Cora, Segard C. and Sophia 
R. Mr. John E. Schow owns, individually, 
farming property to the amount of three 
hundred and twenty acres, one hundred and 
twenty of which are under cultivation. 

Peter E. Schow, the seventh of this 
large family, dates his birth December 14, 
1864. He emigrated to America in 1882. 
On his arrival at Clifton, Texas, that same 
year he engaged in farming, which he fol- 
lowed two years. Then he left the farm 
and began railroad work. For six years he 
was a member of the section force on the 
Santa Fe line, much of that time serving as 
section foreman. He was also employed in 
a similar capacity on the Texas Pacific, and 
was foreman in charge of a steam shovel on 
the Missouri, I\ansas & Texas railroad be- 
tween Fort Worth and Waco, some four 
years. Mr. Schow is a man of family. He 
was united in marriage in Fort Worth, May 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



327 



8, 1890, to Miss Annie Berge, like himself a 
native of Norway. They have two children 
living, namely: Frank P. and Emmit H. 
They lost their little daughter Ruby. Mr. 
Peter E. Schow owns farming land and 
other property independent of the firm. In 
the store he is recognized as general man- 
ager and financier. Otto E. is at the head 
of the manufacturing department and cor- 
respondence, while the other brother, John 
E. , looks after the outside sales and pur- 
chases on the cotton market. Each is 
specially adapted for the line of business he 
controls and all work harmoniously, con- 
tributing to the general success of the firm. 



^"V* IMPSON LOYD, a well-known pio- 
•^^^* neer settler of Hamilton, is a native 
Y\^J of Perry county, Tennessee, born 
January 8, 1825, and remained in 
that county until the month of March, 1S37, 
when his parents' removal to Arkansas 
brought him into that state. Following 
their rapidly changing locations during the 
next seven years, he spent time in the fol- 
lowing counties of that state: Green, Jack- 
son, White, Azord, Crawford and Clark. 
During this period the family also visited 
Ripley, Pulaski and Greene counties in the 
state of Missouri. In 1843 the family was 
found in Crawford county, Arkansas, and 
consisted of father, mother and seven chil- 
dren, of whom our subject was the oldest. 
The other children were Jemima, John, 
Vincent, William, Lavina and Martha. In 
the month of October, 1S45, this family 
came to Harrison county, Texas, now known 
as Upshur county, and settled ten miles 
from the location of the present town of 
Gilmer. At that time the nearest town was 



Marshall, forty miles away. The father 
bought a tract of three hundred and twenty 
acres, from the old and widely-known sur- 
veyor, David Hill, paying therefor one dol- 
lar an acre. He lived in camp until he had 
sold his first crop, and with the proceeds 
erected a home. 

Simpson Loyd took up a pre-emption 
claim of three hundred and twenty acres ad- 
joining his father's plantation, in 1850, when 
he married and continued his home here for 
the next six years. He received a good 
of^er for his place, and accepting it removed 
to Lampasas county in 1856, which was his 
home for the next six years, when great 
danger from the Indians drove him with 
many other settlers into the town of Ham- 
ilton for common protection. A company 
of forty men had long been organized for 
protection against these Indian warriors, 
served two years, and then disbanded on 
the election of Governor Houston in i860. 
November, 1863, witnessed the organization 
of the first company of sixty men made up 
in the county, which did not leave the state 
and served throughout the war. 

When the storm of war had died away 
and peace and industry had once more pos- 
sessed the state, Mr. Loyd devoted himself 
again to agricultural pursuits. In 1868 he 
disposed of his property on the edge of the 
county, and six months later located him- 
self on the farm where he is now found. 
This is close by the city, and consists of 
three hundred and twenty-seven acres, which 
is well stocked with cattle and horses and is 
regarded as a very well managed and suc- 
cessful Texas farm. 

Mr. Loyd has been a consistent and de- 
voted Democrat, and was first elected jus- 
tice of the peace in 1858, and was also 
chosen county commissioner at the same 



328 



IIISTORT OF TEXAS. 



time, and held both of these offices continu- 
ously until the close of the war. Under 
the operation of the Amnesty Proclamation 
of Andrew Johnson in 1867, he was again 
eligible for office and was elected assessor 
and collector, and here he was busy until 
1870. General Runnels appointed him that 
year as inspector of hides and cattle, a posi- 
tion he held for a year or more, but in that 
brief time succeeded in breaking up a very 
extensive system of cattle-thieving that had 
prevailed since the war. April 23, 1873, 
our subject was elected presiding justice, a 
position corresponding to that of county 
judge, and held the position until it was 
abolished in 1876. His neighbors appre- 
ciating his character and integrity, elected 
him justice of the peace and county com- 
missioner in precinct No. i. These posi- 
tions he has held to the present time with 
the exception of two years, when another 
man was chosen county commissioner. 

Mr. Loyd was married March 24, 1850, 
to Miss Olive, daughter of John and Mary 
(Winchester) Jackson. She was born in 
Henderson county, Tennessee, June 14, 
1831, and died May 8, 1895. She was the 
mother of eight children: George Washing- 
ton, June I, 1851, now a farmer north of 
the town; Mary Ann, July 15, 1852, mar- 
ried W. F. Walter, and is now a widow, 
living with her father; William Pickney, 
June 6, 1855, living three and one-half miles 
northeast of Hamilton; Martha Jane, born 
January 10, 1857, wife of Daniel Kelly and 
residing in Grier county; Lavinia Eleanor, 
May 9, 1858, wife of " Dock " Prickett and 
lives in Choctaw nation, and is the mother 
of three boys and two girls; Jemima Emily, 
February 10, 1861, and died March 22, 
1886; John Templeton, March 15, 1864, 
and died September 5, 1877; and Simpson, 



January 3, 1869, dying January 11 of the 
same year. 

Mr. Loyd has been a member of the 
Missionary Baptist church for thirty-eight 
years, and with his wife has been a faithful 
supporter of that branch of the Christian 
church. He is also a Mason of long and 
enthusiastic service. In 1870 he was made 
a member of Gatcsville Lodge, No. 197, 
A. F. & A. M., and two years later was 
associated with several distinguished citi- 
zens of Hamilton in the organization of 
Rock House Lodge, No. 417, A. F. & A. M., 
of Hamilton, of which organization he has 
been treasurer since its institution. 

' ' 'Squire " Loyd, as he is familiarly called 
by his neighbors, is a fine type of the south- 
ern Texas pioneer, hospitable and generous 
to a fault. He has many friends and few 
enemies, and has made a noble record in the 
work of establishing law and order, and 
building up a higher civilization. In this 
he has been earnest and persistent, and now 
in his old age he is reaping the reward of a 
well spent, honest and upright life. 

The father of our subject was a native 
of Barren county, Kentucky, where he was 
born November i, 1797, and he died Febru- 
ary 23, 1878, in Coryell county, Texas. 
His wife was a native of South Carolina, 
where she was born in 1803. The grand- 
father Loyd was a native of England who 
came to this country about the year 1785, 
locating near the village of Glasgow, Barren 
county, Kentucky, where he died in 1802, 
when only a little past fifty. He was a man 
of parts, and held the responsible position 
of sheriff at the time of his death. His wife 
also was English, and their children were 
James, Sarah (Crawley), Elizabeth (Denni- 
son), Thomas, the father of our subject, 
Stephen, Margaret (Martin) and Jemima 



m 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



(Madison). Abraham Wyatt, the maternal 
grandfather of our subject, was born in 
South Carohna and served in the Continent- 
al army, which he entered at the age of 
thirteen, in the year 1775. Lavina Masen- 
gale became his wife and they had the fol- 
lowing children: John, who married Mary 
Murphy; Susan, who became the wife of 
George Martin; Daniel, who married Mary 
Johnson; Solomon, who married a Miss 
Plunckett; Samuel, who married Mary John- 
son; Abraham, who married Sarah McCor- 
mack; Nancy, who became the wife of Amos 
Collier; Elizabeth, who married Isaac Be- 
shears; Sarah, who became Mrs. Daniel 
Murphy; Isham, who married Mary Murphy; 
Absalom, who married Sarah Henley; Mar- 
tha, who became the wife of William Loyd; 
Lavina, who became the wife of Moses Col- 
lier; William, who married Mary Beshears; 
and Reuben. 

The great-grandfather of our subject, 
Abraham Wyatt, was born and married in 
England. 



^y^HILIP JACKSON.— There is some- 
1 M thing in the life of every self-made 
J man that excites admiration and 

respect, for those qualities which 
can overcome difficulties and obstacles and 
press forward to succeed are worthy the 
highest commendation and furnish an ex- 
ample that is indeed worthy of emulation. 
Our subject is a man of this type, and his 
fellow-citizens, appreciating his worth and 
ability, have honored him with the office of 
county clerk, in which capacity he is now 
acceptably serving. 

Mr. Jackson was born in Polk county, 
Arkansas, June 8, 1851, being a son of 
Philip and Abiah (Barker) Jackson, the for- 



mer a native of Virginia and the latter of 
Indiana. They were early settlers of west- 
ern Arkansas, and there the father followed 
farming and stock-raising until his death, 
which occurred in i860. He left a widow 
and eight children, six of whom are yet liv- 
ing. Philip was sixteen years of age when 
the family left the state of his nativity and 
emigrated to Hood county, Texas, making 
the journey in a wagon drawn by oxen. 
They located on the Abbey farm on the east 
side of the Brazos river, where for a year 
they lived in a rude log cabin without chim- 
ney or floor. The children and mother 
worked hard and succeeded in raising a good 
crop that season. The next year they 
rented land from John Cavasas, a Mexican, 
— the place now owned by J. H. Allison, 
near the Barnard Knob. After three years' 
residence in Texas the mother died, and the 
home was then broken up, the children 
starting out to take care of themselves as well 
they could. It was a hard lot, for, with no 
inheritance whatever, they were dependent 
entirely upon their own resources. 

Mr. Jackson, of this review, was addi- 
tionally afflicted, for in his youth he had 
suffered from "white swelling" in his left 
knee, which ultimately necessitated the am- 
putation of the leg. He at once sought em- 
ployment in the neighborhood and worked 
at whatever he could get to do. His meager 
educational advantages were such as he 
could secure for himself by saving money 
from his earnings and meeting the necessary 
expenses while in the public schools. By 
private reading and study, however, he has 
become a well-informed man, having a good 
practical education which well fits him for 
life's responsible duties. When he had 
fitted himself for school-teaching he entered 
upon that profession, which he successfully 



330 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 



followed for ten years, winning a reputation 
as one of the most capable educators in the 
country. 

Upon the organization of Somervell 
county (said county having been cut off from 
Hood county), Mr. Jackson was cut of? in 
said Somervell county, and at the first elec- 
tion for county officers he was elected tax 
assessor, serving one term, and did not offer 
for re-election but returned to his former 
profession, school-teaching. In iS8o he 
moved to Erath county, where, in April, 
1884, he married Miss Sarah Jane Worley, 
a native of Georgia, by whom he has five 
children, as follows: Ethel, May, Zella, 
Roy and Vada. In 1885 he moved to the 
village of Paluxy in Hood county, where he 
embarked in the mercantile business, in 
partnership with his brother, H. C. Jack- 
son, under the firm name of Jackson Broth- 
ers, which connection was continued for five 
years, and during that time they enjoyed 
a lucrative patronage. He is now the 
owner of a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm, 
about two miles north of Granbury, where 
he resides, and to its cultivation he gives 
his personal supervision. He also owns 
three hundred and fifty acres in Erath 
county, a mile and a half west of Bluff 
Dale, of which one hundred and seventy- 
five acres are under cultivation. This prop- 
erty yields him a good income. 

Socially Mr. Jackson is a member of 
Granbury Lodge, No. 392, A. F. & A. M. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and keeps him- 
self well informed upon all public questions 
and takes an interest in educational and all 
other matters pertaining to the public wel- 
fare. 

In 1 890 he was elected to his present 
position as county clerk of Hood county, 
and has been twice re-elected, so that he is 



now serving his sixth year. His three elec- 
tions are the best evidence that could be 
given of his faithful and honest discharge of 
the duties devolving upon him, and his fellow 
citizens have the utmost confidence in him, 
— a trust that has never been betrayed. 
The years of his hardships are now past. A 
man of less resolute spirit would have given 
way under the difficulties that he has en- 
countered, but his energy and perseverance 
triumphed over these and to-day he is enjoy- 
ing the fruits of his former labor in the pos- 
session of much valuable and productive 
land and the confidence and respect of all 
who know him. 



HNDREW B. FOSTER, sheriff of 
Comanche county, needs no intro- 
duction to the citizens of this or 
surrounding counties in central 
Texas. There are, indeed, few gentlemen 
here who are better known or more highly 
respected than he. He has been connected 
with the sheriff's office for some eight years, 
having been deputj' under F. E. Wilson 
and for the past six years being continu- 
ously re-elected. Some personal mention 
of him is therefore appropriate in this work, 
and the following facts in regard to his life 
have been gleaned for publication. 

Andrew B. Foster is a native of Tennes- 
see, born July 15, 1843, son of T. Boyd and 
Eleanor S. (Cowan) Foster, and the fourth 
in their family of eleven children. His fa- 
ther was a native of Old Virginia and his 
mother of Alabama. He was reared to 
farm life in Alabama, where his parents re- 
sided for many years, and received his edu- 
cation in the schools of Jackson county, 
that state. In 1862, at the age of eighteen 
years, he went forth in the strength of his 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



331 



young manhood to fight for the southern 
cause, civil war at that time having been in 
progress about one year. It was as a mem- 
ber of the Thirty-third Alabama Infantry 
that he entered the ranks; he served as a 
non-commissioned officer and distinguished 
himself by his brave and decisive action 
through the various engage,ments from Nash- 
ville to Atlanta, and at the last named place 
was taken prisoner and sent north. He was 
held captive at Camp Chase, Ohio, during 
the last year of the war, was there at the 
time of the surrender, and on being released 
returned to his home in Alabama. 

Mr. Foster maintained his residence in 
Alabama until 1875, when he came to Texas 
and located permanently in Comanche 
county. Here he has from time to time 
made profitable investments in realty and at 
this writing has a landed estate comprising 
a thousand acres, three hundred acres of 
which are under cultivation and producing 
the usual crops of the vicinity. He has 
one acre in fruit trees. And in connection 
with his farming operations he also has ex- 
tensive stock interests, raising both horses 
and cattle and making a specialty of grad- 
ing them up to a high standard. Both as 
a farmer and stock man he takes high rank 
in the county. 

Politically, Mr. Foster is a stanch and 
steadfast Democrat, has given the party 
valuable aid and has been honored by it 
with official preferment. He is a man of 
promptness and nerve, ever on the alert in 
the faithful performance of his duty, and 
his long continuance in office is evidence of 
his popularity. Socially, he affiliates with 
the F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F. 

Mr. Foster is a man of family. Jan- 
uary 30, 1867, was consummated his mar- 
riage with Miss Nancy B. Brewer, a native 



of Alabama and a most estimable woman, 
who has since shared the joys and sorrows 
of life with him. They have ten children 
living, viz.: Betty E., Sidney B., Sallie P., 
Thomas L., John C, Allie, Pearl, Annie B., 
Willie B., and Frank W. Earnest A. and 
an infant daughter are deceased. 



C^^k5 H. TUGGL 
mC\ life in Coma 
\^^ tory of life 



TUGGLE has passed his entire 
Comanche county. The bis- 
on the frontier is very 
familiar to him and with the devel- 
opment and upbuilding of this region he has 
been prominently identified, being specially 
interested in its farming and stock-raising 
pursuits. An honored pioneer and worthy 
citizen, he well deserves representation in 
this volume, and it is with pleasure we pre- 
sent a review of his career to our readers. 

His parents, Dr. R. and Elizabeth A. 
(Darnell) Tuggle, were both natives of Geor- 
gia and were reared and married in that 
state. His father was graduated at one of 
its medical colleges and then entered upon 
the practice of his chosen profession, which 
he followed in his native state and afterward 
in Arkansas. . He arrived in Texas in Janu- 
ary, 1855, ta'king up his residence in what is 
now Comanche county. Here he aban- 
doned his profession, save as he practiced it 
to a limited extent among his neighbors, and 
turned his attention to stock-dealing. He 
invested eleven thousand dollars in cattle 
and at various times bought and sold. For 
ten years he continued in the business and 
then disposed of his stock, for six thousand 
dollars, for he became dissatisfied with the 
conditions that then attended cattle-raising. 
He next invested his capital in a large tract 
of land, on part of which our subject is now 
living, and spent the remainder of his life in 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the quieter pursuits of general farming. 
During the civil war he entered the service 
as a surgeon, and in payment received over 
five thousand dollars in Confederate money. 
This proving worthless on the overthrow of 
the southern government, it was never used 
and is now in possession of T. H. Tuggle, 
preserved as a relic of those days. In poli- 
tics in his later life he was an advocate of 
the Greenback party. His death occurred 
March 27, 1878, and his wife died in 1880. 
She was a devoted member of the Method- 
ist church, and both had the respect of 
many warm friends. In their family were five 
children, all of whom reached years of ma- 
turity, namely: H. Ellen, wife of A. Jack 
Cams, died in 1878; Mary F. is the wife of 
William Cams, a resident of De Leon; 
William M. is deceased; Pauline is the wife 
of L. D. Criswell and makes her home in 
this locality; while our subject completes 
this family. 

Mr. Tuggle, whose name introduces this 
review, was born October 13, 1857, and 
spent his childhood on the frontier in his 
native county, where he enjoyed but limited 
school privileges, for the work of advancing 
educational interest in this locality had not 
been promoted to a great extent at that 
early day. However, practical business ex- 
perience and observation have supplied the 
lack in this particular and he is to-day a 
man of affairs, well informed on subjects of 
general interest. At an early age he began 
assisting his father in the care of the stock 
and was thus employed until the elder Tug- 
gle retired from that line of work. He then 
began farming, which he has since contin- 
ued. Upon his marriage he settled upon a 
portion of the old homestead, which he pur- 
chased from his father, and upon his moth- 
er's death he inherited from her the re- 



mainder of the farm, comprising in all about 
five hundred acres. He has sold all this 
with the exception of about two hundred 
acres, which constitutes one of the best 
farms in this section of the county. He 
has erected thereon a commodious resi- 
dence, planted a good orchard and has about 
one hundred and fifty acres under cultiva- 
tion, the well tilled fields yielding to him a 
good income for his labors. His home is 
pleasantly located two miles and a quarter 
east of Comanche. He carries on general 
farming and also raises enough stock for his 
farm work and also some to sell. He is now 
breeding hogs. His horses are of the Eng- 
lish shire and Percheron bloods. 

On the 1 6th of January, 1884, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Tuggle and Miss 
Anna B. Campbell, who was bom in Co- 
manche, January 20, 1869, a lady of intelli- 
gence belonging to a highly respectable fam- 
ily that has figured prominently in the his- 
tory of this locality. Her father, Charles 
C. Campbell, was born in St. Landry parish, 
Louisiana, and the title to that town is still 
in possession of the family. His mother 
was a Miss Whitehead previous to her mar- 
riage, whose mother was a Dunman, and it 
was through her the Campbell family came 
into possession of the Louisiana town. 
Charles C. Campbell became a resident of 
Comanche county in 1856 and followed 
farming and stock-raising, cultivating two 
hundred acres of land, which he first re- 
duced to the plow. He was a member of 
the Primitive Baptist church and was an en- 
terprising and public-spirited citizen. His 
death occurred December 24, 1889, and his 
wife is living on the old homestead. She is 
a member of the Methodist church and a 
most esteemed lady. In the family were 
nineteen children, namely: Jane, Joseph- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ine, Katie, Nettie, Mollie, Susie, Etta, 
Joe, Charles, Lee, Lizzie, Minnie, Annie, 
Connie, Richard C, JuHa, two who died in 
early life, and Ransom, who died at the age 
of fourteen years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tuggle have an interest- 
ing family of five children, as follows: 
Charles R., Julia E. , Buna, Pauline and R. 
Paul. 

Our subject supports the men and meas- 
ures of the Populist party. In the commu- 
nity where his entire life has been passed he 
has many warm friends, for his upright life 
commends him to the confidence and regard 
of all with whom business or social relations 
have brought him in contact. 



QRS. HARRIETTE S. STONE, 
widow of Redmond Stone, is a 
lady of large business capacity 
and marked intelligence, and is 
distinguished in the records of Comanche 
county for her straightforward and womanly 
course no less than for the tact and energy 
she has employed in her business affairs 
since her husband's death, on the 1 5th of 
November. 1885. 

Redmond Stone was a native of Arkan- 
sas, and came to Texas when a young man 
with his family, locating in Erath county, 
where his mother died about 1864. He was 
twice married, his first wife dying in 1S62. 
They had five children, but William A., a 
farmer of Comanche county, is the only one 
now living. In 1861 Mr. Stone entered the 
Confederate army, and was in the frontier 
service until the close of the war. In the 
fall of 1863 was celebrated his marriage 
with Miss Harriette Sanders, of this review, 
and the following year he removed to Co- 
manche, where he was employed at different 



occupations. Before the war he had main- 
ly been engaged in herding cattle. In 1873 
he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
of land in Comanche county, upon which he 
moved, and to its improvement and cultiva- 
tion devoted his entire time and attention 
until his death, having at that time about 
sixty acres under the plow. His wife has 
since continued that work, and now seventy- 
five acres are under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He was a faithful member of the 
Methodist church, was a Master Mason, and 
had the confidence and respect of all who 
knew him. 

Mrs. Stone was born on the 24th of 
March, 1846, in Illinois. Her father, who 
was the son of J. Sanders, was also a native 
of the same state, and came to Texas in 
1 85 1, settling in Fannin county, where he 
left his family while he spent four years in 
California. In 1858 he removed to Jack 
county, Texas, and after spending some 
time there went to Missouri. He is now 
living in Arkansas, at the ripe old age of 
seventy-four years, and has there carried on 
his occupation of farming. He is a Royal 
Arch Mason and a prominent member of 
the Baptist church. James Sanders, the 
only brother of our subject, was killed by 
the Indians in Parker county, Texas, in 
1865, and her only sister died while young. 

Mrs. Stone is the mother of seven chil- 
dren: Martha E., wife of J. H. Cooper, an 
agriculturist; Enoch J., engaged in farming 
in Indian Territory; Susan, wife of J. J. 
Town, a blacksmith of De Leon; Jonathan 
and David, twins, now seventeen years old; 
Nora and Thomas J. She also lost three 
children when they were young. She is a 
lady of pleasant address, who has gained 
many friends throughout the county, and is 
much beloved by every one with whom she 



3a4 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



comes in contact for her gentle ways and 
genial manner, and is a consistent member 
of the Christian church. 



at 



G. W. POWELL. — In this con- 
nection the biographer would in- 
vite attention to some of the most 
'salient points in the life history of 
one of Hood county's first settlers and ven- 
erable citizens, — \V. G. W. Powell. He is 
a native of Georgia, born in Columbia 
county in 1817, son of Isaac and Sarah 
(Jones) Powell. 

Isaac Powell was a son of Hardy Powell, 
who was of English descent, served as a 
Revolutionary soldier, was for some time a 
resident of North Carolina and from that 
state removed to Georgia. On his mother's 
side the subject of our sketch traces his 
origin back to Wales. His maternal grand- 
father, Robert Jones, was one of the pio- 
neers of Georgia. In Georgia W. G. W. 
Powell was reared on his father's farm, from 
his boyhood assisting in the farm work, and 
remaining in the parental home until he was 
twenty-two years of age. Then in 1839 he 
wedded Miss Adevine Jones, a native of the 
same county in which he was born, and a 
daughter of Joseph Jones and his wife, ucc 
Nelson, both of Welsh descent. He and 
his young wife settled down to housekeeping 
on a Georgia farm, remained there until 
1841 and that year moved to Tallapoosa 
county, Alabama, where he reclaimed a 
farm from Nature's wilds and upon which 
he resided until his removal some years 
later to Texas. Arrived here, he settled on 
Squaw creek, on a pre-emption claim, hav- 
ing for his neighbors and companions the 
Indians and wild animals, as there were 



then but few white people in this part of the 
country. At first the Indians were friendly 
and harmless. Later, however, by their 
raids and depredations of various kinds they 
gave the settlers great trouble, and Mr. 
Powell had for some years to be constantly 
on the alert. At one time he and his sons 
had a battle with the Indians and killed 
seven of them and drove the others away. 
He cleared up and improved 16© acres of 
land where he first settled on coming to 
Hood county, and still owns the place, its 
operations now being conducted by his son. 
The great loss of Mr. Powell's life was in 
the death of his aged companion. For a 
period of fifty-three years they traveled life's 
pathway together, sharing each other's joys 
and sorrows, working hard in early years to 
make a home and accumulate a competency 
for old age, and enjoying together the fruits 
of their labors until 1892, when she was 
called to her home above. They had twelve 
children, ten of whom reached adult age. 
Six are still living and are residents of this 
county, — Jackson, Robert, Charles, Lewis 
J., John R. and Sarah J. Sarah J. is the 
widow of W. J. Arinton. Of John R. we 
make more extended mention further on in 
this sketch. 

During his long residence in Hood county 
Mr. Powell has witnessed the many changes 
that have taken place here, and he has not 
only been a witness to these changes but 
also he has been a prominent factor in 
developing the resources of the country and 
making it possible for the people of to-day 
to enjoy the privileges and advantages which 
they do. He took a leading part in build- 
ing the first churches and schoolhouses here. 
For many years he has been a member of 
the Christian church, with which his good 
wife also was identified, and for years he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



filled the offices of deacon and elder. Dur- 
ing his early residence here he served as 
county commissioner. He maintains a mem- 
bership in the A. F. & A. M., having been 
initiated into the mysteries of this order 
many years ago. 

John R. Powell, an enterprising mer- 
chant of the prosperous new town of Tolar, 
Hood county, Texas, is a native of this 
county and the youngest son of one of its 
honored pioneers, W. G. W. Powell, whose 
history we have outlined above. 

John R. dates his birth November 9, 
1862. He was reared on his father's home- 
stead on Squaw creek, early assisting in the 
farm work and making himself generally 
useful at home while he remained there, 
which was until the time of his marriage, 
that event occurring in 1891. He received a 
common-school education only. In 1891 he 
came to the present site of Tolar, built the 
first house in the place and was a leading 
factor in giving the town its start and push- 
ing on its rapid development. That same 
year he was appointed postmaster of Tolar, 
which position he filled acceptably from 1891 
until 1S96. Also about the time he re- 
ceived his appointment as postmaster he 
opened out a stock of general merchandise, 
in which business he has continued up to the 
present time, his annual sales amounting to 
a sum between $6,000 and $8, 000. The 
past year, 1895, he sustained a heavy loss 
by fire, his building and stock all going up 
in flames and his total loss being about $500. 
As soon as possible he stocked up again and 
opened his doors for business, and is meet- 
ing with that success which is sure to follow 
earnest and well-directed effort. 

Mr. Powell was married February 22, 
1 89 1, to Miss Ella Perry, a native of Hills- 
boro, Te.xas, but who was reared in Bosque 



county, this state. She is a daughter of F. 
M. Perry, now of Hood county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Powell are members of the 
Christian church, and his political support 
he tenders the Democratic party. 



"^-T* C. LOGAN, who is engaged in the 
J drug business at Morgan Mills, Erath 
A 1 county, belongs to that class of en- 
terprising, progressive merchants on 
whom the prosperity and welfare of a town 
depends. 

A native of North Carolina, he was born 
in Rutherford county, on the 21st of Au- 
gust, 1828, and is a son of J. J. and Mary 
(Withrow) Logan. The Logan family is of 
Scotch origin and was established in Amer- 
ica long prior to the Revolution. The great- 
grandfather of our subject was a native of 
South Carolina, served throughout the strug- 
gle for independence and became one of the 
pioneer settlers of Rutherford county, North 
Carolina. The grandfather of our subject 
was James Logan, and on the old family 
homestead in North Carolina was born J. J. 
Logan. Having arrived at years of matur- 
ity the last named wedded Mary Ann With- 
row, a native of the same state and a daugh- 
ter of John Withrow, whose father, Captain 
James Withrow, won his title by valiant 
service in the Revolutionary war and repre- 
sented his county in the legislature for thirty 
successive years. He was a man of much 
prominence and his abilities well fitted him 
for leadership. 

J. J. Logan was a farmer by occupation 
and continued his residence in Rutherford 
county until 1832, when, with his family, 
he removed to the Cherokee nation in 
northern Georgia. In 1834 he emigrated 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



westward, becoming a resident of Gibson 
county, Tennessee, where his wife died in 
1840. They were parents of six children, 
all of whom reached adult age, while four 
sons are still living. After the death of his 
first wife and after his second marriage, Mr. 
Logan returned to Georgia. Of the five 
children born of the second marriage, four 
still survive. The father died in 1893, at 
the advanced age of ninety years. 

Our subject, the oldest representative of 
the family now living, was reared on a 
frontier farm, where his school privileges 
were limited; but he gained a good practical 
education, which reading and observation 
have supplemented until he is now a well 
informed man. He resided with his father 
until twenty-two years of age and during 
that time became familiar with farm work 
in all its branches. He was married in 1851 
to Nancy E. King, one of the children of 
Jems King, a citizen of Cherokee county, 
North Carolina. 

Soon afterward Mr. Logan bade adieu 
to his wife and started for California, hop- 
ing to gain a fortune on the Pacific slope. 
He made the journey by way of the isthmus 
of Panama, and eighty-eight days after leav- 
ing home he arrived in the Golden state. 
Going to Eldorado he engaged in mining for 
a time and then went to the Klamath river, 
where he successfully carried on the same 
pursuit for si.x years. He then returned to 
his native county, where he followed farm- 
ing and tanning until his removal to Texas. 
His labors, however, were interrupted by 
his service in the Confederate army, having 
enlisted in the summer of 1862 as a member 
of Company B, Sixth Georgia Cavalry, un- 
der Colonel John R. Hart. The command 
went to East Tennessee and accompanied 
Kirby Smith into Kentucky. Later they 



were with Bragg at Chickamauga and with 
J. E. Johnston at Atlanta, also with Hood in 
Tennessee, participating in the battles of 
Franklin and Nashville. With his company 
Mr. Logan surrendered to General Sherman 
at Greensboro, North Carolina, April 25, 
1865, being then under General J. E. John- 
ston, and soon afterward returned home, 
where he resumed the cultivation of his 
farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Logan became the parents 
of ten children, namely: J. D., a minister 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, located 
in Morgan Mill; Jennie, now Mrs. Davidson, 
a widow, living in Erath county; Josa, wife 
of W. S. Dobbs, of Georgia; Emma, wife 
of A. J. Davis, of Morgan Mill; Delia, widow 
of J. M. Taylor, of Dallas county; Dr. M. 
H.,of Finis, Texas; Dr. W.H., ofSegoville, 
Texas; Mark, an attorney of Hico, Texas; 
Oran J., who is engaged in the practice of 
law in Cleburne, Texas; and Jon M., a 
farmer of Jack county. The mother of this 
family died in 1882, at the age of fifty-two 
years. She was a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, south, and a most es- 
timable lady. The death of the mother of 
the above family of ten children is the only 
missing link in forty-five years. The father 
and ten children are yet living. 

Mr. Logan came to Texas in 18S3, and 
after a month spent in Hill county came to 
Morgan Mill, where he purchased two hun- 
dred and sixty-five acres of land, all wild. 
After clearing and cultivating his farm for a 
time he sold, and on the 12th of October, 
1889, established a drugstore, which he has 
since successfully conducted, his large trade 
yielding him a good income. He is a man 
honorable in business, and his careful man- 
agement, enterprise and perseverance have 
brought him prosperity. In his political 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



337 



views Mr. Logan is a Democrat, and socially 
is connected with the Masonic fraternity. 
He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south, and has served as steward 
and as superintendent of the Sunday-school 
for a number of years. 



HLLEN BROOIvS NEAL, a retired 
farmer of Comanche county, now 
living in School Land Cove, Hamil- 
ton county, is one of the pioneers 
of central Texas, whose identification with 
the interests of the state covers a period of 
nearly half a century. The Neal family is 
of Irish origin, and his great-grandfather, 
who was born on the Emerald Isle, was its 
founder on American soil. He was one of 
the heroes of the Revolution, belonging to 
that valiant band that followed Francis 
Marion in that long struggle which ended in 
the establishment of this republic. His 
home was in North Carolina, where he 
located in childhood days, just after his 
emigration to this country. The grand- 
father of our subject, John Neal, was born 
in North Carolina and served in the Indian 
wars in that state. He was killed by being 
run over by a wagon when fifty years of age. 
His wife bore the maiden name of Miss 
Buison, and their children were Guan, 
Polly, Mrs. Cromley, John Garrett, Elbert 
and Thomas. 

John Garrett, the father of our subject, 
was a native of Georgia and there married 
Malissa Spurlen, who was born in the same 
state. Her father, William Spurlen, was 
born in Georgia, and after his marriage 
removed to Mississippi and later to Dallas 
county, Te.xas, becoming a resident of this 
state in 1848. He died in Navarro county, 



about 1858, at the age of eighty years. He 
wedded Nellie Carter, and their children 
were Mrs. Neal, Narcissus, Emily, William, 
Permelia, Lazarus, Jerry and Levi. The 
Spurlen family is of Irish descent, but were 
connected with the Protestants in religious 
belief. Mr. Neal, of this sketch, now has 
in his possession a cane which was made by 
his maternal grandfather in 1792. It was 
cut from a persimmon tree, wound with a 
rattan vine, on the bank of a river in North 
Carolina, and on account of its extreme age 
is a treasured heirloom in the family. 

After his marriage John Garrett Neal 
removed to Alabama, and when our subject 
was three months old took his family with 
him to Choctaw county, Mississippi, which 
had been recently organized, and there 
served as first sheriff of the county. He 
lived there for eighteen years and then went 
to Madison county, Mississippi, where he 
made his home until coming to Texas. On 
the 24th of December, 1852, he crossed the 
Trinity river and took up his residence in 
Navarro county, where he entered three 
hundred and twenty acres of land, but 
afterward was compelled to purchase 
this. He afterward added to his possessions 
until he had six hundred and thirty-nine 
acres all in one body. In addition to farm- 
ing he devoted his services to the work of 
the ministry, becoming a preacher of the 
Primitive Baptist church when a young man. 
His political support was given the Democ- 
racy and his honorable life was an example 
to all with whom he came in contact. His 
death occurred in 1 866, and his widow died 
in 1887, at the age of seventj'-two years. 
Their children are John and William, both 
deceased; Allen B., living; Melissa, Viola 
and Martha, all deceased; Sylvannus, yet 
living; Jeptha, who has passed away; Ella 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



and Columbus, living. The living members 
of the family, with the exception of our 
subject, reside in Ellis county, Texas. 

Allen B. Neal was born in Alabama, No- 
vember 17, 1833, and accompanied his par- 
ents on their various removals until they 
had settled in Navarro county, Texas. In 
1854 he left home and worked for a year as 
a farm hand. In 1855 he entered one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land in Johnson 
county, which had been recently organized 
and was one of the first settlers within its 
borders. His home was near Mansfield, 
where he lived for three years, and then re- 
turned to Navarro county, working with his 
father for a year. He then sold his inter- 
est in the place, of one hundred and sixty 
acres near the old homestead, in 1861, and 
took his family back to his wife's father in 
Johnson county, while he went forth to bat- 
tle for the interests of the south. 

Enlisting in the spring of 1861 Mr. Neal 
became a member of Captain Marion Mar- 
tin's company and the regiment commanded 
by Colonel Bass. This started out as a 
cavalry company, but was dismounted the 
second year. It operated west of the Mis- 
sissippi in Missouri, Arkansas and the In- 
dian Territory. He lost but six months 
during the four years of the war, and that 
on account of illness. He was at Dokes- 
ville in the Indian Territory at the time of 
the surrender. Returning to Johnson county 
he purchased four hundred acres of land and 
there engaged in farming and stock-raising 
until April, 1883, his efforts being crowned 
with success. He then sold out and bought 
three hundred and twenty acres in the south- 
eastern part of Comanche county, to which 
he removed in 18S3, and added to the prop- 
erty until he had nine hundred and sixty 
acres, of which sixty acres was under culti- 



vation, a large portion of the remainder be- 
ing used as pasture land for his cattle. He of- 
ten had as many as four hundred head of 
stock upon his land. His industry, his good 
management and his honorable dealing won 
him prosperity, and to-day he is one of the 
substantial citizens of central Texas. He 
continued his operations as an agriculturist 
and stock-dealer until December, 1895, 
when he laid aside the cares and responsi- 
bilities of active business life and took up 
his abode in the home of his son, John, in 
School Land Cove. 

Mr. Neal was married June 20, 1855, 
in Navarro county, to Pernieasa, daughter 
of Redding and Mary Ann (Brown) Sessims. 
Her father died in Montague county, Texas, 
in 1882, at the age of eighty-seven. He 
was born on the Cumberland river in Ken- 
tucky, removed from there to Middle Ten- 
nessee and subsequently to Georgetown, 
Mississippi. He built the first house in 
Jackson, the present capital of that state, 
and continued his residence in Mississippi 
until 1835, when in the month of March he 
started for Texas, driving across the country 
to what is now San Augustine county. He 
was accompanied by his wife and their chil- 
dren, — Ailsey Ann, William, Mrs. Neal, 
Wilson Russell and Elizabeth. At the first 
location the father planted a crop, but in 
the fall of 1835 removed to Shelby county 
and entered a section of land near the town 
of Shelbyville, upon which he made his 
home until 1852. Through the three suc- 
ceeding years he resided in Navarro county, 
and in 1855 went to Johnson county, where 
he took up land, living there until i860. 
From that time until 1877 he lived in Ellis 
county, then removed to Montague county, 
where he spent his remaining days near 
Bowie. In politics he was a Democrat and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



acceptably served as justice of the peace. 
He belonged to the Primitive Baptist 
church and served as its elder, also took a 
most active part in its work, materially 
advancing its interests. His wife died in 
1889, at the age of seventy-seven years. 
She was a native of Tennessee. 

Mrs. Neal was born in Copiah county, 
Mississippi, March 31, 1829, and by her 
marriage became the mother of three chil- 
dren. The eldest, John Allen, born in 
Johnson county, April 2, 1856, was married 
January 31, 1878, in Navarro county, to 
Cordelia Lambeth, who was born near Dal- 
las, Texas, April 17, 1858. Their children 
are Viola Hettie, born September 24, 1878; 
Aimer Brooks, born May 12, 1880; Eva 
Lee, born August 26, 1881; John Gran- 
ville, born November 16, 1883; and Melissa 
Virginia, born January 3, 1885. Melissa 
Mary, the second of the family, was born 
June 28, 1858, in Johnson county, and be- 
came the wife of W. D. Denham, October 
8, 1874. Their children are Demeras, born 
May 27, 1876; Eula Elizabeth; James 
Allen; Annie, deceased; Jeffie, Ida and Coy. 
Ida Pemesa, born April 24, 1871, in John- 
son county, was married October 2, 1887, 
to W. W. Journey, and has four children: 
Walter, deceased, Frank Burks, Edgar 
Costin and Clyde Iva. 

In his political adherency Mr. Neal has 
always been a stalwart advocate of the Dem- 
ocratic party, and since 1869 he has been 
connected with the Masonic fraternity, 
while in religion for twenty-seven years he 
has been a member of the Baptist church, 
and is now serving as its deacon. His life 
has ever been marked by fidelity to duty, 
by honest dealing in all business relations 
and by those qualities of true manliness 
which awaken respect wherever seen. 



,>^OBERT ASBURY MILLER, M. 
I /^ D. — The visitor to this prosperous 
\ _ y Texas town, Dublin, as he passes 
through its streets is sure to have 
pointed out to him the handsome residence 
of Dr. Robert Asbury Miller, — one of the 
finest in the county, — with the remark, by 
the way, that "Dr. Miller is one of the 
leading men of the place; has a large prac- 
tice here, and both as a physician and en- 
terprising citizen holds a high place in the 
esteem of his fellows." As such his biog- 
raphy forms an important page in the his- 
tory of Erath county. 

Dr. Robert Asbury Miller was born Au- 
gust 5, 1853, in La Fayette, Walker coun- 
ty, Georgia, son of John Louis and Mary 
Elizabeth (Henderson) Miller. The Millers 
are of German origin, came to this country 
at an early day and were for several gen- 
erations residents of the Old Dominion. 
William Miller, the Doctor's grandfather, 
removed from Virginia to Knoxville, Ten- 
nessee. He had married in Virginia a Miss 
Wayland, and the children of their union 
were Henry, William, Elizabeth, Mary, 
John L., David, Robert and Thomas. 
Thomas C. Henderson, the maternal grand- 
father of our subject, died in Georgia, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1895, at the age of ninety-seven 
years. He was married three times. By 
the Doctor's grandmother he had seven chil- 
dren, — five daughters and two sons. Great- 
grandfather Henderson was a participant in 
the Revolutionary war. As was the custom 
in those days he wore his hair plaited, and 
while in battle had one plait shot off. In 
the latter part of his life he lived in retire- 
ment, in many respects was very eccentric, 
and at the time of death was nearly a hun- 
dred years old. 

Dr. Miller's father and mother are still 



S40 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



living, now residents of Henderson county, 
Texas. The former was born in Knoxville, 
Tennessee, August 17, 1827; the latter, in 
Greenville, South Carolina, August 26, 
'835. John Louis Miller has been a farmer 
all his life, has had his abiding place in 
Texas since 1878, and is a respected citizen 
of Henderson county. During the late war 
he went out as a volunteer, was with Gen- 
eral Lee's army from the first to the last of 
the conflict, and among other engagements 
in which he participated was that of Gettys- 
burg, where, on the third day, he was shot 
in the right shoulder, the ball passing out 
at the elbow. An epitomized record of his 
family is as follows: Robert Asbury, whose 
name introduces this sketch, and is the eld- 
est; Fanny, who died at the age of seven 
years; William, who lived only one year; 
next came a son that died in infancy; 
Georgia, wife of Mr. Ed. Barker, of Hender- 
son county, Texas; Charles Arthur, who re- 
sides on the farm with his father; Thomas 
Ashburn, a merchant of Dublin, Texas; 
Virginia Viola, married and living in Hen- 
derson county; and David Livingston, of 
Italy, Ellis county, Texas. 

From this ancestral history we return 
now to the life of Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller's 
boyhood days were spent on his father's 
farm and in attendance at the public schools 
up to the time he was eighteen. At that 
age he began the study of medicine in 
Chattooga county, Georgia, with Dr. W. 
H. Saxton as his preceptor, and in 1873 
entered the Atlantic Medical College at At- 
lanta, Georgia, where he spent eighteen 
months. From the college he went to 
Sugar Valley, Gordon county, that state, 
and a year later came to Texas, stopping at 
Dublin, in February, 1877, this journey be- 
ing made by rail as far as Waco and from 



there by private conveyance. After a year 
in Dublin he moved to Will's Point, Van 
Zandt county, where he practiced one year 
in partnership with Dr. W. C. Monghan, at 
the end of that time moving to Canton, the 
county seat of Van Zandt county, and there 
becoming associated in practice with Dr. J. 
F. McCarty, the association lasting five 
years. In January, 1883, feeling the need 
of still further preparation for his life work, 
Dr. Miller went to Louisville, Kentucky, 
and took an advanced course in the Ken- 
tucky School of Medicine, receiving a di- 
ploma from that institution in June. At 
the expiration of his five years' residence in 
Canton he returned to Dublin and has since 
been identified with this place. Here he 
was in partnership with Dr. T. P. Davis 
two years, then with Dr. McCarty one year, 
and later one year with Dr. T. J. Farmer. 
At present he is associated with Dr. C. T. 
Elmer, under the firm name of Miller & El- 
mer, this partnership having been formed 
January i, 1896. Here Dr. Miller's ear- 
nest and sympathetic devotion to those 
whom he served gained their confidence 
and soon brought him into prominence, and 
ere long his practice reached far beyond the 
town and ramified into all sections of the 
county. As a skilled physician he has few 
if any superiors in central Texas. He has 
reached this point of high attainment 
through his own efforts and takes a pride in 
keeping constantly abreast of the advance- 
ment made in his profession; and that he is 
held in high repute by his brother phy- 
sicians is evinced by the fact that he is 
frequently called in consultation by them. 

Dr. Miller has also shown a spirit of en- 
terprise and marked business ability. He 
platted the Miller addition to Dublin, a 
tract of ten acres, in 1 890, placed it upon 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



841 



the market and has sold it all, and still 
deals in land and city property. His own 
delightful home in Dublin has already been 
referred to. Here he is surrounded by an 
interesting family and seemingly with 
everything that goes to make life happy in 
this world. 

He was married October 5, 1876, to 
Susie Griffin Mayes, who was born April 20, 
1853, only child of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Harber) Mayes, both of whom died before 
her marriage. Her father was a prominent 
man and was at one time representative 
from Gordon county to the Texas state 
legislature. The Doctor and his wife 
have had the following named children, all 
of whom are hving except one: De Alva, 
born August 21, 1877; Mayes, January 30, 
1879; Paul, January 11, i88i;Tom Meta, 
December 13, 1883; and Coda, December 
17, 1887, died August 29, 1890. 

Dr. Miller maintains fraternal relation 
with Dublin Lodge, No. 313, I. O. O. F. , 
and Dublin Lodge, No. 107, K. of P., be- 
ing a charter member of the latter. While 
he has never been active in political circles, 
he has ever been a stanch Democrat. 
When only fifteen years of age he united 
with the Baptist church, and through all 
the years that have intervened between 
that time and this he has exemplified in his 
life the teachings of the cause he thus early 
espoused. 



aHARLES S. BURROUGHS is one 
of the wide-awake, progressive 
business men of Erath county, 
now successfully engaged in gen- 
eral merchandising at Morgan Mill. His 
ability to recognize and take advantage of 



opportunities offered has given him rank 
among the substantial merchants of the 
community, and his deep interest in public 
affairs and active support of all measures 
calculated to benefit the community places 
him among the valued citizens of central 
Texas. 

A native of the Empire state, Mr. Bur- 
roughs was born in Seneca county. New 
York, March 20, i860, a son of William 
and Lucinda (Beary) Burroughs. The for- 
mer was a native of the same county and a 
son of Thomas Burroughs. The youth of 
our subject was spent on the old family 
farmstead, and his early education was ob- 
tained in the common schools of the neigh- 
borhood. He was only thirteen years of 
age when he started out in life to make his 
way in the world, and his first employment 
was at farm labor. He was energetic and 
industrious, and these qualities have been 
important factors in his success. In April, 
1882, he came to Texas, locating in Erath 
county, where he worked for various farmers 
until 1885, when he began railroading, fol- 
lowing that pursuit for four years. With 
the capital he had acquired through his own 
labors he then purchased an improved farm 
and carried on agricultural pursuits until 
January, 1894, when he turned his attention 
to merchandising. He purchased a half 
interest in his present business and April i, 
1896, Mr. Hancock's interest, and he now 
enjoys a lucrative and constantly increasing 
trade, his sales now amounting to five thou- 
sand dollars per annum. He carries a good 
stock, and his honorable and straightforward 
dealing has won him a liberal patronage. 

On the 29th of December, 1S95, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Burroughs 
and Miss Texanna Bass, a native of the 
Lone Star state. They have a pleasant 



34S 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



home, where hospitalit}' reigns supreme, 
and their friends throughout the community 
are many. 



at 



ILLIAM BURROUGHS, the 

efficient postmaster of Morgan 
Mill and a man who in various 
'capacities has been prominent in 
public affairs in the communities in which 
he has resided, comes of a family that has 
been honorably connected with the history 
of America. In early colonial days the first 
ancestors in this country crossed the Atlan- 
tic from Wales. The grandfather of our sub- 
ject, Joseph Burroughs, lived in New Jer- 
sey and there his son Thomas was born. 
The latter emigrated to Seneca county. 
New York, in 1812, and became not only 
a leading agriculturist of that locality but 
also a man of much prominence and influ- 
ence in public affairs and took an active 
part in all interests calculated to advance 
the general welfare. He married Phcebe 
Christopher, a daughter of Daniel Christo- 
pher, who belonged to an old New Jersey 
family and was of Dutch and Irish descent. 
He was drowned in Cayuga lake while re- 
turning from an entertainment given in 
Aurora Seminary. 

The childhood days of William Bur- 
roughs, from 1828 to 1843, were spent on 
the old home farm, and until fifteen years of 
age he attended the district and select 
schools of the neighborhood. He spent a 
year in study in Waterloo Academy, and 
later entered the Genesee Wesleyan Semi- 
nary, in Livingston county, New York, 
where he remained for a year. His literary 
education was completed by one year's 
study in the Oneida Conference Seminary 
in Cazenovia, New York, after which he re- 



turned to the old homestead and aided in its 
cultivation for two years. After attaining 
his majority Mr. Burroughs went to Balls- 
ton Spa, Saratoga county, New York, 
where he attended law school, and in 1851 
was admitted to the bar in Albany, New 
York. He entered upon the practice of his 
profession in the county of his nativity and 
for several years enjoyed a good business. 
He was then called to public office, being 
elected supervisor of his native town for a 
period of four years. He then returned to his 
law practice and in connection with it car- 
ried on a farm. From 1862 until 1868 he 
was collector of internal revenue and in the 
various public offices which he filled he dis- 
charged his duties with marked fidelity and 
won the unqualified confidence of all con- 
cerned. 

In 1 890 Mr. Burroughs came to Texas, 
taking up his residence in Morgan Mill, 
where he opened a law office. He soon 
gained a fair clientage, and in the case 
which he tried demonstrated his ability and 
skill. He ranks among the foremost law- 
yers in this section of the state, for he has a 
thorough knowledge of his profession and 
good oratorical powers. In August, 1892, 
he was appointed postmaster of Morgan 
Mill by President Harrison and has since 
held the office. 

On the 24th of February, 1853, was cele- 
brated the marrage of Mr. Burroughs and 
Miss Lucinda Beary, a native of Bearytown, 
Seneca county, New York, and a daughter 
of Thomas Beary, whose father, Henry 
Beary, removed from Allentown, Pennsyl- 
vania, to New York and founded the village 
of Bearytown. He was of German descent. 
To our subject and his wife were born sev- 
en children, si.\ of whom are yet living, as 
follows: Thomas E., who makes his home 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



343 



in New London, Connecticut; Charles Sum- 
ner, of Morgan Mill, Texas; Emma Beary, 
wife of Olin E. Emmons, of Bearytown, 
New York; Grace, who is a professional 
nurse and makes her home in Rochester, 
New York; Laura May, who is located in 
Cleveland, Ohio; and LeRoy C, who is 
living in Seneca county, New York. 

Mr. Burroughs of this review was for- 
merly an old-line Whig, but later became a 
Republican and is now independent in poli- 
tics. In all the relations of life he has been 
true to the trust reposed in him and his ca- 
reer is that of an upright, honorable gentle- 
man whose many excellent qualities com- 
mand the esteem of all. 



HLRED L. OXFORD, who car- 
ries on farming and stock-raising 
in Erath county, is one of the na- 
tive sons of Texas, his birth having 
occurred in what was then Hopkins but is 
now Delta county, on the 17th of October, 
1 85 1. He is the youngest son in a family 
of nine children, five sons and four daugh- 
ters, his parents being Clayborn and Louisa 
(Ramsey) Oxford, prominent people of this 
locality. 

When Alfred L. was a child of seven 
summers his parents came to Erath county 
and here his youth and the years of his man- 
hood have been passed. The public schools 
afforded him his educational privileges and 
he is to-day a practical, energetic business 
man. His father died when he was a child, 
after which he lived with his mother until 
his marriage, when his mother went to live 
with him, remaining a member of his house- 
hold until called to the eternal home. He 
thus compensated her for the care and at- 
tention which she had bestowed upon him 



in his youth. He began farming on his 
own account in 1872, when he effected the 
purchase of one hundred acres of land, of 
which only nine acres had been cleared. 
It is an arduous task to prepare for the 
plow a tract of new land, but with charac- 
teristic energy he began the work and acre 
after acre was developed until now a tract 
of sixty acres is under a high state of cul- 
tivation. The home farm at present com- 
prises one hundred and fifteen acres, and 
in addition to this he owns seven hundred 
acres, of which twenty acres yields to him 
a good return for the care he bestows upon 
it. He is a wide-awake, progressive farmer, 
and the success which has come to him is 
all due to his own efforts. 

In 1874 Mr. Oxford was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Josephine Jones, a native of 
Kaufman county, Texas, and a daughter of 
Burl and Mahala (Orr) Jones, of Alabama, 
who located in Erath county in 1873. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Oxford have been born eight 
children: Laura, Lillie, Lutie, Gertrude, 
Ollie, Earle, Eddie and Mamie. The par- 
ents are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and in politics Mr. Oxford is a 
Democrat. 



>T^ V. BROOKS.— Since i860 this gen- 
■ tleman has been identified with the 
A 1 development of central Texas and 
has been an important factor in all 
that pertains to the improvement of this 
section of the state. The vast area of the 
Lone Star state, with its many available 
resources, had long been awaiting the hand 
of civilized man. Mr. Brooks, with others, 
had subjugated considerable tracts of wild 
land and transformed the wild prairie into 
rich fields and happy homes. Thus the 



344 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



work of progress is ever carried forward and 
the men who engage in the task are deserv- 
ing the gratitude of all who come after them. 
Mr. Brooks is a native of Alabama, born 
in Fayette county on the 30th of Septem- 
ber, 1S37. His parents were Zachariah 
and Sarah McGill (Cheek) Brooks. The 
father was a native of Blount county, Ten- 
nessee, and of Scotch-English descent, 
while the mother, a native of Georgia, was 
of Scotch lineage. Both went to Alabama 
in an early day and were married there, 
after which Mr. Brooks followed farming in 
the Cotton state until 1843, when he came 
to Texas, first settling in Red River county. 
A year later he removed to Cherokee county, 
where he also remaiend one year and then 
returned to Red River county. Twelve 
months later he took up his abode in Titus 
county, where he continued his residence 
until i860, when he again sought a frontier 
home, finding the same in Erath county. 
Here he followed stock-raising for about 
four years. He opened up a farm in Hood 
county and carried on agricultural pursuits 
until the latter part of his life. During the 
war, in connection with Alex. McCamlet, he 
engaged in tanning, and found this a very 
successful undertaking. While farming he 
frequently suffered the loss of his horses, 
which were stolen by the Indians, but he 
prosecuted his labors with energy and 
accumulated a comfortable competence. 
Before the war he served as justice of the 
peace. Both he and his wife were consist- 
ent and faithful members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, in which he served as 
steward and class-leader. Socially he was 
connected with the Masonic fraternity and 
politically with the Democratic party. He 
was, however, opposed to the secession of 
the southern states from the Union, and was 



a follower of Sam Houston. Although 
his views were at that time very unpopular, 
he lived to see the time when his neighbors 
acknowledged him in the right. He died in 
June, 1888, at the age of seventy-six years, 
and his wife passed away in May, 1873. 
They were the parents of six children, who 
reached adult age, namely: J. A., now 
deceased; J. v., of this sketch; G. W., of 
Coleman City; C. C, deceased; Martha, 
who was twice married and has now passed 
away; and John Valentine, who also has 
been called from this life. The sons were 
all soldiers in the Confederate army and 
attested their bravery on many a battle- 
field. 

The subject of this review was a little 
lad of six summers when brought to Texas 
by his parents. He was reared on the 
frontier farm, sharing in the hardships and 
trials incident to pioneer life and bearing his 
part in the arduous task of developing new 
land. The advantages of his boyhood, edu- 
cational and otherwise, were very meager. 
He continued to give his father the benefit 
of his services until his marriage, which 
important event in his life was celebrated 
on the 1st of January, 1857, the lady of his 
choice being Miss Nancy Jane Porter, who 
was born in Red River countj^, Texas, a 
daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Boran) 
Porter, who came from Alabama to Texas 
in the fall of 1842 and located in Red River 
county. After a two-years residence there 
they removed to Titus county, where the 
mother died, on the 26th of February, 1854. 
The father departed this life in October, 
1856. 

After his marriage Mr. Brooks settled 
on a farm in Titus county, where he made 
his home until November, i860, when he 
located on the bank of Paluxy creek in 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



what is now Somervell county, and opened 
up a farm of about forty acres. The civil 
war having been inaugurated he enlisted in 
the fall of 1862, in Captain Puckett's com- 
pany and Colonel Gurley's regiment and 
was in the service of the western army until 
the close of hostilities. He then returned 
to Somervell county, where he was em- 
ployed in his father's tanyard for a year. 
His next home was on the Brazos river 
above Granbury in Johnson county. There 
he also improved a farm and later he aided 
in the organization of Hood county. After 
three years he returned to the Paluxy, 
trading his property for a partially improved 
farm on which he lived for a year. A year 
later he took up his residence upon a farm 
two miles distant, and while residing there 
his horses were stolen by the Indians. In 
connection with his father and brothers he 
lost more than twenty head in this way. In 
1872 Mr. Brooks took up one hundred and 
forty-seven acres of wild land under the 
pre-emption act and began the task of clear- 
ing and improving his fourth farm in central 
Texas. His property now comprises two 
hundred and fifty-one acres, of which one 
hundred and eighteen acres is under a high 
state of cultivation, the well tilled fields in- 
dicating the thrift and enterprise which are 
so characteristic of the owner. He carries 
on general farming but his principal crop is 
cotton. He is a man of systematic habits, 
and his careful management and energy 
have been the means of bringing to him a 
well-deserved success. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are the parents 
of seventeen children, of whom seven are 
still living. These are Margaret J., wife of 
J. S. Johnson, of Hood county; John F., a 
resident of Hood county; Mary I., the wife 
of P. S. Tidwell, of the same county; Leti- 



tia, wife of Charles Pair, of Hood county; 
Samuel H., Eveline and Adalaide; the last 
three are still single. Also all the family 
reside in Hood county excepting B. A. 
Collings, husband of a deceased daughter, 
Luveney, who lives in Somervell county. 
Of ten deceased children nine died in in- 
fancy, and Mrs. Collings died February 28, 
1893, leaving seven children living. 

The family hold membership in the 
Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. 
Brooks is acting as steward. He is also a 
member of Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & 
A. M. and in his political proclivities is a 
Democrat. 



HOMAS JEFFERSON BURKS has 
the reputation of a strictly first- 
class business man, reliable and 
energetic, and is a citizen of whom 
Pottsville may be justly proud. His birth 
occurred in Leake county, Mississippi, No- 
vember 23, 1853, and a sketch of his ances- 
tors may be found on another page of this 
work. At the age of twenty years he started 
out in life on his own account, at first work- 
ing for wages, and then rented land, which 
he operated for one year. 

Going to Comanche county, Texas, Mr. 
Burks attended a school taught by George 
W. Cunningham, and later engaged in 
teaching for two and a half months. On 
the nth of March, 1877, he first came to 
Pottsville, where with R. L. Burks he started 
a general store under the firm name of T. 
J. & R. L. Burks, but at the end of nine 
months bought out his partner's interest and 
conducted the establishment alone for three 
years, when he admitted B. Frank Burks, 
a cousin, to a membership in the firm. At 
the end of two years he purchased the lat- 



840 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ter's interest, but three months later sold 
out to his cousin and bought a farm of eighty 
acres in Comanche county. On the expira- 
tion of nine months, however, he again be- 
gan general merchandising, and after being 
alone for eight months R. L. Burks and 
J. C. Chatman became members of the 
firm, which assumed the style of Burks, 
Chatman & Company. Later he bought 
out his partners, and afterward sold out his 
stock to J. R. Linn. 

In the meantime Mr. Burks had traded 
his farm in Comanche county to J. S. Lind- 
sey for a flour and corn mill and cotton gin 
at Pottsville, which he afterward sold to 
Charles Valentine, but two years later 
bought the property back, which at that 
time had run down considerably. He re- 
built the gin, and is now doing a flourishing 
business in that line. He has a fine farm 
of two hundred and seventy-si.x acres on 
Cowhouse creek, five miles above Pottsville, 
one hundred and seventy of which are under 
cultivation, and he rents the entire amount. 
He recently purchased a drug store on the 
west side of the square at Pottsville, of 
which he will take charge in the fall of 1896. 
The post-office is now in the building. 

On the 22d of October, 1878, was sol- 
emnized the marriage of Mr. Burks and Miss 
Alice Amelia Goggin, who was born in De- 
Kalb county, Alabama, June 5, 1858, and 
was brought by her parents, William Hugh 
and Adeline (Lyons) Goggin, to Hamilton 
county, Texas, in 1859. Seven children 
grace this union, namely; Arthur, born 
August 6, 1879; Meda, February i, 1882; 
Charlie, October 15, 1884; Julia, April 20, 
1887; Adaline, October 7, 1890; Clara, 
January 30, 1892; and Ida, April 23, 1894. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Burks is 
a stalwart Democrat, and religiously is a 



member of the Baptist church. He is one 
of the most progressive and energetic men 
of the county, has been actively identified 
with the mercantile interests of the Cow- 
house neighborhood, with headquarters at 
Pottsville, for a number of years, and is one 
of the solid business men of the locality, 
who has the respect and confidence of all 
with whom he comes in contact. 



,>^ENJAMIN PALMER, of the law 
\f^ *irm of Wasson & Palmer, Dublin, 
^^K^J Erath county, Texas, is a young 
man who has worked his way to 
the front and who is deserving of more than 
a passing notice on the pages of this volume. 
Following is a short sketch of his life and 
ancestry: 

Benjamin Palmer was born in Russell 
county, Alabama, August 11, 1863, son of 
Benjamin Robert and Claudia A. (Lewis) 
Palmer. His early life, until November 27, 
i88i, was spent on his father's farm, and 
at that date he came to Navarro county, 
Texas, and engaged in the stock business 
with his brothers, Hugh and R. U., remain- 
ing with them two years. Feeling the need 
of a better education and wishing to fit him- 
self for something higher in life, he severed 
his connection with the stock business and 
earnestly set himself about the work of ob- 
taining an education. For three years he 
attended public school and then spent two 
years in the State University at Austin, 
pursuing a literary course and reaching the 
senior class in college. After this he re- 
turned to Navarro county and taught one 
term of school. While teaching he began 
the study of law, and in due time was ad- 
mitted to the bar, his admission being Au- 
gust 9, 1890, at Corsicana, Navarro coun- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



347 



ty, before Judge Rufus Hardy, but had 
practiced under temporary license before 
that time. Immediately thereafter he en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession at 
Corsicana, and remained there until the 
spring of 1892, following which he was for 
eight months a partner with W. F. Martin 
in the practice of law at Glen Rose, Somer- 
vell county. November i, 1892, he came 
to Dublin, where he has since practiced. 
Until November i, 1893, he had for his 
partner W. T. Daniel and since then he has 
been associated with Mr. Wasson under the 
firm name of Wasson & Palmer. Mr. Pal- 
mer was made assistant county attorney 
December 9, 1895, and is now serving in 
that capacity. While in Navarro county he 
was city attorney of Blooming Grove two 
years, having been elected to this office on 
the Democratic ticket. 

Mr. Palmer is happily married. Mrs. 
Palmer's maiden name was Bettie Hughes. 
She is a typical southern woman, being a 
native of Alabama, and a daughter of John 
Hughes. Her mother's maiden name was 
Strickland. Mrs. Palmer was reared by an 
aunt, her father having been killed in the 
Confederate army and her mother dying 
soon after. They have an interesting family 
of three little ones, whose names with dates 
of birth are here given: Lewis Kenneth, born 
June 25, 1890; Benjamin Herschell, Octo- 
ber 29, 1892; and Frank Strickland, March 
29, 1894. The family worship at the Epis- 
copal church. 

Having thus reviewed Mr. Palmer's life, 
we would now direct attention to the ances- 
try from which he sprang. Benjamin Robert 
Palmer, his father, was a farmer all his life, 
served in the late war as superintendent of 
the breastworks at Mobile, and as enrolling 
officer, and died in September, 1S89, at the 



ripe age of seventy-three years. Benjamin 
Robert Palmer, on his maternal side, was 
first cousin to ex-Governor Herschell V. 
Johnson, of Georgia, who was also Demo- 
cratic nominee for vice-president of the 
United States in i860, they being educated 
together at a high school at Warrenton, 
Georgia, and were playmates during the 
most of their boyhood days. He was a son 
of Robert Palmer, who was born and died 
in Georgia. Robert Palmer married a Miss 
Tarver and they were the parents of two 
sons and three daughters. William Palmer, 
the great-grandfather of our subject, was, it 
is supposed, born in England. At the time 
the Revolutionary war came on he was a 
resident of North Carolina and went from 
there into the army, where he rendered val- 
iant service. After the war he settled in 
Georgia, where he reared his family and 
passed the remainder of his life. Of our 
subject's maternal ancestry, we record that 
his grandfather Ulysses Lewis died about 
the beginning of the late war, at the age of 
fifty-five years. He was judge of the pro- 
bate court of Russell county, Alabama, for 
many years, and also had farming interests. 
He and his wife, nee Sarah Abercrombie, 
had four sons and five daughters. John 
Lewis, his father and the great-grandfather 
of Mr. Palmer, was a Virginian by birth and 
an early settler of Sparta, Georgia. He 
was also a grandson of Col. Fielding Lewis, 
who married Bettie Washington, the only 
sister of George Washington. He (Field- 
ing Lewis) constructed "Kenmore, " at 
Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is a grand 
colonial mansion and is yet standing in a 
good state of preservation. It is the house 
in which the mother of George Washington 
died. His mother was a Miss Randolph, 
a member of the famous old Virginia family 



348 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of that name. Mr. Palmer's mother is now 
sixty si.x-years of ap^e and makes her home 
with him. Her children are Robert Ulysses; 
Lucy, deceased; John; George, deceased; 
Hugh, deceased; and Benjamin. 



£~V*IMEON PERKINS. — More than 
•^^^ twenty years a resident of Coman- 
K^^y che county, and nearly twice that 
long of Texas, the subject of this 
sketch is entitled to biographical honors in 
this work on account of his long connection 
with the state if for no other reason; but 
more than this his life has been one of ac- 
tivity and usefulness; he has done his part 
in helping to develop the resources of the 
country, and he is now one of the respected 
citizens of Sidney, living practically retired. 
None are better known or more worthy of 
personal mention than he, and it is gratify- 
ing to us to present here the following facts 
in regard to his life and ancestry. 

Simeon Perkins was born February 
14, 1833, five miles from Savannah, the 
county seat of Hardin county, Tennessee. 
His father, Samuel Perkins, was a native of 
North Carolina, of English and Scotch ex- 
traction and a representative of a family 
that settled in the Carolinas during the co- 
lonial period. He was twice married. By 
his first wife, whose maiden name was Marsh 
and whom he wedded in North Carolina, he 
had six children, viz. : Hugh, John, William, 
Solomon, E. M. Perkins and Lucinda. 
Some time after her death he was united in 
marriage to Miss Anna Userry, a native of 
Tennessee and a member of one of the re- 
spected families of that state. As the re- 
sult of their union eight children were born, 
namely: Amanda, Hardiman, Catharine, 
Samuel, Anna, Joseph, Simeon and Louisa. 



The mother of these children died in Har- 
din county, Tennessee. The father lived to 
the ripe old age of seventy-six years. Both 
were members of the Christian church, in 
which laith they reared their family. By 
occupation the father was a farmer, in poli- 
tics he was Democratic, and as an honor- 
able and upright citizen he stood high in his 
community. 

On his father's farm in Hardin county 
the subject of our sketch passed his boy- 
hood and youth and as he grew up had in- 
stilled into him those lessons of honesty and 
industry which form the foundation of all 
true success. His book knowledge was ob- 
tained in the common schools near his home 
and his business training was in the broad 
school of experience. In 1853, at the am- 
bitious age of twenty, we find young Per- 
kins breaking home ties and starting for far- 
away California, where he landed in due 
time, having made the journey by water. 
A year later he returned East, and the next 
year again went to California and made an- 
other sojourn on the Pacific coast. While 
there he was engaged in mining and was 
fairly successful. In 1857 he directed his 
course toward Texas and took up his abode 
in Rusk county, where he made his home 
until 1875, when he disposed of his inter- 
ests there and came to Comanche county. 
Here he purchased a large tract of land 
near Sidney and about ten miles west of 
Comanche, and for some years was exten- 
sively engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
At one time he owned no less than fifteen 
hundred acres at this point, but of recent 
years sold off most of his acreage and is now 
retired from the active duties of the farm. 
His home is a handsome, modern residence, 
beautifully furnished and with attractive 
surroundings, and here he and his good wife 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



349 



are pleasantly passing their declining years, 
surrounded by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances, by all of whom they are held 
in high esteem. 

Mr. Perkins was married December 15, 
1859, in Rusk county, this state, to Miss 
Celia A. Howardton, a native of Alabama but 
reared and educated in Rusk county. She 
is a daughter of William and Mary A. How- 
ardton, both natives of Alabama and both 
now deceased. They were among the early 
and prominent families of Rusk county. 
His death occurred there in 1866, and hers 
in Sidney in 1895. 

Reverting to Mr. Perkins' early life in 
Texas, we state that when the civil war came 
on he left his wife at their home in Rusk 
county and went out in defense of the Con- 
federate cause, as a member of the Elev- 
enth Texas Infantry. Governor O. M. 
Roberts was his colonel. Among the en- 
gagements in which he participated were 
those of Mansfield, Jenkins' Ferry and oth- 
ers, and on one occasion he was captured by 
federal troops, taken to New Orleans and 
there held a prisoner fifty days, after which 
he was released. Mr. Perkins has always 
tendered hissupport to the Democratic party. 
He is now the appointed postmaster of Sid- 
ney, but does not himself take charge of 
the office, its business all being in the hands 
of his deputy, Hugh R. Lacy. Both Mr. 
Perkins and his wife are identified with the 
Christian church, of which they are consist- 
ent members and liberal supporters. 



^^Y S. LO MAX.— Classed with the 
•^^KT prominent and enterprising farmers 

hs^_y of Bosque county, Texas, and de- 
serving of specific consideration 
both as a leading farmer and highly respect- 



ed citizen, is found the gentleman whose 
name initiates this article, — S. S. Lomax. 
S. S. Lomax dates his birth in Abbeville 
county. South Carolina, October 9, 1842, 
son of J. A. Lomax and grandson of Terry 
Lomax, both natives of South Carolina. 
The original progenitor of the Lomax fam- 
ily in America came to this country from 
England. J. A. Lomax was born in 1816. 
He was married in South Carolina to Mary 
Holt, likewise a native of that state, her 
father being Israel Holt, and he, too, a na- 
tive of the "Palmetto state." In 1844 
J. A. Lomax moved to Carroll county, Mis- 
sissippi, and two years afterward moved to 
Holmes county and engaged in the tannery 
business, he having learned the trade of 
tanner in early life. During the civil war 
his tannery was turned over to the Confed- 
eracy and he was assigned a quartermaster's 
position over the plant. He continued his 
residence in Mississippi until 1869, when he 
followed the march of emigration and came 
to Texas, selecting a location in Bosque 
county and maintaining his home here the 
rest of his life. He was twice married. By 
his first wife he had five children, namely: 
Martha E., deceased; S. S., of this sketch; 
J. T., a business man of Meridian, Texas; 
Dorothy, deceased; and Israel, also of Me- 
ridian. The mother of this family died in 
Mississippi, April 27, 1854. By his second 
wife, nee Susan F. Cooper, a native of Mis- 
sissippi, he had the following named chil- 
dren: Richard C, an attorney of Austin, 
Texas; Mary Frances; Jesse J., who is en- 
gaged in the insurance business at Dallas, 
Texas; John E., a teacher by profession; 
George K. ; Robert A., engaged in teaching; 
Susan, the third of the family, who follows 
the occupation of teacher; and Alice. The 
father of this numerous progeny lived to the 



350 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



ripe age of seventy-six years and died in 
January, 1892. He was a successful busi- 
ness man, noted for his stanch integrity, his 
word ever as good as his bond; was an un- 
wavering supporter of the Democratic party; 
and was Methodistic in his religious views, 
long being identified with the Methodist 
Episcopal church and serving as a class- 
leader in the same. Fraternally, he was a 
Royal Arch Mason. His widow still sur- 
vives him and is a resident of Meridian. 

Having thus briefly referred to his hon- 
ored parents, we would now turn for a 
glimpse of the life of S. S. Lomax. He 
was two years old at the time his father 
moved to Mississippi, lived two years in 
Carroll county, and was reared in Holmes 
county. During the war he had charge of 
a shoe manufactory connected with his fa- 
ther's plant, and at the close of the war he 
turned his attention to the stock business, 
operating at different places in Mississippi 
and Texas and giving his time and energies 
exclusively to the stock business until 1884. 
That year he settled on his present farm in 
Bosque county, where he owns two hundred 
and seventy acres of land, all under cultiva- 
tion except fifty acres. 

Mr. Lomax was married April 28, 1864, 
to Miss Martha S. Cooper, daughter of James 
C. and Mary (Simonton) Cooper, the former 
for some years a resident of this county 
and now deceased, and the latter still living 
in Bosque county. Mr. and Mrs. Lomax 
have seven children living, namely: Avery 
C, Hycen-M., William R., Carlos A., Sea- 
born S., Lottie B. and Lucy M. ; and they 
have three deceased: Aliff, the first born, 
who died at the age of two years; Benton 
S., the fifth, at eighteen months; and Do- 
rothy, the eighth, at three years. 

Mr. Lomax has in many ways followed 



in the footsteps of his worthy sire. He is 
a Methodist and a trustee of his church, is 
an ardent supporter of the principles of De- 
mocracy, and is identified with the Masonic 
fraternity. As a man he is genial, frank and 
honorable, strong in his convictions, and 
never afraid to defend his position upon any 
point where principle is involved. 



aHARLES DOCKUM, whose con- 
nection with the farming and stock- 
raising interests of Erath county 
have been of material benefit both 
to him and to the community, has resided 
in this section of the state for a quarter of a 
century. He comes from the far-off Empire 
state, his birth having occurred in Clinton 
county. New York, March 4, 1832. 

The family is of Scotch lineage and the 
grandfather, Thomas Dockum, a native of 
Scotland, was its founder in America. He 
was a farmer and died in New York. The 
father of our subject, Thomas Dockum, Jr., 
was a native of Vermont, where he was 
reared and married Lucinda Janes, who 
also was born in the Green Mountain state, 
a daughter of David Janes, of Irish descent, 
a Vermont farmer, who died in Delaware 
county, Ohio. In 1841 Thomas Dockum 
removed with his family to Delaware 
county, Ohio, and in 1852 went to Davis 
county, Iowa, where his death occurred the 
same year. Throughout life he engaged in 
business as a farmer and millwright. His 
wife survived him for a number of years 
and died in Missouri in 1888. Both were 
members of the Methodist church. They 
had seven children, namely: Orin, of Belton, 
Texas; Charles; Lester, of Missouri; Henry, 
of Waco, Texas; Martha M. , deceased wife 
of Daniel Bears, who was killed in the army 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



351 



during the civil war; Mary, wife of Lewis 
Reveal, both now deceased; Sarah L. , de- 
ceased wife of William Rayburn. 

Our subject was a child of nine years 
when with his parents he left the state of 
his nativity, and after living in various places 
the family went to Iowa. Upon his father's 
death the care of his mother and the 
younger children of the family devolved 
upon him and nobly and faithfully did he 
perform his duty. In 1852 he removed the 
family to Missouri, locating on a farm. In 
1 86 1 he entered the Confederate army, 
joining Forrest's division of artillery. His 
service was at Savannah, but ill health 
forced him to leave the army. After recov- 
ering" he was employed at mounting guns 
and mortars and was thus engaged until the 
close of the war. His command was cap- 
tured at West Point, Georgia, where they 
made the last fight of the war and at the 
surrender of General Lee all were paroled. 
As Mr. Dockum lived north of Mason and 
Di.xon's line he was called a traitor and in 
consequence he remained in the south. He 
worked in Atlanta, Georgia, or vicinity for 
a time, then went to Stewart county, that 
state, whence in 1868 he removed to Ala- 
bama. In 1870 he came to Texas and for 
a year resided in Limestone county, where 
he built a mill for Dr. Pitts and operated it 
for a number of months. In 1872 he ar- 
rived in Erath county, where he rented land 
and raised twocrops. He then pre-empted one 
hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land 
and to-day has seventy-five acres under 
high cultivation. In addition to the well 
tilled fields that yield to him a rich return 
he also has a good orchard that supplies 
him with various kinds of fruit in season. 
His home is a substantial structure and the 
many improvements upon his place indicate 



the progressive and enterprising spirit of 
the owner. 

Mr. Dockum was married in 1865 to 
Mrs. Harper, daughter of L. Archer, a 
farmer and cabinet-maker. She has one 
brother, John Archer, who resides in Lime- 
stone county, Texas. By her first marriage 
she had a son, G. F. Harper, who has al- 
ways lived with Mr. and Mrs. Dockum, and 
the only child of her second marriage is a 
daughter, Martha L. , wife of B. K. Bowen, 
a farmer of this locality. Mrs. Dockum is 
a member of the Primitive Baptist church 
and a most estimable lady, having many 
friends throughout the community. Mr. 
Dockum is connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and since attaining 
his majority he has been an ardent advo- 
cate of the Democracy, firmly believing it 
to be the true principle of government for 
America. He is a man of sterling worth 
and strict integrity, ever true to his convic- 
tions, and those who know him esteem him 
highly. 



,>^ ILEY N. CONDRON was born in 

1/*^ Alabama, December 25, 1821, a 

1 . r son of William and Margaret 

(McNab) Condron, both of whom 

were natives of Alabama, in which state 

they were married. The father was a son 

of Jack and Rachel (Vaught) Condron, the 

former of South Carolina. Removing to 

Alabama, he located near Decatur, where 

he spent his remaining days, a prominent 

planter and slave owner of that locality. In 

politics he was a Democrat, and was an ex- 

horter in the Methodist church. 

The father of our subject was reared in 
his native state, where he resided until De- 
cember, 1849, when he removed to Will- 



352 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



iamson county, Texas, where he purchased 
land and developed a farm. His death 
occurred there in 1867. His wife is yet 
living on the old homestead, at the age of 
eighty-six years. He became a member of 
the Methodist church when a young man of 
seventeen years, and his wife when a maiden 
of fourteen, so that they were long faithful 
members of that denomination. The father 
was engaged in the live-stock business, in 
which he met with excellent success until 
the period of the war, when he lost nearly 
all his property. He had four sons in the 
Confederate service, and on the cessation of 
hostilities they returned home to find noth- 
ing left but the land! William Condron 
also gave his political support to the De- 
mocracy. His children are Rachel, wife of 
John W. Lane, of Williamson county; 
Stewart, a graduate of Florence College, of 
Alabama, who died at the age of twenty- 
two; William H., who was in the late war; 
Benjamin F., deceased; Riley N. ; Francis 
M. ; and Thomas M., who served through 
the war in the Second Texas Infantry; Lu, 
widow of William Neighbors; Jennie, wife 
of William Wilson, of Williamson county; 
and Josephine, wife of A. J. Pettijohn, who 
resides in Elgin, Texas. Three of the sons 
have been twice married, and there are now 
thirty-seven grandchildren who bear the 
name of Condron. 

Our subject was a lad of eight years 
when he came with his parents to Texas, 
and when seventeen years of age he left 
home and went to Chapel Hill University 
in Washington county, where he remained 
as a student for one year. There he en- 
listed in August, 1 86 1, in the Confederate 
service, and was sworn in at Houston, as a 
memberof the Eighth Texas Cavalry, known 
as Terry's Texas Rangers. The regiment, 



under command of Sidney Johnston, was 
assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. 
Johnston was killed at Shiloh, after which 
Beauregard assumed command. Mr. Con- 
dron was in all the principal battles with 
the Army of the Tennessee, and at Shiloh 
was wounded by a ball in the left leg, which 
still occasions him considerable suffering. 
At Chickamaugua he was wounded in the 
left shoulder, at Perryville his horse was 
shot from under him, and at Salt River, 
Kentucky, another horse was shot from 
under him, which in falling crushed his leg. 
He was at Goldsboro, North Carolina, at 
the time of General Lee's surrender, and on 
horseback made the return trip to his home, 
a distance of seventeen hundred miles! He 
never received a furlough in all his four long 
years of service, but was always found at 
his post, faithfully defending the south. 

After visiting his home, Mr. Condron re- 
turned to Washington county, Texas, and 
with a partner purchased the Hiram Thomp- 
son farm, of one thousand acres, of which 
eight hundred acres was under cultivation. 
He also secured the horses, mules and farm 
machinery, the purchase price for the entire 
place being twenty-nine thousand dollars. 
On the first crop he made thirteen thousand 
dollars and soon paid off all indebtedness. 
After four years he sold this property, but 
remained in Washington county until 1873, 
when he came to his present home. Here 
he purchased nine hundred and sixty acres, 
and with the aid of four farm hands planted 
fifty acres the first year. He was spon do- 
ing a good live-stock business, but in 1878 
he sold his stock and went to Comanche 
county, where he engaged in speculating 
until 1884. He then returned to his present 
home, where he now carries on general 
farming. He has here three hundred and 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



353 



sixty-nine acres, of which two hundred acres 
are highly cultivated, while the farm is im- 
proved with a commodious residence and 
good barns, also an excellent orchard and 
other conveniences. He has two of the 
finest fish pools in the state, supplied with 
water from a never failing spring, situated 
three miles south of Proctor. 

In Washington county, Texas, January 
I, 1867, Mr. Condron married Miss Addie 
L. Slauter, a native of Kentucky and a 
daughter of William and Fannie (Fontleroy) 
Slauter, who came to Texas at an early day. 
Her mother was the first white child born 
in the Boone reservation of Iventucky, and 
her grandfather was James Harrod, the 
founder of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and a 
prominent and wealthy citizen of that state. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Condron were born ten 
children, of whom four died in childhood. 
The others are Harrod and Albert O., of 
Williamson county: Mary E. , deceased wife 
of John V. Martin; D. L., wife of A. Hicks, 
a farmer; Pearl, at home; and Roy E. The 
mother, who was a consistent member of 
the Methodist church, died in 1884. On 
the 19th of July, 1885, Mr. Condron mar- 
ried Miss Henrietta F. Bell, who was born 
in Arkansas, June 9, 1852, a daughter of R. 
and Susanna (Grounds) Bell, of English 
descent. Her parents came to Texas in 
1855, locating in Lavaca county, where the 
father carried on farming and stock-raising 
until his death, July 2$, 1863. He and his 
wife were members of the Methodist church, 
and their children were Mrs. Condron, Mary 
A. , Annis B. , John R. , Araminta D. , Dosha 
and Archie G. Our subject and his wife 
have four children, — Birney C, Euel D., 
Emma T. and Ammor. The parents arc 
consistent members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, and Mr. Condron is a Master 



Mason. His political support is given the 
Democracy, but he has never sought or de- 
sired office. 



HARON H. ALLARD.— In the gen- 
tleman to a review of whose life 
the biographer would now invite 
attention is found a native son of 
the Lone Star state and a representative 
farmer of Erath county. In a frontier home 
in Hopkins county, Texas, February 7, 
1856, he first saw the light of day, his par- 
ents and grandparents being pioneers of this 
state; and before passing on to a sketch 
of his life we wish to refer briefly to his 
parentage. 

James Burleson Allard, his father, was a 
son of Aaron Allard, the former a native of 
Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. About 
1850 the Allard family emigrated to Texas 
and located in Hopkins county, where the 
grandfather of our subject improved a farm 
and passed the rest of his life, dying in 1866. 
He was a man of considerable prominence 
in his day, owned slaves and carried on 
farming extensively. Religiously he was a 
Primitive Baptist. His son, James Burle- 
son, was eighteen years old at the time they 
came to this state; and about that time 
or prior to it there settled in Hopkins county 
a family by the name of Hamilton, from 
Tennessee. A pleasant acquaintance soon 
sprang up between these two families, re- 
sulting a few years later in the marriage of 
James B. Allard and Miss Amanda E. Ham- 
ilton. The young couple settled down on 
a farm in that county and remained there 
until 1858, when they sought to better their 
condition by a removal to Erath county, 
where they figured as pioneers and where 
he turned his attention to the cattle busi- 



354 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



iiess. He brought with him a drove of 
cattle, bought more after his arrival, and 
was soon established in a successful busi- 
ness, having for a partner Mr. E. Cox, who 
was subsequently killed by the Indians. 
About i860 the Indians began to be trouble- 
some, and for ten years thereafter gave the 
cattle-men and people on the frontier almost 
constant annoyance. Mr. Allard had great 
difficulty with them. He was in numerous 
raids after the intruders and in some battles 
with them, and, besides having much of his 
stock stolen and driven off, he suffered the 
great loss of his partner. Mr. Co.x's death is 
referred to elsewhere in this volume. His heirs 
sold their interest in the cattle to Mr. Allard, 
who continued in the business until after the 
close of the war, when he disposed of his 
stock. After this he went to Johnson coun- 
ty, bought land and settled down to farming, 
remaining there some years and then selling 
out. His next move was to Granbury, Hood 
county, where he invested in both town and 
farm property. He is still living and now a 
resident of Cleburne, retired from active 
business life. He and his wife are members 
of the Methodist church. Of their family, 
five sons and one daughter, we make record 
as follows: Sarah is the wife of W. R. 
Robinson, a prominent farmer of Erath 
county; John is a farmer of Johnson county; 
Aaron H. is the subject of this sketch; 
James, Edward M. and Price are residents 
of Cleburne. 

Aaron H. Allard was only two years old 
at the time he was brought by his parents to 
Erath county. As soon as he was large 
enough he was put into the saddle and sent 
out to assist in the care of his father's cattle, 
and he made himself useful in this way as 
long as his father was in the business. After 
their removal to Johnson county he helped 



with the work on the farm. When he 
started out in life on his own responsibility 
he returned to the cattle business and fol- 
lowed it for some years longer. He married 
in 1880 and about that time bought a farm, 
on which he spent the next four years. 
From farming he turned to freighting, 
having Granbury for his headquarters and 
being thus occupied three years. His next 
venture was to California; but after an 
absence of about six months he returned to 
his family in Texas and again resumed farm- 
ing here. A year later he bought a small 
tract of timber land, where he has since 
resided. To this he has added by subsequent 
purchase until he now has two hundred 
acres, sixty of which are under cultivation. 
He has a comfortable frame residence and 
is nicely situated. In 1894 he built a steam 
gin and mill, which he has since operated. 
During the past season he ginned over six 
hundred bales of cotton. The mill he runs 
only at stated times, one day out of every 
week the year round. Some time ago he 
owned and ran a thresher. He has been 
fairly prosperous in his various undertakings, 
and the success to which he has attained is 
due wholly to his own efforts. 

Mrs. Allard, ncc Paralu Austin, is a na- 
tive of Tennessee and was born in May, 
1862, her parents being J. D. and Mary 
Austin. The Austin family came to Texas 
about 1876 and after one or two moves set- 
tled in Johnson county. In 1881 Mr. Austin 
moved to his present home in Erath county. 
He is the father of ten children, — one son. 
Dee, by his first wife, and the following by 
his second marriage: Mary J., Alice, Paralu, 
Ellen, Newton, James, Lew, Hermon and 
Sterling. Mr. and Mrs. Allard have seven 
children: Docia, Ina, John, Doss, Bena, 
Harvey and Ruth — all at home. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Allard was formerly a Democrat, 
but like many of the most intelligent men of 
his community he is a believer in the prin- 
ciples held by the Populists and has left the 
old party and given his support to one he 
believes to be better. But he is not a poli- 
tician, nor has he ever sought official honors. 
He and his wife are members of the Primi- 
tive Baptist church. 



m. 



'ILLIAM D. COX.— Among the 
prominent and progressive farm- 
ers of central Te.xas there prob- 
ably are none more worthy of 
honorable mention in a work of this char- 
acter than the above named gentleman, 
William D. Cox, e.x-sheriff of Comanche 
county. 

Mr. Cox is a native of Tennessee, born 
in Roane county, October 15, 1839. His 
parents, Samson and Elizabeth ( Driscol ) 
Cox, were both of Virginia birth and de- 
scended from old and influential families of 
the early colonial days. The progeny of 
this worthy couple numbered eleven, and 
their fifth in order of birth was William D. 
The latter was reared to farm life and 
enjoyed excellent educational advantages. 
At the age of seventeen he entered upon a 
collegiate course and earnestly pursued his 
studies. In 1858 he began teaching, which 
he followed for some years; and it may 
further be stated here that he has always 
taken a deep interest in educational matters, 
has been influential as a local educator, ancf 
is still interested in the welfare of the 
schools of his community. 

In 1862 he enlisted in the Fifty-ninth 
Tennessee Regiment of Infantry, as a pri- 
vate soldier, but soon was promoted to the 
rank of commissioned officer, and at the 



close of the war was lieutenant in Company 
H, Fifty-ninth Regiment. All his service in 
the many engagements in which he partici- 
pated was characterized by true bravery, and 
although he fought for a cause that was lost 
he came home from the army with a record 
in which he has every reason to take a just 
pride. 

Mr. Cox remained in Tennessee until 1 872. 
That year he landed in Texas and took up 
his abode in Robertson county, where he re- 
sided about four years, teaching school 
meanwhile. He came to Comanche county 
in 1876 and for twenty years has had his 
abiding place in this county. He now re- 
sides on his farm some ten miles west of the 
city of Comanche, and near Sidney, his 
post-office address. At one time he was the 
owner of a large landed estate, but at this 
writing his holdings comprise only 100 acres, 
thirty-five of which are under cultivation, 
well stocked and improved. He has about 
an acre in orchard and vineyard, his orchard 
comprising a variety of fruits, among which 
are peach, plum and apricot. 

Mr. Cox has been twice married. His 
first marriage was consummated in Tennes- 
see in 1862 with Miss Elizabeth Shugart, a 
native of that state. She died some years 
later, leaving a family of six children, 
namely: William D., John S., James L. , 
Leila, now the wife of Y. G. Parker, Ed- 
ward S. and J. Fred. Also she had two 
children whose death preceded hers, and one 
who has died since. For his second wife 
Mr. Cox wedded, September 28, 1886, Mrs. 
Martha A. Langston, ncc White, a most esti- 
mable lady who still presides over his home. 
The present Mrs. Cox is a native of Mis- 
souri, and by her former marriage has five 
children, viz.: William C, Mollie F,, wife 
of J. C. Ross, Jessie, Wilson and Thomas W. 



356 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The family are consistent members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

Prior to his removal to Texas the subject 
of our sketch was honored with official pref- 
erence, and served efficiently in some local 
positions of prominence, in McMinn county, 
Tennessee. In 18S2 he was elected sheriff 
of Comanche county and filled the office one 
term. Also he served two years as deputy 
in the same office, under J. W. Cunning- 
ham, sheriff. His political affiliations have 
always been with the Democratic party, of 
which he is a stanch member. Socially, he 
is identified with the Masonic order. 



* m ^ ENRY HUNT, one of the progress- 
I'^^V ive and prosperous farmers of 
%^ . * Erath county, is a self-made man 
to whom success has come as the 
reward of earnest labor, energy and inde- 
fatigable resolution. He has truly been the 
architect of his own fortune and has builded 
wisely and well. It is a matter of commen- 
dation when a native American overcomes 
adverse surroundings and difficulties and 
work his way upward; but the man of for- 
eign birth who follows such a course has 
still more to contend with and therefore de- 
serves still greater credit. The habits and 
customs and ofttimes the language also are 
unknown to him when he sails across the At- 
lantic to the new world. To his altered con- 
ditions and surroundings he adjusts himself 
and then begins the arduous task of compet- 
ing with those around him and win success 
by sheer effort and good management. 

Mr. Hunt was born in the province of 
Sa.xony, Germany, March 2, 1851, and is a 
son of Henry and Mary Catherine (Stoltze) 
Hunt, who were born in the province of 
Louinger. The father, a baker by trade, 



was a son of Joseph Hunt, an extensive mil- 
ler and baker, who spent his entire life in 
the fatherland. In 1869 Henry Hunt, with 
his wife and six children, took passage on a 
sailing vessel at Bremen and after a voyage 
of eleven weeks landed at New York. He 
took up his residence at Fort Madison, Iowa, 
where he was employed in the lumber mills 
for two years, and then removed to St. 
Louis, Missouri, where he was connected 
with a sugar house until his death, which 
occurred in December, 1871, at the age of 
forty-four years. In the family were the 
following named: Henry, of this review; 
John A., of Fort Madison, Iowa; Rev. 
Charles F. , pastor of St. Mary's Catholic 
church of Keokuk, Iowa; William, of Fort 
Madison; Frank, who died at the age of five 
years; and Harmon V., who is also living in 
Fort Madison. The mother also makes her 
home in that city. After the death of Mr. 
Hunt she married a Mr. Wadinger, who died 
two years later, and subsequently she be- 
came the wife of Anton Bigner, who is also 
deceased. 

In his native land Mr. Hunt, of this 
sketch, attended the common schools until 
fourteen years of age, when he was appren- 
ticed tothelocksmith'strade, servinga three- 
years term, during which time he supple- 
mented his educational training by an at- 
tendance on the night schools. He was a 
young man of seventeen when he arrived in 
America. He workedatblacksmithing dur- 
ing the residence of the family in Fort 
"Madison, Iowa, and after their removal to 
St. Louis he and his brother engaged in the 
coopering business for a number of years. 

On the 14th of April, 1874, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Hunt and Miss 
Mary Hillenbrand, a native of Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, and daughter of Carl and 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



357 



Louisa (Singer) Hillenbrand. The former 
was a native of Baden, Germany, and his 
father was a prominent and wealthy citizen 
of that country. When Carl Hillenbrand 
was a young man he came to America, tak- 
ing uphis residence in Philadelphia. Later he 
returned to his native land and when he 
again came to the United States brought 
with him his affianced bride and they were 
married in Philadelphia. He engaged in 
the hotel business for a number of years and 
in 1856 emigrated to St. Louis, where he 
embarked in the butchering business, which 
he carried on until his death. He passed 
away September 7, 1892, at the age of 
sixty-two years, but his wife is still living, 
in St. Louis. Both were consistent mem- 
bers of the Catholic church and reared their 
children in that faith. They had seven chil- 
dren, four of whom are still living, namely: 
Mrs. Hunt; Lizzie; Emma; and Rosa, wife 
of C. J. Stolle, of St. Louis. 

In 1877 Mr. Hunt came to Texas, locat- 
ing first in Grimes county, where he was 
initiated into the mysteries of farming. Never 
before had he engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, but he possessed a retentive memory 
and observing eye, noted what others did, 
profited by their experiences and by his in- 
defatigable industry has won success. He 
rented land the first season and on the ist 
of December, 1877, came to Erath county, 
where he rented land of D. L. Thornton, on 
Barton's creek. He raised good crops and 
thus got a start. He thus rented land for 
four years, and in 1881, in company with 
his brother William, he purchased three 
hundred and twenty acres of wild land, on 
which he built a log cabin. When prepara- 
tions for a home were completed he turned 
his attention to the work of clearing and de- 
veloping the place and now has seventy-five 



acres under a high state of cultivation, while 
all the improvements and accessories of the 
model farm of the nineteenth century add to 
the value and attractive appearance of the 
place. In the spring of 1887 he erected his 
present residence, a two-story frame dwell- 
ing, fourteen by thirty-four feet, with an L 
twenty by twelve feet. The house is sur- 
rounded by a beautiful lawn, which is en- 
closed by a well kept fence, and the appear- 
ance of the place well indicates the careful 
supervision of the owner. 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt is 
brightened by the presence of seven children, 
as follows: Lillie, Charles, May, Rosa, 
Louis, Hermann and Joseph. The parents 
and eldest daughter are members of the 
Catholic church, and contribute liberally to 
its support. The eldest daughter, Lillie, 
completed her education at the Academy of 
the Sacred Heart, Waco, Texas, in the year 
1891-2. In politics Mr. Hunt is independ- 
ent. He has neither time nor inclination for 
public office, preferring to devote his ener- 
gies to his business pursuits, in which he is 
meeting with signal success. 



aOLUMBUS LOUTHERBACK is a 
leading and enterprising farmer of 
Bosque county. Like hundreds of 
that class to whose efforts the state 
of Texas owes so much for its development 
and prosperity, the subject of this history 
came to this section of the country armed 
only with his strong hands and willing heart 
and the elements of a character which de- 
scended to him from a line of honorable 
ancestry, conspicuous chiefly for its industry 
and energy. 

Mr. Loutherback is a native of the 
Buckeye state, born in Scioto county, on 



358 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the 23d of March, 1843, and was the fourth 
in the family of eight children born to Sam- 
uel and Elizabeth (McCall) Loutherback, 
who were also natives of Ohio, and both are 
now deceased, the father dying in 1846 and 
the mother in 1867. Until he was twenty- 
two years of age our subject followed farm- 
ing, and then for many years was employed 
in iron furnaces. In Scioto county he was 
reared and educated. He spent eleven 
years in Missouri before coming to Texas in 
1879, at which time he located near Tur- 
nersville in Coryell county, where he engaged 
in agricultural pursuits for seven years, and 
for the past eight years has resided in 
Bosque county. At this writing he is lo- 
cated on the farm of P. A. Noland, nine 
miles south of Clifton, where he cultivates 
one hundred and fifty acres of land, and is 
one of the model farmers of this section. 
He also handles stock, buying and selling 
on the markets. 

In Ohio was consummated the marriage 
of Mr. Loutherback and Miss Narcissa Tur- 
ner, of that state, and they have become 
the parents of thirteen children, named as 
follows: Ellen, Cora, Minnie, Samuel, 
Charles R., Lillia A., Mary, Edward, Da- 
vid, Jessie, Philip, Narcissa, and one 
daughter deceased. The family are con- 
sistent members of the Baptist church. Mr. 
Loutherback takes no active interest in po- 
litical matters, and belongs to no secret so- 
cieties, his entire time and attention being 
devoted to his agricultural pursuits. How- 
ever, he takes a commendable interest in 
educational affairs, and for several years 
has served as a school trustee. He served 
twenty-three months in the rebellion, enlist- 
ing in August, 1863, and was discharged in 
July, 1865. He was in the battles of Cedar 
creek, Bolivar Heights, the Lynchburg raid, 



and several other fights. He served under 
Generals Crook, Sheridan and Hunter, be- 
longing to the Fifth Virginia Veteran 
Infantry. 



at 



S. ETHRIDGE. — Success in 
any lineof occupation, in any ave- 
nue of business, is not a matter 
of spontaneity, but is the legiti- 
mate offspring of subjective effort in the 
proper utilization of the means at hand, the 
improvement of opportunity and the exer- 
cise of the highest functions made possible 
by the specific ability in any case. In view 
of this condition the study of biography be- 
comes valuable and its lessons of practical 
use. To trace the history of a successful 
life must ever prove a profitable and sat- 
isfying indulgence, for the history of the in- 
dividual is the history of the nation and the 
history of the nation is the history of the 
world. The subject of this review is a man 
to whom has not been denied a full measure 
of success, who stands distinctively as one 
of the representative men of Palu.xy and has 
been a conspicuous figure in the commercial 
history of Hood county. It is therefore with 
gratification that we enter upon the task of 
preparing for his fellow townsmen and those 
who know him an adequate record of his 
career. 

A native of Tennessee, Mr. Ethridge 
was born in Carroll county, on the 2d day 
of August, 1837, and is a son of J. J. and 
Patience (Rochell) Ethridge, who removed 
from North Carolina to Tennessee in an 
early day. During the infancy of our sub- 
ject his parents went to Gibson county, 
Tennessee, where he was reared on a farm. 
His educational advantages were limited, 
but his training at farm labor was not 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



359 



meager. In 1853 the family removed to 
Missouri, locating in Newton county, and in 
1855 W. S. Ethridge started out in life on 
his own responsibility, following various oc- 
cupations until 1 86 1, when he came to 
Texas, locating in Cooke county. Soon 
afterward he entered the Confederate army 
as a member of General Henry McCullough's 
brigade and served principally on the fron- 
tier in Texas and Indian Territory. He 
was thus engaged until the close of the war, 
when he went to Gainesville, Texas. There 
he engaged in farming and stock-raising for 
two years, when he returned to Missouri, 
spending the succeeding two years in that 
state and Tennessee. In the fall of 1870 
he came to Hood county. 

Upon his arrival in Paluxy Mr. Ethridge 
established a large general mercantile store 
and for twenty-five years has successfully 
conducted business here. He carries a stock 
valued at five thousand dollars, and his 
goods are well assorted to meet the popular 
demand. He is courteous in his treatment 
of his patrons, thoroughly reliable and hon- 
orable in all transactions and as a result has 
a large and constantly increasing trade. In 
connection with his mercantile pursuits he is 
also extensively engaged in farming. He owns 
a landed estate of four hundred and fifteen 
acres in Somervell county and two hundred 
acres in Hood county, and two hundred and 
fifty acres of this property is under a hihg 
state of cultivation and yields to the owner 
a fair tribute. 

Mr. Ethridge has been twice married. 
On the 9th of January, 1859, he was joined 
in wedlock with Emeline Rutledge, and to 
them were born two children: John H., 
who was born November 29, 1861, in the 
Chickasaw Nation, while his parents were 
on the way to Texas; and Laura, who was 



born in this state in 1863. Mr. Ethridge 
was again married April 12, 1871, his second 
union being with Mrs. Maggie Day, a daugh- 
ter of John Meek, a most prominent and 
honored citizen. Four children grace this 
marriage, namely: Eula, Maud, wife of 
R. C. Mulky, of Hood county, Luther and 
Lillie. 

Mr. Ethridge was first appointed post- 
master under Grant's administration, be- 
coming the first postmaster of the town, 
and with the exception of about five years 
has continuously held the office, discharging 
his duties with a commendable fidelity that 
has won him high commendation. He affil- 
iates with the Democratic party and his wife 
is a member of the Christian church. He 
is a self-made man and his career is one of 
usefulness, of honor and success. Such a 
life is well worthy of perpetuation in the 
history of his adopted county and it is there- 
fore with pleasure that we present his record 
to our readers. 



>Y*OHN ALEXANDER FORM WALT, 
f justice of the peace at Granbury and 
/» J an honored pioneer of Hood county, 
was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, 
April 22, 1820, and was the second son of 
Jacob and Rebecca (Troup) Formwalt. His 
great-grandparents, who were among the 
first settlers of Knoxville, founded the fam- 
ily in Tennessee. They were of German 
birth and from the fatherland came to 
America in colonial days. His father, Jacob 
Formwalt, was a native of Virginia and a 
soldier of the war of 1812; and his mother, 
Rebecca Troup Formwalt, was born in 
Georgia. They were married in Huntsville, 
Alabama, about 18 16. Two sons — William, 
deceased, and John A. — were the fruits of 



3G0 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



this marriage. Not long after their mar- 
riage the parents removed to Knoxville, and 
thence to Jackson, Tennessee, being num- 
bered among the first settlers there. In 
1S26 they went to Florence, Alabama, and 
two years later to Pulaski, Tennessee, where 
in the subscription schools John A. received 
his primary education, therein pursuing his 
studies until twelve years of age. At the 
age of eighteen he pursued a one-term course 
in a private school, which was taught by an 
Englishman in the mountains of Alabama. 

In 1840 young Formwalt made his first 
visit to Texas, arriving in Red River county 
in November. He remained in the Lone 
Star state for six months and then returned 
to Tennessee, having made the trip on horse- 
back. In 1843 he located in Pontotoc 
county, Mississippi, where for a few years 
he engaged as clerk and bookkeeper for a 
mercantile firm, but when his abilities and 
reliable character came to be recognized he 
was elected to the office of county clerk, 
which position he filled from 1847 until fail- 
ing health rendered it necessary for him to 
seek a change of climate. This was in 
1849, when the California gold excitement 
was intense; and in company with others he 
journeyed to the Pacific slope, where for 
nearly two years he was engaged in mining 
with gratifying results. In 1850 he returned 
to his home in Mississippi, and a year later, 
selling out his interests there, he emigrated 
to east Texas, making the trip with ox- 
teams and reaching his destination after 
three months of travel. Locating in Ander- 
son county, he purchased and operated a 
farm for two years and then removed to 
Palestine in that county, where he em- 
barked in merchandising. He was also ap- 
pointed postmaster, serving in that capacity 
for three years, when, selling out his busi- 



ness, he also gave up the office and resumed 
farming. In 1856 he became a resident of 
West Point, Freestone county, and in 1859 
went to his present location, then a part of 
Johnson county. Here he purchased a 
section of land near Thorp Spring and has 
ever since been one of the most prominent 
farmers and stock-raisers of this locality, 
also one of the most important men in mat- 
ters of influence in the development of the 
best interests of Hood county. In the affairs 
which have had for their object the general 
welfare, he has taken an active part and is 
recognized as a wide-awake, progressive and 
valued citizen. 

In politics Major Formwalt is a Demo- 
crat, though he has never been a politician. 
He was first appointed to his present office 
of justice of the peace to fill a vacancy and 
has subsequently been three times elected 
thereto. For half a century he has been a 
Master Mason in good standing, and in re- 
ligious belief he is a Presbyterian. He has 
always liberally contributed of his means to 
educational interests, and school, church 
and social interests find in him a friend. 

Mr. Formwalt has been twice married, 
first at Pontotoc, Mississippi, in December, 
1845, to Miss Cortney Lane McEwen, 
daughter of Colonel D. K. McEwen. By 
this union he became the father of seven 
children, namely: William, John, Charles, 
Hood, Ada, Sam and Helen, — all save Sam 
still living and respected citizens of Texas. 
The mother of this family died in 1880, and 
on December 25, 1882, Mr. Formwalt mar- 
ried Mrs. Burdett, widow of John Burdett 
and daughter of Judge Jowers, of Palestine, 
Texas. 

Major Formwalt is tall and graceful in 
his bearing and though of German origin 
his diction is perfectly free from any foreign 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



361 



accent, and is of the best type of the south- 
ern English. In character, spotless; in can- 
dor, courage and generosity, civilian of the 
soldier type, his tendencies having been to- 
ward a military life. At the time of his 
first settlement in his present locality it was 
a very sparsely settled frontier community, 
subjected to depredations of marauding bands 
of fierce and thieving Indians, who inhab- 
ited the unsettled parts of Texas on the Up- 
per Brazos. Mr. Formwalt was always a 
leader and among the foremost to organize 
the citizen militia into pursuing and chastis- 
ing parties, which he led far into the haunts 
of the savages. These first crude experien- 
ces of a militia man were, at the breaking 
out of the civil war, to find a more expan- 
sive field and his military genius and ambi- 
tion were to find scope. In October, 1861, 
as a true-born southerner, he enlisted as a 
private in Captain William Shannon's com- 
pany to serve in the Confederate army, but 
in the following spring Colonel A. Nelson, 
to whom this company reported, well dis- 
cerning in the modest private qualities fit- 
ting him for command, sent Formwalt to 
the Brazos settlements to raise a company, 
which was soon accomplished. Mr. Form- 
wait was elected its captain, and he imme- 
diately reported to, and his company was or- 
ganized into. Colonel Nelson's Tenth Regi- 
ment of Texas Infantry. This noted regi- 
ment, upon the promotion of Colonel Nelson, 
was subsequently commanded by Colonel 
Roger Q. Mills, and Major Formwalt partici- 
pated in all the many desperate battles in 
which his command took part. He was cap- 
tured January 11,1 862, at Arkansas Post, and 
suffered imprisonment at Columbus, Ohio, for 
five months, when he was exchanged. His 
service thereafter was in the Army of the 
Tennessee. At the battle of Franklin, Ten- 



nessee, in the assault led by those heroic 
generals, Pat Cleburne and H. B. Gran- 
bury, Formwalt, as senior captain, led his 
regiment to the charge and fell, severely 
wounded, being one among many other 
heroes whose blood mingled to enrich the 
soil of that sanguinary field. He was after- 
ward promoted to the rank of major. 

Not long after this the war terminated 
and Major Formwalt returned to his home 
in western Texas to find that his brave wife 
with her little ones had by the farm and the 
loom managed to clothe themselves, although 
they suffered many hardships and dangers 
known only to those who were within 
the territory so frequently invaded by the 
Indians. Much of his property was wasted 
and gone, but, with spirit yet undaunted, 
with his usual energy he resumed the labors 
of the civilian and soon again became pros- 
perous in husbandry. A few years later he 
embarked in a mercantile business at Gran- 
bury, but his kindly nature was in the way 
of success, and after a few years' experience 
in this line he again retired to the farm 
much crippled in fortune. 

Though spending his later years in judi- 
cial office, the military title of Major is far 
more fitting to Mr. Formwalt than that of 
Judge, for, possessing the bluntness and 
courage of the Scottish chief, he combines 
with it the grace and courtesy of the most 
faithful Christian gentleman. Deeply im- 
bued with sentiments of patriotic devotion 
to his country, had his life been spent under 
favoring circumstances, honor and glory 
might alike have attached to his name and 
fixed it well upon the pages of his country's 
history; but as the fatality of events have 
decreed he is now serving his neighbors in 
the humble office of magistrate at the age 
of seventy-six years, but with buoyant step 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



and figure erect appears not to exceed 
sixty. It has already been fitly written: 

"The march of the soldier is ending; 

On the hilltops over the river 
The campfire lights are ascending 

To our God, the merciful giver, 
Where comrades assembling in glory 

At the heavenly gates are waiting; 
While mortals in song and in story, 

Their valorous deeds are relating." 



at 



C. BISHOP.— About the middle 
of the present century, when emi- 
gration from the older states of 
the Union began to pour into the 
new state of Texas, there landed in Karnes 
county a young man, ambitious and enter- 
prising and determined to make his mark in 
the world. He had been a stage driver at 
his old home in Tennessee. Here for a time 
he followed the same business, then turned 
from staging to stock-raising, and from that 
to farming; and as the years passed by Dame 
Fortune smiled upon his efforts and re- 
warded him with success that is granted 
to but few. Now in these years which 
mark the close of the century, we find this 
same young man, W. C. Bishop, known 
throughout the country as Colonel Bishop, 
one of the largest landholders and wealth- 
iest men of Erath county. The history of 
such men as he is both interesting and 
instructive, and it is with a feeling of satis- 
faction that the biographer turns to a re- 
view of his life. 

W. C. Bishop was born in Hawkins 
county, Tennessee, November 28, 1826, 
son of Samuel and Anna (Carter) Bishop, 
natives of Tennessee and Alabama respect- 
ively. Samuel Bishop was a son of Joseph 
Bishop, one of the early pioneers of Ten- 
nessee, and both father and son followed 



agricultural pursuits and figured prominently 
in the community where they resided. 
Samuel Bishop served under Jackson in the 
Creek Indian war. He died in Tennessee, 
in 1865, and his wife passed away in that 
state the following year. Both were mem- 
bers of the Missionary Baptist church. 
Eight children constituted his family, by 
his two wives, their names in order of birth 
being as follows: Gartny, Mason, Richard 
and Samuel, by his first marriage; and by 
the second marriage, W. C, whose name 
heads this article; Robert, who came to 
Texas with W. C. in 1849, settled in 
Karnes county, and died there some years 
later; Mary, wife of C. G. Gillett; and 
Elizabeth, wife of Peter Poindexter, of 
Tennessee. 

Colonel Bishop was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm. He attended the common 
schools of the district and spent his youth- 
ful days not unlike other boys of Tennes- 
see. In 1846, at the age of twenty years, 
he married and began life on his own re- 
sponsibility, farming first and then beginning 
his career as a stage driver. In 1854 he 
came to Texas and located on the San An- 
tonio river in Karnes county. Here he 
drove stage for several years, and had many 
unique and exciting experiences incident to 
life in a new country, and formed many 
pleasant acquaintances among the traveling 
public of that day. Soon after coming to 
Texas he made investments in cattle, and 
when he quit staging it was to give his 
whole attention to the cattle business, in 
which he was largely engaged in Karnes 
county until 1873, when he sold out and 
came to his present location in Erath counts'. 
Here he bought a tract of land with small 
improvements thereon, and in this county 
continued the stock business on a large 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



scale and also carried on farming operations. 
Gradually he disposed of his stock and 
turned his attention more particularly to his 
farm and its improvement until of recent 
years he keeps only enough stock for the 
support of his farm. The Colonel and his 
son now own one thousand acres in one 
body, a magnificent tract unsurpassed by 
any land in Erath county, and the Bishop 
homestead is one of the best improved and 
finest country places in all the country 
round. The residence is a commodious and 
attractive one. The barn and outbuildings 
are first-class in every respect, and every- 
thing about this delightful home gives evi- 
dence of culture and refinement as well as 
wealth. The Colonel now has most of his 
land rented. 

To that page which tells more particu- 
larly about his domestic life would we now 
turn. Colonel Bishop has been married 
three times. His first wife, ncc Uizzie 
Johnson, whom he wedded in Tennessee in 
1846, was a daughter of Thomas Johnson, 
of that state. Mr. Johnson was a respected 
farmer of Tennessee, and passed his life and 
died there. Mrs. Lizzie Bishop accom- 
panied her husband to Texas and shared his 
frontier life until 1857, when she was called 
to her last home. She left two children, 
viz. : James A. , now a cattle man of Presidio 
county, Texas; and John B., a farmer of 
Erath county. In 1858 our subject married 
Miss L. J. Humphreys, daughter of James 
Humphreys, who had come to Texas from 
Louisiana as early as 1833. Mr. Humphreys 
belonged to Houston's army and at the 
time of the San Jacinto battle was out as a 
scout. After the Republic was formed he 
settled down to farming on the Trinity river, 
near Liberty, where he passed the rest of 
his life, and died in i860. This second 



marriage was blessed in the birth of five 
children, namely: Priscilla, wife of Stephen 
Spirey, Wilson county, Texas; Ellen, wife 
of J. W. Spirey, Concho county, Texas; 
Betty, who became the wife of George Bos- 
ton, both now deceased; and John H. and 
James, deceased. The mother of this fam- 
ily died in 1863. She was a member of the 
Methodist church. The Colonel's marriage 
to this third and present wife was consum- 
mated in 1882. Mrs. Bishop, whose maiden 
name was Miss Maggie Stipe, is a daughter 
of James Stipe, a Tennesseean who moved 
with his family to Missouri. In Missouri 
both Mr. and Mrs. Stipe died, and after 
their death their children all came to Texas. 
Mrs. Bishop has given birth to two children, 
Annie and Richard. 

While Colonel Bishop's life has in many 
respects been a remarkably successful one, 
he has like other men met with reverses. 
About 1880 he furnished capital for a mer- 
chandise business at Alexander, an enter- 
prise that promised most flattering results, 
but which in a few years cost him no less 
than fifteen thousand dollars. That expe- 
rience satisfied him with mercantile busi- 
ness. Also, during the war he suffered 
heavy loss from theft of cattle, and at the 
close of the war was unfortunate in having 
on hand no small amount of Confederate 
money. He was a Union man all through 
those dark days of civil war, but " stuck to 
his country," as a true patriot would. He 
was detailed on the supply force, and in that 
capacity rendered good service. 

At the time our subject came to Erath 
county he was the wealthiest and most 
extensive cattle dealer here; and his large 
wealth, together with his generous and 
public-spirited nature and commanding per- 
sonal appearance, soon brought him into 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



prominence and he was dubbed " Colonel," 
a title that has clung to him ever since. 

In his political views, Colonel Bishop 
has always harmonized with the Democratic 
party, and has given it his stanch support, 
but has never aspired to official preferment. 
Socially, he is identified with the Masonic 
order. Both he and his wife are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. 



>»j*OSEPH REEVES. —Among the 
■ prominent and respected pioneers of 
/• 1 the Lone Star state none perhaps 
are more worthy of honorable men- 
tion in a work of this character than he 
whose name heads this brief notice. He is 
fast nearing the eightieth milestone on life's 
journey and his pilgrimage has been one 
that shows forth many examples worthy of 
emulation. He has lived through every 
presidential administration of this nation 
since the opening year of Monroe's incum- 
bency as chief executive, and in the various 
communities in which he has resided he has 
been prominent in promoting those affairs 
which advance the general prosperity and 
engender the public good. To-day he is 
given the esteem and reverence which should 
always accompany old age, and is accounted 
one of the most valued citizens of Brown 
county. 

Mr. Reeves was born in Walton county, 
Georgia, October 6, 1817, and was educated 
and reared in the state of his nativity until 
seventeen years of age, when he accom- 
panied his parents on their removal to 
southern Alabama, where they remained for 
nine years. On the expiration of that 
period he returned to Georgia. His parents 
were Jonathan and Batany (Mayfield) 
Reeves. His father was born in South 



Carolina, in 1788, and was of Irish extrac- 
tion, the original American ancestors having 
come to this country in the early days when 
America was a province of Great Britain: he 
died in 1844. Mrs. Reeves was also a na- 
tive of South Carolina, born in 1793, while 
her death occurred October 22, 1854. Her 
husband survived her several years and 
passed away June 30, i860. Their family 
numbered eight children, the subject of this 
review being the fourth in order of birth. 

Joseph Reeves spent the days of his child- 
hood and youth in the usual manner of 
farmer lads of that period. He became a 
resident of Texas in 1854 and for fourteen 
years made his home in Parker county, af- 
ter which he went to Comanche county. He 
now makes his home in Brown county, near 
the Comanche line, some twelve miles west 
of the city of Comanche. Here he has re- 
sided for twenty-two years. His farm prop- 
erty consists of three hundred and twenty 
acres of rich land, of which one hundred 
acres are under a high state of cultivation. 
He also has a good orchard, substantial barns 
and outbuildings for the care of stock and 
poultry and the latest improved machinery. 
Thus he has made his place one of the 
model farms of the county, a most desirable 
property, which yields to him a good income 
in return for the care and labor that is be- 
stowed upon it. 

On Christmas day of 1849, while in 
Georgia, Mr. Reeves was united in marriage 
to Miss Sarah M. Duke, a native of that 
state. Their home was made bright and 
happy by the presence of seven children, 
namely: Berry, Elijah, Malachiah, Nancy 
B., wife of John Knuteson, John, Luke and 
Mark. Their eldest son, Jonathan, died in 
i860. 

In his political views Mr. Reeves has al- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



365 



ways been a stanch Democrat. For many 
years he has been associated with the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church, and in both church 
and educational interests he has borne his 
part. For a number of years he served as 
a member of the school board, and has ever 
been a public-spirited man deeply interested 
in the welfare of the community. In 1836 
he served in the Seminole war in Florida, 
aiding in subduing the Seminole Indians, one 
of the hardest tribes to bring under subjec- 
tion. He is now seventy-nine years of age, 
but is well preserved both mentally and phys- 
ically. His family is noted for longevity, 
and the evening of his life is pleasantly pass- 
ing in his comfortable home with the loved 
wife with whom he has so long traveled 
life's journey. 



t V^"^ M. RUPE, who is now living in 
I I Brown county, is one of the hon- 
Z^,^ ored pioneers of Texas, dating his 
residence in the state from 1839, 
at which time Texas was an independent re- 
public. He has, therefore, witnessed all 
the most important events connected with 
its history, has seen its progress and ad- 
vancement and has taken a just pride in its 
upbuilding. He has always been a resident 
of the south, his birth having occurred in 
Jefferson county, Alabama, April 15, 1821. 
His father, William Rupe, was born in Vir- 
ginia and was of Irish and German extrac- 
tion. The grandfather was one of the he- 
roes of the Revolution who gave his life in 
the interests of American independence, 
being killed at the battle of Brandywine. 
William Rupe was reared in the Old Do- 
minion and there married Jane Ferguson, a 
native of the same state and of Scotch-Irish 
descent. They became the parents of nine 



children, — John, Mary, Nancy, Martha, 
Elizabeth, Caroline, Matilda, Eliza and one 
who died in infancy. The father of this 
family died in Goliad county, Texas, at the 
age of eighty-four. He made farming and 
stock-raising his life work, and in politics 
he was a Democrat. His wife died at the 
age of eighty-one. She was a member of 
the Christian church and a most estimable 
lady. 

In his early youth our subject became 
familiar with the duties that fall to the lot 
of the farmer and stock-dealer. He was a 
young man of eighteen years when he came 
to Texas, locating in Liberty county, where 
he remained for a year, then returned to 
his native state. His next home in Texas 
was in Gonzales county, and in 1856 to 
Atascosa county. After four years spent as 
a stock-dealer in the last named he removed 
to Goliad county, where he remained for 
five years, when he went to Refugio county, 
and seven years later came to Brown county. 
He was one of the first settlers in this neigh- 
borhood, the land was wild and there was 
little prospect of rapid development; in fact 
it was a typical frontier region. He pur- 
chased six hundred and twenty acres of 
land, of which one hundred acres is under 
cultivation. A modern stone residence, 
built after the pleasant southern style, is 
the abode of hospitality. It stands in the 
midst of well kept grounds, and beyond 
these are the cultivated fields and good 
pasture lands, all indicating the careful su- 
pervision of a thrifty, painstaking owner. 

Mr. Rupe was married in 1847 to Elsa 
Reed, a native of Tennessee, by whom he 
had two children, one now living, namely: 
Cornelia, wife of G. A. Beeman, a prominent 
merchant and stock- trader of Comanche, 
Texas. The mother died in 1852 and Mr. 



360 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Rupe was afterward married in George- 
town, Texas, to Mary Strickland, a native 
of Illinois and a cultured and intelligent 
lady. They have had four children: Thomas, 
a successful farmer of Brown county ; Stephen, 
a stock-dealer; Alice, in Comanche county; 
and Ella, deceased. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Rupe is a 
Democrat. He belongs to Hope Lodge, 
No. 283, of Masons, of Comanche, and is a 
wide-awake, progressive citizen, active in 
support of all educational or moral interests 
or other enterprises which are calculated to 
promote the general welfare. 



at 



[LLiAM Mcpherson, who is 

engaged in merchandising in 
Pottsville, Texas, comes of that 
sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which 
forms one of the best elements in our 
American nationality, combining the perse- 
verance and resoluteness of the former race 
with the versatility of talent of the latter. 
These pronounced characteristics seemed to 
have been inherited by our subject, whose 
straightforward business career has been 
crowned with a good measure of success, so 
that he is now numbered among the sub- 
stantial citizens of his native count3'. 

His grandparents were Barton and Par- 
thenia (Hale) McPherson. The former died 
about 1866, at a very advanced age. The 
members of his family were Hezekiah, father 
of our subject, Mary, Elijah, Susanna, 
Charles, William, Deborah, John, Thomas 
and Margaret. The first of this family, 
Hezekiah McPherson, was born in Alabama, 
August 26, 1809, and was a farmer by occu- 
pation. He married Malinda Rector, who 
was born in Tennessee, November 15, 1814. 
In his political views Mr. McPherson was a 



Democrat, but took no active part in politics, 
preferring to devote his attention to his agri- 
cultural duties. He died in Texas, January 
15, 1878, and his wife passed away in Fan- 
nin county, this state, April 5, 1895. Their 
children are as follows: Hardin Deatherage, 
James Madison, Pcrthena Hale, Barton, 
Mahala Miller, William, Elizabeth, Mary 
C. , Amanda Jane, Lucinda and Josephine, 
twins. All are living with the exception of 
Hardin D. and Mary C, the former having 
been killed during the battle of Oak Hill, 
while serving in the Confederate army during 
the late war. 

Mr. McPherson, whose name introduces 
this article, was born in Roane county, 
Tennessee, May 18, 1848, and with his 
parents went to Cedar county, Missouri, in 
1852. They were obliged to leave that 
state at the time of the civil war, and in 
July, 1863, with ox teams drove through to 
Texas. The mother and the six sisters of 
our subject made this trip and were joined 
by the father at Cross Hollows, Arkansas. 
They located in Fannin county, near where 
the town of Savoy now stands, rented land 
and there made their home for four years. 
On the expiration of that period they re- 
moved to Washington county, Arkansas, 
after which our subject spent part of his 
time in that state and the remainder in 
Texas. In October, 1873, he removed to 
Collin county, Texas, where he cultivated a 
rented farm, and in 1875 came to Hamilton 
county, settling five miles north of Potts- 
ville. He bought six acres of land in the 
village, whereon is now located his present 
home, and also three hundred and eighty 
acres adjoining his home. Here he first 
engaged in cattle-dealing and later in sheep- 
raising, and in both pursuits met with suc- 
cess. He became connected with the mer- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



cantile interests of Pottsville, July 5, 1889, 
when he bought out the stock of goods of 
J. R. Lynn, valued at eight hundred dollars. 
On the 1st of December, 1S90, he admitted 
to a partnership in the business his brother, 
B. McPherson, under the firm name of 
W. & B. McPherson, and their stock was 
invoiced at eleven hundred and thirty-four 
dollars and thirty-six cents. The connection 
between them continued until January 5, 
1893, when our subject bought out his 
brother and has since been sole proprietor. 
He now carries a stock valued at two 
thousand dollars, and enjoys a large trade, 
which is constantly increasing. He has a 
well appointed store, containing everything 
found in a first-class establishment of the 
kind, and the profits from his business yield 
him a good living. 

On the 20th of October, 1870, was con- 
summated the marriage of Mr. McPherson 
and Miss Julia Ann Alexander, daughter of 
Hamilton Hezekiah and Martha Jane ( Mat- 
thews) Alexander. The lady was born 
July 29, 1847, and by her marriage has be- 
come the mother of seven children, as fol- 
lows: Armintie Lee, born September 6, 
1871, was married June 3, 1891, to Erastus 
Henry Rogers, now of Hamilton county, by 
whom she has one child, William Maxwell, 
born September 20, 1893; Samuel Hezekiah, 
February 7, 1873; Fannie Jane, October 18, 
1874; Willie Florence, September 18, 1878; 
and Woodie Belle, born September 22, 1885, 
are all at home; and the last members of 
the family, Winsor Barton and Winnie 
Belle, were born September 16, 1890, twins; 
the latter died September 5, 1891. 

In his political associations Mr. McPher- 
son is a Democrat and keeps well informed 
on all the issues and questions of the day. 
He served as postmaster from 1889 to 1893, 



discharging his duties with promptness and 
fidelity. Since 1882 he has been a member 
of the Primitive Baptist church. His pro- 
gressive views and his enterprising spirit 
make him the friend of all movements for the 
public good, and he is recognized as one of 
the valued citizens of the community. 



at 



ILLIAM B. HICKS, whose up- 
right, honorable life commends 
him to the confidence and respect 
of all and has won him a host of 
warm friends, is numbered among the val- 
ued citizens of Erath county, where he is 
now engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
For more than twenty years he has resided 
in this county and in the work of improve- 
ment and progress has ever borne his part. 
A native of Tennessee, Mr. Hicks was 
born in Giles county, August 27, 1838, and 
is a son of Thomas and Mary (White) Hicks, 
also natives of Tennessee and of Irish line- 
age. When our subject was a child of only 
one year his parents removed to Polk county, 
Missouri, and thence to Wright county, 
where the father died about 1843. I" the 
family were five children. The mother de- 
parted this life about 1850, after which 
William B. Hicks went to live with a man 
in Polk county, Missouri, intending to re- 
main with him until he had attained his 
majority, but the man died after our subject 
had been with him for three years and he 
was thus once more thrown upon the chari- 
ties of a cold world. He possessed, how- 
ever, a resolute spirit and a determined pur- 
pose, and going to Lawrence county, 
Missouri, he found a home with J. W. Allen, 
with whom he resided until he reached the 
age of twenty-three. 



368 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Hicks was married on the 24th of 
February, 1861, to Miss Sarah A. Johnston, 
a native of Lawrence county and a daugh- 
ter of J. M. and Sally (Davidson) Johnston, 
who had formerly been residents of Ten- 
nessee and at an early day cast in their lot 
with the pioneer settlers of that section of 
Missouri. After his marriage Mr. Hicks 
began farming on his own account and made 
it his business until 1866. During the civil 
war he joined Company D, Forty-sixth Mis- 
souri Infantry and was stationed at Caseville, 
serving in the federal army for six months. 

In 1866 Mr. Hicks arrived in the Lone 
Star state, locating first in Hill county. 
With his wife and two children he made the 
journey in a wagon drawn by two horses, 
starting on the i 5th of October and reach- 
ing his destination on the 1 8th of November. 
For three years he rented land in Hill county, 
then spent one year in Bosque county, after 
which he removed to Limestone county, 
where the succeeding three years were passed. 
For six months he resided in Eastland 
county, and in November, 1875, came to 
Erath county, where, with the capital he 
had acquired through his own labors, he 
purchased one hundred and fifty-six acres of 
land at two dollars per acre. Upon the 
place was a cabin and about three acres had 
been cleared, but otherwise it remained in 
its primitive condition. Mr. Hicks has led 
a busy and useful life, has worked hard and 
as a result of his labor now has two hundred 
and seventy-three acres of good land, of 
which eighty acres is under cultivation. 

As the years passed the home of our sub- 
ject and his wife was blessed with a family of 
thirteen children, eleven of whom are still 
living: James T. , of Stephenville, Texas; 
William H.; Ida Elzora, the deceased wife 
of J. W. Smith; Benjamin Augustus, who 



died at the age of two years; Mary J., wife 
of J. R. McCluskie; Reuben Anderson; 
Peter D., who died at the age of thirteen 
years; Sarah Adaline, Margaret Ann, Samp- 
son Russell, Cynthia Burton, John H. and 
Leila Pearl. 

The parents of this family are consistent 
members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church and take an active interest in its work. 
Mr. Hicks is serving as ruling elder and his 
life is in harmony with his professions. By 
his ballot he supports the Democratic party. 
His strict integrity and his genuine worth 
make him highly esteemed and have gained 
for him the high regard of all who know 
him. 



>^AMES T. WILLIAMS, a farmer and 
m stock-raiser of Erath county, is the 
A 1 owner of three hundred and twenty 
acres of land, of which one hundred 
acres is under a high state of cultivation. 
The fields are well tilled and at times of 
harvest well indicate the care and attention 
that has been bestowed upon them by the 
owner, who is justly regarded as one of the 
leading and progressive agriculturists of the 
community. 

The life record of Mr. Williams is as 
follows: A native of Stewart county, Ten- 
nessee, he was born December 23, 1846, 
the eldest child of W. W. and Adah T. 
(Vickers) Williams, whose family numbered 
six children. The father was a native of 
North Carolina and belonged to one of the 
old families of the Carolinas. In 1849 he 
removed with his wife and children to Chari- 
ton county, Missouri, where for several 
years he carried on farming, then went to 
Brunswick, where he followed various pur- 




'^.(^Meen-. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



suits. He is still living, on a farm in Chariton 
county. The mother of our subject died 
when James was a child of twelve years, 
leaving four children. The father was again 
married and by the second union had two 
children. 

During his childhood James T. Williams 
attended the common schools and aided his 
father in the cultivation of the home farm. 
He was also a student in Mt. Pleasant Col- 
lege, Huntsville, Missouri, and in William 
Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, thus ac- 
quiring an excellent education to fit him for 
life's responsible duties. His business train- 
ing was obtained in Bryant & Stratton's 
Business College, of St. Joseph, Missouri, 
and thus thoroughly equipped for almost 
any career he started out for himself. Dur- 
ing the war he served for a short time with 
Price's command and his bravery was fully 
demonstrated. In March, 1873, he sought 
a home in Texas, remaining in Ellis county 
until the fall, when he went to Hood 
county, where he engaged in teaching for 
five years, being recognized as one of the 
most able educators in this section of the 
state. He is a man of broad general infor- 
mation and the cause of the public schools 
has ever found in him a most ardent 
advocate. 

Mr. Williams was married December 
18, 1878, to Miss Mary L. Cowan, daughter 
of Isaac Cowan. They began their domes- 
tic life upon their present farm, and six 
children came to brighten the home by 
their presence. William Bryant, Mary 
Adah, Isaac W., Branch V., James M. B. 
and one who died in infancy. Our subject 
and his estimable wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and their many 
excellencies of character commend them to 
the confidence and friendship of all. Mr. 



Williams belongs to Paluxy Lodge, No. 
393, F. & A. M., has taken the Royal Arch 
degree and has filled all the chairs in the 
local lodge. 



HOMAS HAMILTON DEEN, dis- 
trict clerk of Hamilton county, be- 
longs to that class of honored 
citizens who in public and private 
life are ever true to the duties devolving up- 
on them and who therefore serve to make 
up the best element in the progress and ad- 
vancement of the county's welfare. Mr. 
Deen has for twenty years been a resident 
of this county and is most widely known 
and highly esteemed. 

A native of Montgomery county, Ala- 
bama, he was born on the nth of July, 1822, 
a son of William Hamilton and Elizabeth 
(Pierce) Deen. He comes of one of the old 
families of the south. His paternal grand- 
father, Thomas Deen, was probably a native 
of South Carolina, whence he removed to 
Georgia, where his death occurred when he 
had reached the age of three-score years 
and ten. His children were William H., 
John, Willis, Jeremiah and others, of whom 
there is no record. The father was a farmer 
by occupation. The maternal grandfather 
was married and died in Georgia. After his 
demise his widow became the wife of John 
Ousley, and their children were Jackson and 
Wiley. When Mrs. Pierce was removed 
from Georgia to Alabama she had to pass 
through a strip of territory inhabited by the 
Indians, and while in this region one of her 
daughters was stolen by the savages and 
never heard from afterward. 

William Hamilton Deen, the father of 
our subject, was born April 2, 1799, prob- 



370 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ably in South Carolina, whence with his 
parents he went to Georgia. He afterward 
sought a home in Mississippi and still later 
established his residence in Louisiana, where 
he died May 13, 1875. His occupation was 
also that of farming, but for about fifty-five 
years he was afflicted with rheumatism and 
was able to do but little work. In 1830 he 
became a member of the Methodist church 
and a number of years before his death was 
licensed as a local preacher, and preached in 
Mississippi, but never in Louisana. He was 
made a Mason in Raymond, Mississippi, 
and in his political adherency was a Demo- 
crat. He held the offices of constable 
and magistrate, and served as treasurer of 
Hines county, Mississippi, for six years, 
discharging his duties with a fidelity and 
promptness that won him the qualification 
of all concerned. His wife, who was born 
in Georgia, November 18, 1801, died in 
Louisiana, March 16, 1884. The children 
of this worthy couple were: Oliver Lewis, 
born December 24, 18 19; Thomas H., of 
this review; Caroline, born January 20, 
1825; Permelia, October 29, 1827; Permitta 
Jane, March 18, 1829; Priscilla, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1831; Araminta, March 25, 
1834; Rufus Marion, April 27, 1836; Wylie 
Jackson, April 5, 1838; Daniel Franklin, 
September 10, 1840; and Oregon, born Oc- 
tober 3, 1844, and died Septembers, 1848. 
All of the children have now passed away 
with the exception of our subject and Caro- 
line. 

During his infancy our subject was taken 
by his parents to Hines county, Mississippi, 
where he was reared to manhood. His edu- 
cation was obtained in a private school, but 
his advantages in this direction were some- 
what limited. He aided in the cultivation 
of his father's farm and remained under the 



parental roof until twenty-five years of age, 
when he started out in life for himself, and 
began farming, on his own land. In i860 
he removed to St. Landry parish, Louisiana, 
where he carried on agricultural pursuits, 
and from 1872 until 1876 he resided at Lake 
Charles, Sabine parish, Louisiana, where he 
engaged in conducting a large boarding- 
house for the accommodation of the em- 
ployees of one of the extensive sawmills in 
that region, but in the centennial year he 
disposed of his interests in that locality and 
came to Texas. He had relatives living in 
Hamilton county, this state, and thus was 
induced to locate here. He arrived in No- 
vember, 1876, and rented a farm ten miles 
east of town, of Dr. Valient, remaining 
there for a year. He afterward bought one 
hundred and sixty acres from Mr. Smith, 
two miles northwest of the city and began 
its development, for it then had but meager 
improvements upon it. There he continued 
farming for three years and on the expira- 
tion of that period came to Hamilton. 

On the 25th of August, 1846, was con- 
summated the marriage of Mr. Deen and 
Miss Dorcas Hollingsworth Steen, daughter 
of Robert and Sarah ( Smith ) Steen. She 
was born in Lawrence county, Mississippi, 
April 22, 1822, and died April 7, 1896, 
her departure from life being the occa- 
casion of the deepest regret among her 
many friends. To Mr. and Mrs. Deen were 
born six children: Maloney, the eldest, 
born July 5, 1847, '^ied April 18, 1S67; she 
was the wife of John Brady, and their son, 
Thomas Jackson, who was born January 27, 
1863, died October 26, 1868; Elizabeth, 
born April 22, 1849, died October 5, 1876; 
she married William T. Brown and they had 
three sons, William Lee, born October 16, 
1872, Thomas Brady, born February 11, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



371 



1874, and Isaac, who was born September 

25, 1876, and died October 25, 1876; Ar- 
aminta, born October 5, 1851, died October 

26, 1868; William, born September 23, 
1853, died December 4, 1857; Alice Salome, 
born January 19, 1857, died December 11, 
1857; Frederick Pierce, born March 26, 
1859, married Sarah Jane Johnson, and his 
children are: Thomas Walter, born Janu- 
ary 10, 1878; David Monroe, born Novem- 
ber II, 1879; Edgar Hugh, born October 
17, 1882, and died June 16, 1884; Henry 
Guy, born January 28, 1884; Maloney, born 
August 12, 1885; James Levi, born May 14, 
1887; Maud, born February 29, 1888; Ella 
Dorcas, born December 12, 1890; and Lola 
Madge, born November 17, 1892. The 
mother of this family died in July, 1895, 
and their father and the children are now 
living with the subject of this notice. 

In his political views Mr. Deen has al- 
ways been a stalwart Democrat, unswerving 
in his allegiance to the principles of the 
party. He has been honored with several 
public offices, and while residing in Missis- 
sippi served as magistrate for four years, and 
was also commissioner of Rankin county for 
two years. In the fall of 1880 he was 
elected district clerk of Hamilton county 
and has served continuously since. His 
present term expires in the autumn of 1896. 
During his sixteen years' incumbency he has 
never been absent from his office but three 
days. His long continued service well indi- 
cates his fidelity to duty and the confidence 
reposed in him by his fellow townsmen, — a 
confidence that has been betrayed in not the 
slightest degree. Since the age of twelve 
years Mr. Deen has been a faithful member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church and has 
served as church steward. He was made a 
Mason in Winfield, Louisiana, and now holds 



membership in Rock House Lodge, No. 417, 
A. F. & A. M., also in the Independent 
Order of Good Templars. 



'^" J* J. MORGAN is another native son 
m of the Lone Star state who is a 
A 1 prominent factor in the agricultural 
ranks of Bosque county. He dates 
his birth in Anderson county, Texas, March 
27, 1852, and is a son of one of the early 
pioneers of this state. 

Daniel Morgan, the father of our sub- 
ject, is a native of Morgantown, Kentucky, 
born in 18 18, son of one of the primitive 
settlers of that place, — Nathaniel Morgan. 
Daniel Morgan married Miss Caroline Chil- 
dress, a native of Shelby county, Tennes- 
see, and a daughter of John Childress. She 
moved to Texas in 1838, and was married 
in Anderson county, this state, in 1842. In 
1878, after several others moved, they took 
up their abode in Bosque county, where 
they passed the residue of their lives and 
where both died in 1892, the father at the 
age of seventy-four years and the mother at 
sixty-six. They were people of the stanch- 
est sort, stood high in the estimation of the 
people of the frontier settlements where 
they resided, and those who knew them best 
esteemed them most. Both were members 
of the Primitive Baptist church, and his 
political affiliations were with the Demo- 
cratic party. He served as a soldier in the 
Confederate war. Their family comprised 
ten children, whose names in order of birth 
are as follows: Catherine, Nancy, Henry, 
Lewis, Jack J., Sarah, Nat, James, Jeffer- 
son D., and Elizabeth. 

J.J. Morgan, the direct subject of this 
review, passed his boyhood and youth in the 
frontier districts of his native state, in An- 



372 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



derson, Ellis and McLennan counties, and 
as would naturally be expected he had but 
meager advantages for obtaining an educa- 
tion. In 1878 he became identified with 
Bosque county, and in 1892 settled on the 
farm he has since owned and occupied. 
This farm includes one hundred and sev- 
enty-five acres of good land, sixty acres of 
which are under plow and devoted to the 
usual crops of the vicinity. A comfortable 
residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
fences, etc., comprise the improvements 
that have been made here, and the general 
appearance of the premises at once indicates 
the fact that the owner is a man of enter- 
prise and push. 

Mr. Morgan was married at the age of 
twenty years to Miss Clarinda Seal, a native 
of Louisiana, as also were her parents, 
Daniel and Sarah (Phillips) Seal; but she 
was reared in Jasper county, Texas, to 
which place the family moved when she was 
quite young. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have 
been blessed in the birth of eight children, 
six of whom are living, viz.: William, Ed- 
ward, Minnie, Carrie, Kemp, and Carl. 
Those deceased are Burt and Elias. Mrs. 
Morgan is a member of the Baptist church. 

In politics Mr. Morgan has always given 
his support to the Democratic party; but, 
like many of his friends and fellow citizens, 
he believes that "new times demand new 
measures and new means," and is therefore 
of advanced political views. 



>^AMES T. PARKER, Esq., a well- 
J known farmer and stock-raiser, has 
A 1 for many years been a prominent 
factor in promoting the interests of 
Hood and Somervell counties, his residence 
here dating from January i, 1874. 



Mr. Parker is a native of Dickson county, 
Tennessee, and was born December 29, 
1837, son of William J. and Mary M. (Tid- 
well) Parker, both natives of Tennessee. 
William J. Parker was a son of Moses Par- 
ker, of Georgia birth, who had settled in 
Tennessee in 1803, when he was twenty- 
three years of age, and there for many 
years had chiefly the Indians for his neigh- 
bors. His ancestors were of English ex- 
traction. The mother of our subject was 
a daughter of Isaiah and Rebecca Tidwell, 
who had removed from South Carolina to 
Tennessee at an early day, settling there 
about the time Mr. Parker did. William J. 
Parker followed the vocation of farmer and 
spent his life and died about one mile from 
the place of his birth. He and his wife 
were the parents of ten children, James T. 
being the second son and one of the seven 
children who are still living. 

James T. Parker passed his boyhood and 
youth on his father's farm, and had the 
benefit of good educational advantages, his 
schooling being completed in Tracy Acad- 
emy in his native county. He remained 
with his parents until the war between the 
north and the south was inaugurated, when 
he espoused the cause of the latter and 
went out in its defense. It was May 18, 
1 86 1, that he enlisted as a member of Com- 
pany E, Eleventh Tennessee Volunteer In- 
fantry, which formed a part of the Army 
of the Tennessee. He was with this com- 
mand and in all its engagements up to July 
22, 1864, when while near Atlanta he was 
wounded, being shot through his left hip 
and right ankle, altogether receiving five 
wounds. From this time on he was dis- 
abled for active service and was in the com- 
missary department. 

At the close of the war Mr. Parker re- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



373 



turned home and began teaching school and 
taught and attended school in Tennessee un- 
til 1 87 1, when he came to Texas. His 
journey to this state was made by team, 
Bosque county his destination, and forty-two 
days being required in making the trip. For 
two years he lived on rented land in Bosque 
county. Then he came to his present loca- 
tion in what is now Somervell county and 
settled on a tract of school land, at once 
began the work of clearing and developing 
a farm, and now has a landed estate com- 
prising five hundred and fourteen acres, 
ninety of which are under a high state of 
cultivation. After coming to Texas Mr. 
Parker found his services as teacher were in 
demand, and taught several terms of school 
here, — in 1872 and 1875 at Fort Graham, 
Hill county, and in 1882 and 1883 at Enon 
church, Somervell county. Early recog- 
nized as a man above the ordinary in intel- 
ligence and ability, he was honored with 
official preference and looked to for counsel 
and advice. He was appointed as magis- 
trate and county commissioner to fill the 
unexpired term of 'Squire Childer, and was 
re-elected for three successive terms, and in 
all served eight years, and throughout the 
whole of that time not a single one of his 
decisions was ever reversed. In all public 
affairs of a local nature, and especially in 
educational matters, has he taken a deep 
interest. 

Mr. Parker is a man of family. He was 
married July 18, 1867, to Miss Susana C. 
Johnston, a native of Tennessee and of 
Dickson county, and a daughter of Richard 
and Martha J. (Beck) Johnston, represent- 
atives of old Virginia families. Mr. and 
Mrs. Parker have been blessed in the birth 
of a large family of children, namely: 
Thomas C, who is engaged in the milling 



business at Paiuxy, Hood county, Texas; 
Henry J., a farmer of Hood county; Bulah, 
a popular and successful young teacher, 
who died while attending school at Gran- 
bury, June 15, 1894, at the age of twenty- 
one years; Ida, who died at the age of four 
years; William J., who died when only one 
year old ; Lee Jefferson and a twin sister, 
both deceased, the latter having died in in- 
fancy and the former at the age of six years; 
John D., at home; and Cliff, Mack, Callie 
and Azula, — all at home. 

Mr. Parker and his wife are consistent 
members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
of which he has been clerk for the past five 
years. Also he is a member of the Masonic 
order. Politically, he tenders his support 
to the Democratic party. Mr. Parker is 
decidedly a self-made man. By his own 
exertions and the assistance of his noble 
companion he has made a home and ac- 
quired a competency in this favored clime, 
and he and his family are justly entitled to 
that high esteem in which they are held 
by all. 



K^^ ENJAMIN W. GARRETT, who is 
l/'^L connected with the farming inter- 
J^^J ests of Comanche county, is one of 
the worthy citizens that Georgia 
has furnished to this state. "^He^is numbered 
among the native sons of the Cotton state, 
and on the 9th of June, 1857, first opened 
his eyes to the light of day, being the eldest 
son of Henry P. Garrett. His father was 
born in South Carolina on the 14th of De- 
cember, 1838, and removed with his family 
to Georgia in the early '40s, making his 
home there for almost a quarter of a cen- 
tury, when, in 1865, he emigrated to Texas. 



374 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



He resided first in Hill county, afterward 
went to Ellis county and finally located in 
Comanche county, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life. His labors on earth 
were ended March 19, 1884, and many 
friends mourned his death. His marriage 
to Miss Mary J. Johnson was consummated 
in 1856. The lady was born in Polk county, 
Georgia, on the 14th of January, 1836, and 
at the time of her death, which occurred 
November 17, 1887, had attained the age of 
fifty-one j'cars. Their family included seven 
children. 

The first born, Benjamin W. Garrett, 
now resides on the old homestead, located 
eighteen miles northwest of Comanche. He 
was reared to agricultural pursuits and has 
always followed that vocation, being now 
numbered among the leading and influential 
farmers of this locality. He owns one hun- 
dred and thirty-six acres of land, of which 
seventy-six acres are in cultivation, planted 
with the crops best adapted to this climate 
and soil. He has an excellent peach or- 
chard of one acre and the improvements on 
his place are in keeping with the progress- 
ive spirit of the age. The farm is well 
stocked with good horses and graded cattle, 
the latter being of the Durham breed. 

Mr. Garrett is a stanch Democrat, un- 
wavering in his loyalty to the party with 
which he has affiliated since attaining his 
majority. In his social relations he is a 
Mason, a member of Sipe Springs Lodge, 
No. 537, F. &. A. M., and holds the office 
of chair of the east. He is a man of do- 
mestic tastes and has a pleasant home. He 
was married February 15, 1877, the lady 
of his choice being Miss Barzella J. Weath- 
erby, by whom he has six children, namely: 
Albert B., Eula B., Thomas R., Martha, 
Lillic F. and Myrtle. 



vV^ ENTON SMITH is a prominent and 
1/''^ respected farmer of Bosque county, 
^K^J Texas, who receives his mail at 
Clifton. He was born in Holmes 
county, Missouri, March 16, 1S38, where he 
was educated and reared to manhood. His 
father, James, was a native of Ohio, and 
died when our subject was quite young. He 
was an educator of superior attainments and 
came from Ohio into Mississippi toward the 
close of the '30s, where he met and married 
the mother of our subject, whose maiden 
name was Cynthia Sewell. At the time of 
her marriage to Mr. Smith she was the 
widow of Lawrence Scrogens. By this 
marriage there were four children, the sub- 
ject of our sketch being the oldest of the 
family. 

Benton Smith was reared to farming 
pursuits. In April, 1862, he enlisted in the 
Confederate army, being a member of Com- 
pany C, Thirty-fifth Mississippi Regiment, 
and with it he served until the close of the 
war. He participated in the engagements 
of Corinth, siege of Vicksburg and in the 
battles around Atlanta, and was taken pris- 
oner at Nashville, Tennessee, and sent 
north to Chicago, where he was confined in 
the military prison from December 20, 1864, 
to June 20, 1865, when he was released. 
He came to Texas and located in Washing- 
ton county in 1869. Some four years later 
he removed to Bosque county, where he 
now resides, six miles north of Clifton. 
Here he owns a handsome farm of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres, and has twenty-five 
under close cultivation. He also cultivates 
ninety-five acres of rented land near him. 

Mr. Smith has a small family orchard of 
peach-trees, and raises horses, mules and cat- 
tle, the latter being graded stock of the Jer- 
sey breed. He takes an active interest in 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



school matters, being one of the school trus- 
tees of district No. i. In social matters he 
affiliates with the Masonic order, being a 
member of Meridian Lodge, No. 205. He 
was joined in marriage, in the state of Mis- 
sissippi, December 29, 1868, with Miss 
Mary A. Cooper, a native of that state, and 
they have no children. They are both de- 
voted Christians, he being a Presbyterian 
and she a member of the Baptist church. 



K^/^ ENJAMIN T. PRATHER, Chase, 
l/*^ Bosque county, Texas, is a man 
JK^J whose sketch it is a pleasure to 
write. He is prominently identified 
with the stock-growing and farming interests 
of Bosque county. He is a native of Tennes- 
see and dates his birth in Henry county, 
March 7, 1S45. His father, born in Ten- 
nessee, was a pioneer in the settlement of 
Texas, coming to this state in 1854, and dy- 
ing here twenty years later. The mother, 
whose maiden name was Martha Love, was 
a native of North Carolina and descended 
from an old and influential family of that 
name long identified with the history of that 
state. Her father, Thomas Love, was a 
general in the service of the colonies, also 
served in the early Indian wars, and is among 
the prominent characters in the records of 
his state. 

Benjamin T. Prather, the subject of this 
writing, was the youngest in a family of 
eight children, was reared to manhood, and 
educated as far as the opportunities of the 
times afforded, near Waco, where his father 
had located on entering the state. Here he 
resided and followed farming until the close 
of the war, when he went to southeast Mis- 
souri and made his home in Stone county 
for some three years, when he returned to 



Bosque county, and now resides some nine 
miles north of Clifton. He has an exten- 
sive farm of two thousand acres, on which 
he lives like some prince of the olden times. 
Three hundred and thirty acres of this ex- 
tensive farm are under high cultivation, and 
the remainder is devoted to grazing. 

Our subject is much interested in sheep- 
raising, and at the time of writing this 
sketch has over thirteen hundred on his 
ranch. He has some fifty head of cattle, 
and these are of Holstein strain of breeding, 
which he regards as especially adapted to 
the conditions of Texas farming. He is in- 
terested in whatever conserves the good of 
the community, and devotes much attention 
to school matters. Politically he is a stanch 
and steadfast Republican. 

The domestic relations of our subject 
have been peculiarly pleasant and helpful. 
On the iithday of March, 1866, Miss Mary 
Drahn, a native of Germany, became his 
wife, and has made him the father of six 
children: Mattie, who is now the wife of 
T. J. Rhodes; Alice A., now Mrs. W. D. 
Ferris, of this county; Fannie, Joseph M., 
and Jessie, being the younger members of 
the family and still at home. They have 
lost one son, George A., who died Decem- 
ber 17, 1889. 



^^REEN WASHINGTON FREE- 
■ C\ LAND. — The splendid farm owned 
\^_^ by this gentleman is a standing 
monument to his industry, perse- 
verance and good management. He comes 
under the category of self-made men, hav- 
ing been thrown upon his own resources 
early in life, and has succeeded by the ex- 
ercise of his steady labors, both mental and 
physical. Just at this time he is one of the 



376 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



representatives o( the agricultural and stock- 
raising interests of northern Texas, and is 
one of the most solid men financially in this 
region. 

Mr. Freeland was born in Tennessee, 
February i6, 1823, of Scotch-Irish ances- 
try, and is a son of James and Nancy (Stra- 
horn) Freeland, both natives of North Car- 
olina. By occupation the father was a 
farmer and miller. Our subject was reared 
to farm life and acquired but a limited edu- 
cation in the district schools near his home. 
He remained under the parental roof until 
coming to Texas in 1850, first locating in 
Shelby county, where he remained for two 
years. The following year was passed in 
Dallas county, but in 1853 he went to Cali- 
fornia, where he engaged in mining for a 
few months, and later in freighting, remain- 
ing io the Golden state for three years, 
when he returned to Dallas county. In 
the fall of 1858 he located in Johnson coun- 
ty, where he has since successfully engaged 
in farming and stock-raising. 

In 1862 Mr. Freeland enlisted in the 
Confederate service, in which he remained 
for about six months, when the conscript 
law released him, and he then joined the 
frontier service. He was with that depart- 
ment until the close of the war, watching 
the Indians and assisting to keep them in 
subjection, and this service was performed 
at his own expense. When hostilities had 
ceased and the difficulties with the Indians 
were about over, he returned to his home 
in Johnson county and resumed his chosen 
occupation. He now has twenty-one hun- 
dred acres of good pasture land, about six 
hundred of which are in Hood county, and 
two hundred acres he has placed under a 
high state of cultivation. 

Mr. Freeland has been twice married. 



In the spring of 1852 he wedded Miss Jane 
Hickman, whose death occurred in Califor- 
nia, in 1854. In the spring of 1858 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Rachel Merri- 
field, daughter of Jack and Sarah (Welch) 
Merrifield. She was born in Kentucky, in 
1832, about thirty miles east of Louisville, 
and came with her father to Texas in 1850, 
her mother having died when she was less 
than a month old. Two sons have been 
born to our subject and his wife: Marshall 
Boon, a farmer of Hood county; and J. W., 
at home. 

Mr. Freeland is numbered among the 
public-spirited men of his section, no one 
being more interested in its development 
and progress, and is a supporter of every 
enterprise designed for the public good. 
Both he and his excellent wife are members 
in good standing of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian church, and are held in the highest 
regard by all who know them. They en- 
dured all the hardships and privations inci- 
dent to life in a new settlement, having 
come here at a time when their neighbors 
were few and far between, and being sub- 
jected to all the inconveniences of a distant 
mill and market. 



^y^ ART JOHNSON, proprietor of the 
■ (''^ Summit Fruit Farm of Comanche 
g'^^J county, has been closely identified 
with the growth and prosperity of 
the city of Comanche since 1892, at which 
date he took up his residence here. Having 
purchased sixteen acres of land he at once 
cleared it and planted twelve acres with 
fruit-trees of all kinds and with grapes. 
These are now in good bearing condition 
and Mr. Johnson sells his fruit, berries and 
vegetables in Comanche and the surrounding 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



377 



country, taking his goods from house to 
house, as well as supplying the markets. He 
is entitled to much credit for the establish- 
ment of the only enterprise of this nature in 
Comanche. Four years ago his farm was 
as nature left it, — covered with a thick 
growth of underbrush, — but to-day it is a 
richly cultivated garden, already yielding 
excellent returns, and in a short time it will 
undoubtedly rival in productiveness and 
value any berry farm in this section of the 
state. 

The owner of this desirable property is 
a native of Georgia, born in i860, his 
parents being John and Sarah (Davis) John- 
son. They had eight children, six sons and 
two daughters, and one son, Alonzo, entered 
the Confederate service and lost his life in 
defense of the south. From Georgia his 
parents removed to Arkansas, where the 
father died, at the age of seventy-two years. 
The mother of our subject still resides in 
that state. 

Mr. Johnson of this review was reared to 
manhood in Arkansas and acquired there a 
good education. He came to Comanche 
county in 1888, locating some eight miles 
south of the city, where he engaged in farm- 
ing for four years. He then purchased his 
present property and has since been actively 
interested in its improvement. He has a 
neat and comfortable cottage, located on a 
natural building site and surrounded by 
beautiful flowers and shrubbery. In addi- 
tion to his labor which he devotes to his 
farm he is engaged in conducting a restau- 
rant and fruit store in Comanche, seUing 
fruits, lunches and cold drinks. His politi- 
cal support is given the Democracy, but his 
business interests leave little time for po- 
litical work. 

While residing in Arkansas, Mr. John- 



son was united in marriage with a lady of 
refinement and culture, Miss Lula Dobbs, a 
representative of one of the old southern 
families. They now have four interesting 
children, two sons and two daughters, — 
Minnie, John, Nora and James. 



^y^ R. SEABIRD RAY McPHERSON 
I ■ is ons of the pioneer settlers and 
A^_J' physicians of Hood county. Not 
to know him is almost to argue 
oneself unknown. For twenty years he 
was actively engaged in the practice of his 
profession in this county and has ever been 
active in performing all tasks or duties 
which would benefit the community. In 
his old age he is honored and esteemed by 
all who know him and no one is more worthy 
of representation in this volume. 

Dr. McPherson was born in Jackson 
county, Tennessee, on the 13th of March, 
I Si 8, and when three years of age was 
taken by his parents to Alabama, where he 
was reared to manhood. His father, Reu- 
ben McPherson, was a soldier of the war 
of 1S12 and had a brother who lost his life 
in the battle of New Orleans. He spent 
his boyhood and youth on his father's farm 
and largely aided in the development of the 
fields, and he therefore had but limited op- 
portunities for securing an education, and 
at that time, also, the only school near his 
home was a primitive one, held in a little 
log building. He was the eldest of the 
eleven children born to Reuben and Eliza- 
beth McPherson, and upon the death of his 
father in 1842 the care of the family de- 
volved largely upon him. He brought his 
mother and the younger children to the 
southwest in 1843, locating in Arkansas, 
where for several years he continued his 



378 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



residence. He had studied medicine when 
a boy, and after his mother's second mar- 
riage he continued his studies with his step- 
father, Dr. Jesse Casey, of Arkansas. He 
entered upon practice in that state and af- 
terward hved for two years in Missouri. 

The Doctor dates his residence in Te.xas 
from 1858, at which time he took up his 
abode in Parker county, whence in 1861 
he came to Acton, Hood county, where for 
twenty years he continued to engage in 
practice. His skill and ability soon won 
him a liberal patronage and he did a profit- 
able business. He also engaged in farming 
for a number of years, but is now living 
retired. 

The Doctor was married, July 23, 1839, 
to Eliza Allison, a native of North Carolina, 
and their family numbered eleven children, 
six of whom are yet living. William L. , 
born May 3, 1840, is a prominent citizen of 
Hood county, and is mentioned elsewhere 
in this volume. The other members of the 
family are Eveline, deceased; John, who 
lives in Stephen county, Texas; Leanna, 
wife of John Tingly, of the Indian Terri- 
tory; Ambrose, deceased; Joseph, who 
makes his home in Johnson county; Benton, 
Allison and Mary, who have all passed 
away; Sarah, wife of Henry Armstrong, of 
Comanche county; and Creed, who is a 
farmer of Hood county. The mother of 
this family passed away October 5, 1875. 
The Doctor was again married, but his sec- 
ond wife is also deceased. 

Dr. McPherson has almost reached the 
age of four-score years. His life has been 
largely devoted to the medical profession, 
and he has undergone the usual experiences 
that fall to the lot of the physician who 
makes his home on the frontier. It is an 
arduous life, requiring sacrifices which merit 



the gratitude of the public and which will 
long be remembered by those who profited 
by his benevolent and sympathetic spirit. 
The friends of Dr. McPherson are limited 
only by the number of his acquaintances, 
and now in his declining years he is revered 
and honored by all, — a fitting crown to a 
well spent life. 



at 



n.LIAM LOURY McPHERSON 
is a representative of one of the 
prominent pioneer families of 
Hood county, and his long iden- 
tification with its interests has been such as 
to advance its material welfare and all that 
pertains to its upbuilding and progress. He 
was born in Alabama on the 3d of May, 
1840, and is a son of Dr. S. R. McPherson, 
the pioneer physician, who was so long a 
leading medical practitioner of Hood county. 
Our subject was reared in Arkansas and 
Missouri, and became familiar with all the 
duties that fall to the lot of the agricul- 
turist, while assisting his father in the devel- 
opment of the home farm and in working 
as a farm hand in the neighborhood near 
his home. After the removal to Texas he 
also engaged in clerking in Acton. 

Feeling that his duty was to his coun- 
try, he laid aside all business cares in 1863 
and joined the Union army. Acknowledg- 
ing the supremacy of the United States 
government above all else, he went to its 
defense when the attempt at secession was 
made, and on the 2d of September joined 
the "boys in blue." He was assigned to 
Company E, Second Arkansas Infantry, 
Third Division, Seventh Army Corps, and 
served throughout the remainder of the war, 
being honorably discharged on the 8th of 
August, 1865, at Clarksville, Arkansas. He 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



379 



was a valiant and brave soldier, always 
found at his post of duty, and now that the 
trouble is over and the country is once 
more at peace, he quietly performs his du- 
ties of citizenship in his adopted county, 
deeply interested in all that pertains to its 
welfare. 

Mr. McPherson continued to make his 
home in Arkansas until 1875, when he re- 
turned to Texas and resumed farming, which 
he still follows with good success. He pos- 
sesses the determined, persevering nature 
necessary to the successful agriculturist, and 
his energy and good management have made 
his business profitable. His health, im- 
paired in the army, has never been fully re- 
stored and the government therefore grants 
him a pension. 

On the ist of December, 1859, Mr. 
McPherson was united in marriage with 
Miss Rachel A. Means, a native of Wayne 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of Daniel 
and Rosa (Franks) Means, the former a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. 
They emigrated to Dubuque county, Iowa, 
about 1846, and were among the first set- 
tlers of that locality. In 1857 they took 
up their abode in Tarrant county, Texas, 
and in the spring of 1878 started for Kan- 
sas, but before reaching their destination 
the father died, his death occurring at Fort 
Gibson, in the Indian Territory. He was 
there buried by the Masons of the town, 
he being a member of that fraternity. The 
widow and her family proceeded to Kansas, 
but returned to Texas the following spring. 
At length the family went back to Iowa and 
the mother died at Hazleton in 1884. 

Mr. and Mrs. McPherson have three liv- 
ing children and have lost five. Those who 
still survive are Rosa, Ida and Bessie. The 
eldest is the wife of C. A. Newsome, a 



farmer of Hood county, Texas, by whom 
she has eight children, namely: Pearl, Maud, 
William, Eliza, James, Omar and Naomi, 
twins, and Rachel Ann. 

Mr. McPherson with his family resides 
on his farm near Acton and their home is 
noted for the true southern hospitality which 
is enjoyed there by their many friends. The 
farm comprises two hundred acres of good 
land, about eighty of which are under culti- 
vation. In his political views Mr. McPher- 
son is a Republican, and socially he is con- 
nected with the Grand Army Post at Gran- 
bury. His church relationship is with the 
Primitive Baptists. All who know him re- 
spect him for his genuine worth and strict 
integrity. He has the courage of his con- 
victions, is fearless in defense of what he 
believes to be right and his straightforward 
conduct awakens the esteem of all. 



at 



LLIAM JEFFERSON DUCK- 
WORTH is one of the most en- 
ergetic and progressive farmers of 
Hood county, who makes his 
home in Acton, and is also successfully en- 
gaged in ginning cotton. In 1871 he came 
to Texas, and for the first five years made 
his home in Johnson county, but since that 
time has lived in Hood county, locating first 
near Acton on his farm. He devoted his 
attention to its improvement and cultivation, 
with most excellent results. He is honored 
and respected by the entire community, who 
look upon him as one of their most wide- 
awake farmers and model citizens. 

The birth of our subject occurred in Ar- 
kansas, on the 17th of March, 1851, at the 
home of his parents, William and Civilla 
Jane (Wilborn) Duckworth, who were of 
Scotch-Irish descent. He was reared to 



380 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



farm life, receiving the education common to 
such, but has always been somewhat of a 
student, and has become well informed on 
current events. He remained under the 
parental roof until his marriage, which im- 
portant event in his life was celebrated June 
29, 1869, Miss Arkansas Gibbs becoming 
his wife. She was born in Mississippi, but 
during childhood was taken to Arkansas. 
Eight children belong to this union, namely: 
Carrie, wife of J. T. Brooks, of Eastland 
county; Josephine, wife of I. F. Powell, of 
Hood county; Annie, wife of R. M. John- 
son; Emma, Hugh, Earl, Audie and Lo- 
rena. 

After his marriage Mr. Duckworth en- 
gaged in farming on his own account in Ar- 
kansas until coming to Texas. In 1888 he 
purchased a cotton gin at Acton, and since 
that time has engaged in its operation, 
which has proved a paying investment. He 
also owns another gin and mill near Joshua 
in Johnson county, Texas. His farm, which 
he rents, comprises one hundred and fifty 
acres of valuable land, forty-five of which is 
under cultivation and lies three miles south- 
east of Acton. His prosperity has been 
brought about by his untiring and persistent 
labors. 

Mr. Duckworth is a popular and influen- 
tial citizen, was elected county conmiissioner 
in 1888, and was twice re-elected, serving 
in all six years. At the primaries he re- 
ceived the nomination for a fourth term, 
but withdrew from the race. In 1886 he 
was elected justice of the peace, which of- 
fice he has filled about eight years in all, 
and is the present incumbent. He has also 
served as school trustee for eight years. He 
is strongly Democratic in his political affilia- 
tions; socially, is connected with Acton 
Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M. ; and religious- 



ly is a member of the Missionary Baptist 
church. His prosperity cannot be attrib- 
uted to a combination of lucky circumstan- 
ces, but has risen from energy, enterprise, 
integrity and intellectual effort well directed, 
and he well deserves the success which has 
come to him. 



*■■ » ^ ARDIN GRIFFITH is an able rep- 
^'"V resentative of the agricultural in- 
\ W terests of Hood county and a man 
who by the faithful performance of 
every duty devolving upon him, whether 
public or private, has won a place among 
the best and most highly esteemed citizens 
of this section of the state. It is with a 
feeling of gratification that the biographer 
enters upon his task of portraying the life 
of one who has ever merited the esteem of 
his fellow men, for such a record serves as 
a source of encouragement and inspiration 
to others and as an example to the youthful 
members of society. 

Mr. Griffith was born in Tennessee, De- 
cember 26, 1850, a son of Samuel T. and 
Nancy (Price) Griffith, of Welsh descent. 
The great-grandfather, Jonas Griffith, and 
his two brothers were natives of rock-ribbed 
Wales, whence they emigrated to the new 
world, settling in Tennessee. They were 
the founders of the family in this country. 
Jonas Griffith was then sixteen years of age. 
He became a close friend of Daniel Boone, 
and with him explored considerable por- 
tions of Tennessee. His last days were 
spent in that state. The parents of our 
subject were both born in Gainesboro, Ten- 
nessee, and the father served his country as 
a soldier in the Mexican war. In 1859, 
with his wife and two children, he went 
to Granby, Missouri, where, in 1S60, the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mother died, leaving our subject and a 
sister, the latter being Willie, now Mrs. 
Sparks, of Commerce, Delta county, Texas. 

During the civil war Samuel T. Grif^th 
enlisted in the Confederate service, in which 
he remained until the close of hostilities. 
Being captured by the Union troops, he was 
held as a prisoner of war in Alton, Illinois, 
for eight months, and for a year at Dela- 
ware Bay. He had been engaged in the 
occupation of mining and had his capital 
invested in mines at Granby, but lost all his 
property during the war. When the trouble 
between the two sections of the country was 
over he came to Texas, where his son H. H. 
had preceded him, and settled in Fannin 
county, where his death occurred in 1870. 

Hardin Griffith, of this sketch, enjoyed 
good educational privileges in his early 
youth, but after the war had no advantages 
in that direction. At the age of seventeen 
he left home, and since that time has been 
dependent entirely upon his own labors, so 
that whatever success he has achieved is 
due entirely to his energy and good man- 
agement. On leaving home he engaged in 
herding cattle, and for fifteen years he was 
a participant of camp life. His associates 
were the worst element of the frontier, 
made up of cowboys, buffalo-hunters and 
many desperate characters, but his career 
was an exception to the rule that evil com- 
munications corrupt good manners. His 
self-respect was always dear to him, and he 
demonstrated the fact that a man can be a 
true and honorable gentleman in any sur- 
roundings. He would never use tobacco or 
liquor in any form, and though his compan- 
ions were men who often scoffed at virtues, 
they respected him for his strict adherence 
to what he believed to be right, and any 
man among them would have stood up 



against a multitude for Hardin Griffith. 
During all these years Granbury was his 
headquarters, but his operations extended 
over a number of the western frontier coun- 
ties. 

In 1885 Mr. Griffith secured a clerkship 
in a hardware store in Granbury, his em- 
ployers being Baker & Smith. He served 
in that capacity for five years, and on the 
expiration of that period he came to the 
farm where he now lives and which has 
since been his home. He had previously 
purchased the property, but the land was 
entirely destitute of improvements. He 
has developed fifty acres of his farm, which 
comprises three hundred and five acres, and 
the tract is now highly cultivated. In ad- 
dition to general farming he is also exten- 
sively and successfully engaged in stock- 
raising, and now has a number of fine thor- 
oughbred Jersey cattle upon his farm. 

On the 25th of September, 1889, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Griffith and 
Miss Maggie Blair, daughter of Samuel and 
Susan Blair. The lady was born in Bates- 
ville, Arkansas, while her parents were na- 
tives of Tennessee, the former of Irish and 
the latter of Scotch descent. Mr. and Mrs. 
Griffith have lost two children, but now 
have a bright little boy, Guy, born April 
29, 1893. 

Our subject exercises his right of fran- 
chise in support of the men and measures of 
the Republican party at national elections, 
but at local elections, where no national is- 
sue is involved, he supports the candidate 
that he thinks best qualified for office, re- 
gardless of party connections. Both he and 
his wife occupy a high position in social 
circles where true worth and intelligence 
are received as the passports into good so- 
ciety. Fond of reading, they keep well 



382 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



informed on the questions of the day and 
on all current literature, and their broad 
views on all questions indicate well-stored 
minds. They are liberal in their religious 
views, and are deeply interested in all that 
pertains to the moral upbuilding of the com- 
munity, and their lives, honorable and con- 
scientious in all things, commend them to 
the high regard and confidence of their 
many friends. 



SI 



p. Mccarty.— Among the most 
prosperous and enterprising farm- 
ers and stock- dealers of Erath 
county, Texas, is the subject of 
this sketch, W. P. McCarty, of Chalk Moun- 
tain, who has maintained his residence here 
during the past fifteen years. 

Mr. McCarty, as his name indicates, is 
of Irish descent. His parents, Andrew P. 
and Mary S. (McVey) McCarty, both traced 
their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. 
Grandfather McCarty was born in Ireland, 
emigrated to this country in early life, and 
settled in Alabama, whence he subsequently 
removed to Mississippi. The McVeys also 
made settlement in the south, and both 
families were planters. Andrew P. McCarty 
was married in Mississippi, and was for 
some years a slaveholder and prominent 
planter of that state. Thus was he situated 
at the opening of the civil war. In the first 
year of the war, although he was past the 
conscript age, he tendered his services to 
the Confederacy, and went to the front as 
a member of a regiment of infantry. He 
was with his command in all its campaigns 
up to the battle of Fort Donelson, where 
he was captured by the northern forces and 
taken prisoner to Camp Douglas. Seven 
months later he was exchanged and dis- 



charged. At that time the Federals about 
his home were compelling men to swear 
allegiance to their government. He refused 
to take an oath of any kind, and dodged the 
authorities for a time, but some months 
later, while on a visit to his old regiment, 
he was captured. This time he was taken 
to Alton, where he was held as a prisoner of 
war, and while there he sickened and died, 
his death occurring in October, 1863. He 
was reared in the Primitive Baptist church, 
and was a man of many excellent traits of 
character. His widow survived him some 
years, came to Texas about 1878 and made 
her home with her children who had pre- 
viously settled here, and April 6, 1887, she 
quietly passed to her last home. She, too, 
was a member of the Primitive Baptist 
church. Their family consisted of five chil- 
dren, namely: Amanda, wife of J. D. West, 
a boot and shoe dealer; Emeline, wife of 
J. A. Robinson; W. P.; Mary, wife of Dr. 
William Kinningham; and Arminda, wife of 
Thomas Rodes, a farmer. 

W. P. McCarty was born in Mississippi, 
April 18, 1S50, and was reared on his father's 
plantation. The war coming on, his father's 
absence made it necessary for the boy to re- 
main at home when he should have been at 
school, and thus his early education was 
somewhat neglected. He, however, made 
up for these deficiencies by study later in 
life and by actual business experience and 
contact with the world. The signal success 
he has attained in life, and that, too, through 
his own unaided efforts, is sufficient evidence 
that he possesses not only a practical edu- 
cation, but also that he has more than ordi- 
nary business and financial ability. During 
the war he was his mother's main support, 
and after his father's death he remained with 
her for some years, — until he was twenty- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



five. In that memorable period of civil 
war their property was raided by both the 
northern and southern armies, the former 
not only destroying their buildings, but also 
offering them all kinds of abuse. As soon 
as possible he erected new buildings and 
fences and put the farm in good shape again, 
and by 1874 had saved a little money. In 
the meantime, November 10, 1870, he took 
to himself a wife. 

Mr. McCarty left the old home place in 
Mississippi in 1874 and moved to Texas, 
landing in this state with his wife and with 
two hundred dollars in money, and making 
settlement in Johnson county. With the 
aid of a borrowed pony he put in and culti- 
vated a small crop there. In the fall of 
the following year he moved to Tarrant 
county, where he bought a team of mules 
and rented forty acres of land, and by care- 
ful economy and honest toil was enabled to 
add a little to the sum he had already saved. 
Not long afterward he purchased sixty acres 
of land, at ten dollars an acre, paying four 
hundred dollars down and the rest in due 
time. He remained on that farm five years. 
Having disposed of his Tarrant county prop- 
erty, he came, in July, 1881, to his present 
location in Erath county, where he has since 
remained and where he has been prospered 
in his undertakings. On his arrival here 
he purchased three hundred and twenty 
acres of unimproved land and at once set 
about the work of developing a farm. He 
was the first man to build a wire fence in 
this part of the county, and in the line of 
modern improvements he still keeps in the 
van. As year by year he was prospered in 
his undertakings, he not only continued im- 
proving his land but has also bought other 
land, adding to his home farm and pur- 
chasing another tract of land, — three hun- 



dred acres, — two miles distant. At this 
writing his home place comprises four hun- 
dred acres, all under fence and one hun- 
dred acres in cultivation, and at his other 
farm there are seventy-five acres in cul- 
tivation, the whole tract fenced. Besides 
this he owns property in Stephenville. 
His home farm is located five miles east 
of Duffau and four miles west of Chalk 
Mountain, is improved with a pleasant and 
commodious residence, large barn, good 
orchard, modern wind pump, etc., and its 
general appearance at once stamps the 
owner as an intelligent and progressive man 
and one in every way fully up with the 
times. Mr. McCarty has most of his land 
let out to renters, on the "share " system, 
the crops being the usual ones of the county. 
For a few years he was largely interested in 
the cattle business and was successful, but 
lately, like many of the leading farmers and 
stock men of the country, he finds it more 
profitable to pay more attention to the qual- 
ity than the quantity of stock. Conse- 
quently he keeps a fewer number and a 
higher grade of stock, both cattle and 
horses. Horses and mules especially have 
received his attention during the past few 
years. In .1892 he bought two jacks, and 
the following year a Morgan stallion, all of 
which he keeps for public service. He keeps 
an average of a dozen brood mares, and 
besides the horses and mules he raises he 
annually buys young mules. At this writ- 
ing he has a fine herd. Mr. McCarty has 
always so conducted his operations that his 
farm has paid its own way. He has made 
it a practice not to borrow money, and when 
he has found it necessary to make debts he 
has always planned ahead for prompt pay- 
ments and met his obligations on time. Po- 
litically, he harmonizes with the Democratic 



384 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



party and the principles advocated by it, 
but has never had any aspirations for offi- 
cial honors. 

The date of Mr. McCarty's marriage 
has already been given. Mrs. McCarty, 
iicc Eliza V. Kinningham, was born in Mis- 
sissippi, in January, 1853, daughter of John 
Kinningham, a planter of that state. Her 
father died when she was small, and her 
mother, who still survives and is now past 
the meridian of life, makes her home with 
her children. Mrs. AfcCarty's eldest broth- 
er, William, deceased, left a family of chil- 
dren which she and Mr. McCarty are rearing. 
Her brother Ira is a resident of Mississippi, 
and her sister Martha, wife of L. Linedargy, 
is deceased, as also is Mr. Linedargy. Also 
she has a half brother and sister, namely: 
Samuel, a resident of Falls county, Texas; 
and Harriet, wife of William Narmon, 
Haskell county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Carty have had six children, all of whom 
died in infancy. 

Our subject and his wife are members 
of the Primitive Baptist church. 



ai 



\. ANDREWS, an agriculturist 
of energy and ability, has been 
identified with the interests of 
Hood county since December, 
1878. His birth occurred in Monroe coun- 
ty, Georgia, on the 21st of December, 1825, 
and he is a son of Sterling and Elizabeth 
(Williams) Andrews, natives of Virginia, the 
former of Welsh and the latter of Scotch 
descent. The maternal grandfather came 
from Scotland to the New World with Gen- 
eral Braddock's army, and was so well 
pleased with the country that he determined 
to make it his home. The grandparents on 
both sides removed to North Carolina at an 



early day, where the parents of our subject 
grew to maturity and were married. There 
the father engaged in merchandising, and 
served as sheriff for many years. After his 
removal to Georgia, in 1823, he turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits. While 
on a business trip to North Carolina, he 
died there, at the age of sixty-five years, 
and his wife passed away in Alabama at the 
age of seventy-five years. 

In their family of ten children, five sons 
and five daughters, our subject is the ninth 
in order of birth. Upon the home farm he 
was reared and received a very limited edu- 
cation in the primitive log schoolhouse of 
that early day, but he supplemented the 
knowledge there acquired by study at 
home, so that he is now a well informed 
man. He remained with his mother un- 
til twenty-three years of age. In 1850 he 
began merchandising in Whitesville, Harris 
county, Georgia, which he successfully fol- 
lowed until the breaking out of the civil war. 
In March, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, 
Forty-sixth Georgia Volunteer Infantry, 
which company he had organized, and was 
unanimously elected its captain. He was 
in many engagements, participating in the 
bombardment of Charleston, the battles of 
Jacksonville, Mississippi, and Chickamauga, 
where he was wounded in the right leg, 
which disabled him for further active duty, 
but he remained on post duty until the close 
of the war. After his return home he 
continued to engage in merchandising from 
1866 until 1874. 

On the 22d of October, 1854, was sol- 
emnized the marriage of Mr. Andrews and 
Miss S. F. Cotton, a daughter of Rev. J. G. 
Cotton. She was a native of Georgia, and 
by her marriage became the mother of the 
following children: Clara Belle; Willie A., 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



385 



who died in Georgia, in October, 1885; 
John Lee, of Hood county; James B., who 
died in Kaufman, Texas, in 1882; Payton 
C, of New Mexico; R. E., of California; 
Alberts., who died February 11, 1896, in 
Arizona; George F. , N. M., and Homer, at 
home; and Fanny Lizzie, who completes 
the family. The death of the mother oc- 
curred on the 9th of December, 1894, when 
she had attained the age of fifty-six years. 

In 187S Mr. Andrews came to Texas, 
where he has since engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, and has a fine farm of two hundred 
and fifty-seven acres in the Brazos valley, 
four miles east of Granbury, which is under 
a high state of cultivation and well improved 
with good buildings. He is an active and 
consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, south, as was also his worthy 
wife, and for forty-five years has been con- 
nected with the Masonic order, in which he 
has taken nine degrees. In politics he ad- 
heres closely to the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party. 



eT. GOODWIN.- Biography has 
at all times and in all climes been 
a subject of interest; and especially 
is American biography of interest 
at this time when in the lights and shades 
of a few years fortunes are made and lost; 
when the indigent youth has nothing save 
his own will to prevent him from attaining 
the highest position in the land; and per- 
haps in no portion of America is biography 
more replete with interest than in the com- 
monwealth of Texas, with its boundless re- 
sources and its daring and enterprising 
people. 

Just fifty years ago, in i S46, the year 
after Texas had been admitted into the sis- 



terhood of states, there landed within its 
borders a family from Mississippi, — people 
not rich so far as the things of this world 
count, but possessing what is of far more 
value, namely, a sterling integrity and char- 
acter above reproach. Mr. E. T. Goodwin, 
a representative of this family and now one 
of the wealthy and influential men of Bosque 
county, illustrates our point exactly, and to 
a succinct review of his life would we now 
invite attention. 

E. T. Goodwin was born in Chickasaw 
county, Mississippi, April 17, 1843, son of 
E. T. and Nancy (Page) Goodwin, the 
former a native of North Carolina and the 
latter of Alabama. The Goodwin family is 
of Irish and Scotch origin and made its first 
American settlement in North Carolina. Of 
the Page family we record that its history 
can be traced no further back than Ala- 
bama, whence some of its members re- 
moved at an early day to Texas. The 
father of our subject emigrated with his 
family to Texas in 1846 and located in 
Rusk county. He witnessed the fight be- 
tween the Regulators and the Modera- 
tors, but took no part in it himself. In 
1853 he removed to Navarro county, this 
state, subsequently made several other 
moves, and finally settled in Erath county, 
where he died in 1889, at the ripe old age 
of eighty-four years. He was a farmer and 
stock-raiser all his life, and while in Ala- 
bama owned some slaves. In politics he 
was Democratic. He took an active and 
intelligent interest in all public affairs, but 
never sought or held office. He was a firm 
believer in state rights and in favor of seces- 
sion. His religious creed was that of the 
Missionary Baptists. The mother of our 
subject, his first wife, died in December, 
1855. Twelve children were born of their 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



union, of whom a brief record is as follows: 
David P.; Sarah, wife of William Dudley; 
Tempie, wife of Jasper Higenbottom; James 
P.; E. T., whose name graces this article; 
David; Mary A., wife of James Abies; Bell, 
wife of T. J. Bryant; John F., who died 
when young; Delia, wife of N. B. Walker; 
Augustus, deceased; and Sarah N., wife of 
William Bell. By a subsequent marriage 
to a Mrs. Smith, the father had two sons, 
Lee and William. His second wife sur- 
vives him and is now a resident of Erath 
county. 

At the time the Goodwin family landed 
in Texas the subject of our sketch was a 
child of three years. He grew up on the 
frontier, moving about from place to place 
as above recorded, and had no educational 
advantages, his training being chiefly in the 
practical school of experience. In 1861, 
when civil war broke out, he left his father's 
home and tendered his services to the Con- 
federacy, going out as a member of the 
Fifteenth Texas Infantry in the Trans-Mis- 
sissippi Department, in which he continued 
until the sanguinary. struggle was at an end. 
He was in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mis- 
souri, under command of General Kirby 
Smith, was engaged in no less than thirty- 
one fights, and, although he was often in 
the heat of battle, the balls flying thick and 
fast around him, he never received a wound. 
He did not obtain a furlough during the 
whole of his army life, and, with the excep- 
tion of a brief period when he was sick, he 
was never off duty. At the time of the 
surrender he was in Texas; his command 
was disbanded at Houston, and from there 
he returned home, reaching home barefooted 
and hatless. 

After his return from the army young 
Goodwin settled down to work on his 



father's farm and remained at the parental 
home until his marriage, which occurred in 
the summer of 1867. Then he rented land 
in this county, his father having settled 
here in 1855, and in Bosque and Hill coun- 
ties the subject of our sketch has resided 
ever since. At this point we may state that 
he had no assistance when he started out in 
life for himself, nor has he ever had any- 
thing given to him since, all he now has 
having been acquired through his own 
unaided efforts. After struggling along on 
rented land for two years, he in 1869 pur- 
chased a small farm. A year later he sold 
out and bought a farm in Hill county, near 
Fort Graham, and bought and sold a num- 
ber of times, and finally in 1885 purchased 
one hundred acres of his present farm, in 
the vicinity of Morgan, where since that time 
he has made his home, and to which he has 
added by subsequent purchase until his 
farmstead now comprises two hundred and 
thirty-four acres, one hundred and twenty- 
two acres of which are under cultivation, 
and among the improvements upon this 
place may be mentioned his commodious 
residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
fences, etc. And in addition to this fine 
homestead he owns four other farms, pur- 
chased at different times, altogether includ- 
ing no less than one thousand five hundred 
and fifty-three acres, six hundred acres of 
which have been furrowed and refurrowed 
and are producing as good crops as are 
raised in the county of Bosque. For twenty- 
six years Mr. Goodwin has been interested 
in the cattle business, handling from one 
hundred to one thousand head per year, — at 
this writing having over three hundred head 
of fine Durham cattle, and of recent years 
giving especial attention to improving the 
grade of his stock. He raises only enough 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



387 



horses with which to carry on his farming 
operations, and he also raises his own pork. 
Some years ago Mr. Goodwin was for a time 
engaged in the grocery business at Pearl 
Valley and Fort Graham, but with this ex- 
ception he has always devoted his energies 
to agricultural pursuits, and in all his opera- 
tions he has met with signal success. He 
is enterprising and public-spirited to an 
extent that he is not afraid to support a 
new venture or measure or to invest in a 
speculation, and his shrewdness and dis- 
cernment keep him from going far amiss in 
his investments. 

July lo, 1867, was consummated the 
marriage of Mr. E. T. Goodwin and Miss 
Catherine D. T. Tilley, daughter of Dennis 
Tilley. Dennis Tilley was one of the early 
pioneers of Fort Graham, having come to 
this state from Tennessee. He was by 
occupation a farmer. He met his death in 
1856, at the hands of one Greer Hardwick, 
who robbed him of over three thousand 
dollars and then killed him in cold blood. 
His only children were twin girls, one of 
whom is Mrs. Goodwin. Her mother sub- 
sequently married a Mr. Lucy, who also 
was killed. The widowed mother made her 
home with Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin for many 
years, and while on a visit to relatives in 
Limestone county, this state, died, her 
death occurring in 1872. She was a woman 
who had bitter experience in life, suffering 
the loss of both husbands by a murderous 
hand, and undergoing no little privation 
and hardships incident to life on the fron- 
tier; but through it all she bore up like the 
true Christian that she was. For many 
years she was identified with the Christian 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin have been 
blessed in the birth of eight children, namely: 
Lula, deceased; John W., engaged in farm- 



ing; Lee and Sally, in school; Ella, de- 
ceased; Minnie, deceased; Dennis H., at- 
tending school ; and one that died in infancy. 
Mr. Goodwin is taking a just pride in the 
education of his children, affording them 
the best of advantages in this line, and at 
the present writing three of them are in 
school at Thorp Spring, Mrs. Goodwin also 
being at that place with them. He and his 
wife are members of the Christian church, 
and in his political views he harmonizes 
with the Democratic party. 

Thus briefly is outlined the salient 
points in the life history of one of Bosque 
county's wealthy aud prominent citizens. 



@EORGE WILLIAM HARRIS.— 
This respected citizen and mer- 
chant of Dublin, Texas, whose 
history now comes under review, 
is of ancestry, both paternal and maternal, 
tracing back to the Old Dominion. He, 
however, is a native of Missouri, whither 
his parents, James Walls and Kate E. 
(Kearny) Harris, emigrated from Virginia in 
1837, the year previous to his birth. James 
Walls Harris was born in Jefferson county, 
Virginia, son of George Harris, a native of 
that state and a well known planter there. 
The Harrises are of Scotch origin. The 
Kearnys as far back as their history can be 
traced were Virginians. Grandfather Kearny 
was an extensive planter and slaveholder, 
and Kearnyville, Virginia, was named in 
honor of him. He had five daughters, all 
of whom grew up and married, their names 
being Mrs. Elizabeth Glover, Mrs. Susan 
Smith, Mrs. Jane O'Farrell, Mrs. Maria 
Gartrell and Mrs. Kate E. Harris. Mrs. 
Harris received sixty-five slaves as her por- 
tion of her father's estate. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



On the removal of James Walls Harris 
and his family to Missouri, he settled in St. 
Charles, Charles county, where he engaged 
in merchandising and remained until 1840, 
that year taking up his abode in St. Louis. 
Seven years later he moved to Glasgow, 
Howard county, same state, where he died 
in the prime of life, August 13, 1853, at the 
age of thirty- five years. 

George William Harris, the immediate 
subject of this sketch, was born in the town 
of St. Charles, Charles county, Missouri, 
April I, 1838, and went with his parents to 
St. Louis and thence to Glasgow. After 
the death of his father he went to Berlin, 
Missouri, where he secured a clerkship in 
the store of Joe O. Shelly, with whom he 
remained two years. The next two years 
he was purser on the well known river boats. 
Polar Star, James H. Lucas, White Cloud, 
and Tropic, running between St. Louis and 
St. Joseph and Jefferson City and St. 
Joseph. In 1857 we find him on an 
overland journey as representative for the 
firm of Gratz & Shelby, of St. Louis, who 
had a government contract to deliver freight 
to Camp Floyd in Utah. This trip across 
the country was made in a large company, 
there being twenty-six trains of twenty- six 
wagons each. Mr. Harris and Mr. Elijah 
Kertley left the train at Fort Kearney and 
continued the rest of the journey alone to 
Camp Floyd, Utah. Subsequently Mr. 
Harris was for sixteen months quartermaster 
sutler at Fort Bridger. From there he 
made the return trip in company with 
Messrs. Maupin and Clark to Berlin, Mis- 
souri, and thence came to Waco, Texas, 
reaching this place in November, 1859. At 
Waco in February of the following year he 
established himself in a merchandise busi- 
ness, which he conducted successfully until 



March, 1861, when he sold out and the 
next month joined the army. His army life 
began in April, 1861, and lasted until the 
close of the war, was principally on the 
west of the Mississippi, and in many re- 
spects was a remarkable one. He went out 
as a member of Company E, Fourth Texas 
Cavalry. This company was afterward dis- 
mounted in Arkansas and he was discharged. 
Immediately he assisted in raising Company 
H, Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, of which he 
was first lieutenant and with which he re- 
mained until the conflict was over. Al- 
though he was frequently in the hottest of 
the fight, many a time almost within the 
grasp of the enemy, had four horses killed 
under him, and on one occasion his hat shot 
off his head, he passed through the whole of 
the war without ever having been captured 
or wounded. 

The war over, Mr. Harris returned to 
Waco and resumed business at that point, 
which he continued until November, 1874. 
That year he moved to Bosque county, ten 
miles west of Meridian, and engaged in the 
cattle business, was there two years, and at 
times had as high as 3,000 head of cattle. 
His next move was to Iredell, Bosque 
county, where he again turned his attention 
to mercantile business. He remained in 
Iredell till November, 1893. In February 
of the following year became to Dublin and 
started a business here, and at this writing 
he is manager of a store for his son, E. W. 
Harris. 

Mr. Harris was married February 19, 
1 86 1, to Miss Mary L. Burney, who was 
born in November, 1841, daughter of Colo- 
nel George E. and Sarah E. ( Blaire ) Bur- 
ney, of Waco. She died June 4, 1877, 
leaving two children, Mattie Imogene and 
Ewing Walls. The former was born De- 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



cember 23, 1861, married Mr. Marcus E. 
McPhail, and is now living at Ennis, Texas. 
Ewing Walls was born April 24, 1864, at 
Waco, married Miss Pauline Quillidge, of 
Cleburne, Texas, and they have two chil- 
dren, — Reita and Mary. For his second 
wife the subject of our sketch married Mrs. 
Nannie Lacy, ncc Turner, widow of John 
Lacy, her marriage to Mr. Harris being con- 
summated November 19, 1878. Their chil- 
dren are Ruth, born June 20, 1890, and 
Burney William, December 20, 1893. 

Mr. Harris is fraternally identified with 
Meridian Lodge, No. 127, I. Q. O. F., and 
Dublin Lodge, No. 107, K. of P. He 
united with the Methodist church in 1893, 
but prior to that was for eighteen years a 
Baptist. His political standing is that of a 
stanch Democrat. 



>Y* A- CLARK.— The world has little 
J use for the misanthrope. The uni- 
A ■ versal truth of brotherhood opposes 
with great force the living for self 
alone. The underlying principle of all re- 
ligion consists in man's duty to his Creator 
and to humanity, and "he serves God best 
who serves most his fellow man." Such 
has been the service in which Mr. Clark has 
for many years been engaged. In educa- 
tional and church work in Texas he has 
been a most important factor, laboring ear- 
nestly in those interests which elevate hu- 
manity and make the world brighter and 
better. 

Each calling or business, if honorable, 
has its place in the scheme of human exist- 
ence, constituting a part of the plan where- 
by life's methods are pursued and man 
reaches his ultimate destiny. "All are 
needed by each one," wrote Emerson. The 



importance of a business, however, is largely 
determined by its usefulness. So depend- 
ent upon his fellow man is man that the 
worth of the individual is largely estimated 
by what he has done for humanity. There 
is no class to whom greater gratitude is due 
than to those self-sacrificing, noble-minded 
men who carry the gospel into the frontier 
regions. Their influence cannot be measured 
by any known standard, their helpfulness is 
as broad as the universe, and their power 
goes hand in hand with the beneficent laws 
of nature that come from the source of life 
itself. 

Laboring for his fellow men through 
four-score years, Mr. Clark is to-day hon- 
ored and revered by all who know him. He 
was born in Shawneetown, Illinois, Novem- 
ber 6, 181 5, a son of Thomas D. and Jane 
(Cunningham) Clark. The family removed 
to Louisville, Kentucky, at an early day, 
and in 1839 the mother came with her chil- 
dren to Texas, locating in Austin. The 
father had died while the family were living 
in Kentucky. From Austin they went to 
Nacogdoches, Texas. 

Mr. Clark received excellent educational 
privileges, completing a course in the State 
University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa. Feel- 
ing that his services were needed in the 
ministry he began preaching in Texas in 
1843, being ordained in Titus county in the 
same year. For several years he preached 
for the church at Palestine and afterward at 
Fort Worth and other places. For fifty- 
two years he continued his work as a preach- 
er of the gospel, and his eloquent, earnest 
words induced many to forsake the ways of 
the world and prepare by righteous living for 
the life eternal beyond the grave. In 1873 
he came to Thorp Springs, Hood county, 
and founded Add Ran College. At his own 



390 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



expense he erected the school buildings, 
which are constructed of stone and are com- 
modious, substantial structures, furnishing 
accommodation for six hundred students. In 
1873 Mr. Clark opened the school with thir- 
teen pupils, and in six years had increased 
the membership to five hundred. In 1879 
he turned the management of the college 
over to his sons A. and R. Clark, who con- 
ducted the school until the winter of 1895-6, 
when it was abandoned and the school re- 
moved to Waco, Texas. 

Mr. Clark has been one of the strongest 
educational workers in the state and has 
done more for the upbuilding of the church 
and school interests of Texas than any one 
man, save perhaps the venerable Dr. Burle- 
son, of Baylor University, at Waco. For a 
number of years past he has been retired 
from all business cares, yet he has preached 
at intervals in Thorp Spring and other 
places and recently conducted a nine-days 
meeting in Bell county, Texas. In May, 
1896, he held a nine-days meeting at Bon- 
ham, Texas, doing all the preaching himself. 

In 1842 Mr. Clark was united in the 
holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Hettie 
De Spain, and their marriage was blessed 
with eight children, namely: Addison, Ran- 
dolph, Ida, Joseph, Thomas, Mollie, Frank 
and Amelia. The two eldest sons served 
in the Confederate army during the civil 
war, the eldest continuing at the front 
throughout the struggle. The mother of 
this family was a most estimable Christian 
woman and proved of great assistance to her 
husband in his work. She died in 1894, at 
the age of seventy years, after fifty-two 
years of happy married life, but though the 
husband is now left alone he lives in the as- 
surance of a blessed reunion in that land 
where parting and sorrow are no more. 



>nr* D. BERRY, is classed among the 

M most distinguished adopted sons of 
/G 1 central Texas, and for twenty-eight 
years he has been an important fac- 
tor in the business life of this locality. The 
majority of lives are unmarked by events of 
exciting nature and the reader who is fond 
of startling incidents is therefore seldom a 
student of biography; but the record of a 
man who faithfully performs the duties that 
devolve upon him and makes the best of his 
opportunities leaves behind him a record 
which is worthy of perpetuation. It is to 
this class that the country owes its stability 
and of this class our subject is a worthy rep- 
resentative. 

Mr. Berry comes of a family of English 
origin. His father, Henry Berry, was a na- 
tive of North Carolina, and J. D. was born 
in Morgan county, Alabama, on the 27th of 
September, 1820. He spent his childhood 
daj's on the old homestead, aiding in the 
labors of the farm and attending the sub- 
scription schools. At the age of sixteen he 
started out in life for himself and has been 
the architect of his own fortune. He was 
first employed as a salesman in a mercantile 
establishment in New Orleans, where he 
remained for some years, and in 1839 went 
to Mississippi. 

Mr. Berry was married in Marion coun- 
ty, of the latter state, on the loth of Jan- 
uary, 1844, the lady of his choice being Miss 
M. E. Wilks, daughter of S. H. Wilks and 
a native of Alabama. They now have two 
living children, — S. O., of Ardmore, Indian 
Territory; and C. P., who is in the employ 
of the state as a convict guard. 

In Mississippi Mr. Berry engaged in 
farming for five years and then removed to 
Arkansas, locating at Gaines' Landing, 
where he carried on merchandising. He 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



also followed the same pursuit in Monticello 
and Lake Valley for several years, enjoying 
a very extensive and lucrative trade. At 
length he disposed of his mercantile inter- 
ests, took up the study of law in Monticello, 
Arkansas, and was admitted to the bar in 
1858. Immediately he entered upon the 
practice of his profession and continued a 
member of the legal fraternity of Monticello 
until after the beginning of the civil war, 
when he enlisted and was assigned to the 
quartermaster's department at Camden, 
Arkansas, where he remained until the fail 
of 1863. He was then detailed forservice in 
the cotton department at Lamartown, where 
he remained until the close of the war. 

When hostilities had ceased Mr. Berry 
removed to Waco, Texas, where he resumed 
merchandising, conducting his store until 
the fall of 1868, when he took up his resi- 
dence in Stephenville and became identified 
with the bar of this place. After ten years' 
successful practice he opened a private bank, 
which he successfully conducted until he 
went to Cisco, where, in partnership with 
Judge J. R. Fleming, he conducted a bank. 
His next place of residence was Dublin. He 
established the first bank at that place, and 
on selling out there returned to Stephenville, 
where he has since been engaged in the insur- 
ance business. He has the agency for sev- 
eral well known and reliable companies, and 
in the new undertaking has met with a well de- 
served success. His career is a most credit- 
able one, for he started out in life empty- 
handed and depending entirely upon his own 
exertions, by the exercise of his abilities, 
both natural and acquired, he has risen to a 
position of affluence. He is regarded as one 
of the leading business men of central Texas 
and a valued citizen of Erath county. 

In his political views Mr. Barry is a "sil- 



ver democrat," and socially he is connected 
with Stephenville Lodge, No. 263, F. & A. 
M. Both he and his wife are members of 
the Baptist church and their many friends 
throughout the community testify to their 
sterling worth. 



ai 



C. SWITZER is the pioneer 
blacksmith of Comanche, Texas, 
and the founder of a family in 
this county that has been promi- 
nently connected with its history for almost 
a quarter of a century. He has been a pro- 
moter of its industrial interests and has 
given an active support to all measures cal- 
culated to prove of public benefit. In the 
work of development and progress he has 
borne his part, and he deserves mention 
among the honored pioneers. 

Mr. Switzer was born in Orangeburg 
county, South Carolina, November 14, 
1830, a son of Samuel Switzer, who was 
born in 1801, while the grandfather, Henry 
Switzer, was also a native of South Caro- 
lina, and was one of the heroes of the 
Revolution. The father of the last named 
was a native of Switzerland and became the 
founder of the family in America. The 
male representatives of the name have us- 
ually been farmers and mechanics, and in 
religious belief have been Lutherans. Sam- 
uel Switzer was reared in South Carolina, 
and married Mary Gates, a native of the 
same state and a daughter of Christian 
Gates, who was born in Germany, and was 
an officer in the Revolutionary war. They 
had nine children, seven sons and two 
daughters, namely: William, John, Cathe- 
rine, Samuel, W. C, H. C, Ben W., 
Mary and D. S., who is president of 
Weatherford College, of Weatherford, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Texas. The mother died at the age of 
forty-six, the father at scveiity-one years. 
The father was a contractor and builder and 
a successful business man. He supported 
the Democracy and in religious belief was a 
Mefhodist, rearing his family in that faith. 

Our subject spent his boyhood in his na- 
tive state, working at the carpenter's trade 
with his father and then learning the black- 
smith's trade. During the war he served 
in defense of the south in the Twenty-sev- 
enth Mississippi Infantry until his health 
failed. Later he joined General Forrest's 
command under Colonel Kelly and was de- 
tailed to serve as blacksmith. 

In 1866 Mr. Switzer came to Austin 
county, Texas, where he remained three 
years, when he removed to Milam county 
and spent six years there. In February, 
1876, he came to Comanche county and 
established a blacksmith and wagon repair 
shop in the county seat. Here he is still 
carrying on business, having the leading 
shop in the town, and with forty years' ex- 
perience in this line he is able to do the 
most efficient and satisfactory work, there- 
fore receiving a liberal patronage. 

When twenty-four years of age, Mr. 
Switzer married Jane Yeagin, who was born 
in Greenville, South Carolina, a daughter 
of Rufus and Jane McDaniel Yeagin. They 
became the parents of twelve children, nine 
sons and three daughters — Sam Rufus, 
William D., Lulu Mary, Lawrence (de- 
ceased), Cora (deceased), John J., Ben (de- 
ceased), David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
Yeagin. In April, 1895, the mother was 
called to the home beyond, bringing to Mr. 
Switzer the greatest bereavement that has 
ever come into his life. 

For over fifty years he has been a con- 
sistent member of the Methodist church, 



class-leader for twenty-five years and is 
deeply interested in church work. In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat. Of a pleasant, genial 
manner, he wins friends wherever he goes 
and his genuine worth gains him their high 
regard. 



EL. HOLT, the popular druggist of 
I>luff Dale and the pioneer physi- 
cian of Erath county, for almost a 
quarter of a century has been iden- 
tified with the business interests of this 
place, and as one of its leading citizens is 
held in high esteem. Figuring thus promi- 
nently, it is but fitting that biographical 
honors be accorded him in connection with 
the personal mention of other representa- 
tive men and women of central Texas. 

Dr. Holt is a native of South Carolina, 
born March 4, 1844, a son of Israel and 
Harriet Eliza (Conant) Holt. The Holt 
family is of German origin, and was founded 
in America in early colonial days. The 
father of our subject was born in North 
Carolina, and when a young man went to 
South Carolina. He served as a soldier in 
the war of 1812, and made farming his life 
occupation. He was married in South Car- 
olina to a daughter of Major Nelson, and 
after her death he married Mrs. Harriet 
Eliza Nichols, widow of Dr. Nichols, and 
whose maiden name was Conant. She was 
a native of South Carolina, of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry, and died in 1857. In 1S59 he 
removed with his family to Texas, locating 
in Cherokee county. 

The Doctor was reared on his father's 
farm, and the public schools afforded him 
his early educational privileges. In the 
summer of 1861, when less than eighteen 
years of age, he joined the "boys in gray," 



HIS TOUT OF TEXAS. 



true to the district in which he was reared 
and to the principles with which he was 
familiar from his earliest boyhood. He be- 
came a member of Company G, Eighteenth 
Texas Infantry, which was attached to 
Walker's division, and participated in the 
battles of Mansfield, Jenkins' Ferry, Pleas- 
ant Hill, Yellow Bayou, and many others. 
He was commissioned first lieutenant and 
commanded his company throughout the 
war. After the first year he was never off 
duty for a single day. 

When hostilities were brought to an end 
the Doctor took up his residence in Bosque 
county and began the study of medicine 
under the preceptorship of Dr. M. S. Crow, 
at Meridian, remaining with that gentleman 
for two years. On the expiration of that 
period he took his first course of lectures at 
the Tulane University, in New Orleans, and 
then began practice at Iredell, where he 
remained until 1872, when he came to the 
present site of Bluff Dale. His practice in 
those early days extended over a radius of 
thirty-five miles in Erath, Hood, Somervell 
and Bosque counties. In 1876 he took a 
second .course of lectures at New Orleans, 
and graduated, then resumed his practice in 
Bluff Dale and the surrounding country, 
where he has built up a very extensive and 
lucrative business. He has the honor of 
being the oldest practicing physician in 
Erath county, and his life has probably 
made him better known than almost any 
other resident. He has that true love for 
his profession without which there is no 
success, and that broad charity for a fellow 
man that enables him to get a keener insight 
into his patient's condition than would other- 
wise be possible. He has ever been a close 
student, and his advancement in proficiency 
has been continuous. He has few equals 



and no superiors in all central Texas, and 
he is indeed a worthy representative of the 
medical fraternity in this section of the 
state. For ten years he has also been 
engaged in the drug business, establishing 
the first store of the kind in Bluff Dale. He 
has a pasture of one thousand acres in Erath 
county and is extensively and successfully 
engaged there in the stock business. 

On the 1 2th of February, 1871, Doctor 
Holt was joined in wedlock to Miss Sarah 
Adair, a native of Carroll county, Mississippi, 
who died October 8, 1872. He was again 
married February 12, 1874, his second 
union being with Miss Bell Gordon, a native 
of Georgia and a sister of A. P. Gordon, of 
Granbury, Texas. They have five children: 
Mary Ida; Condie; Birdie, who died at the 
age of eight months; Ulpian G. and Joe G. 

The Doctor and his estim<ible wife are 
faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Socially he is connected with Bluff 
Dale Lodge, No. 764, F. & A. M., and his 
wife and daughter belong to the Order of 
the Eastern Star, the former serving as 
matron and the latter as deputy grand of 
district No. 36. The Doctor also belongs 
to the Stephenville Medical Association and 
in politics is a Democrat. On the 14th of 
December, 1895, he lost his pleasant home 
and all its contents by fire, thus suffering a 
loss of six thousand dollars. The family is 
one of prominence in the community, the 
members of the household occupying an 
enviable position in social circles. 



W C. C 

g one o 
«| at the 



GEORGE, of Stephenville, is 
of the ablest lawyers practicing 

A f at the bar of central Te.xas, having 
that mental grasp which enables him 

to discover all the relevant points in a case 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



and use them to the best advantage. A 
man of sound judgment, he masters his 
cases with masterly skill and tact, is a log- 
ical reasoner and has a ready command of 
English, while his devotion to his client's 
interest is most marked. 

Mr. George traces his ancestry back to 
Wales. His great-grandfather, Thomas 
George, came from that country to America 
in 1755, when five years of age, subsequently 
went to Kentucky, and was engaged with 
Daniel Boone in the Indian wars in that 
state. He was also a soldier of the Revo- 
lution. He settled at Boonesboro, was a 
minister of the Methodist church, and died 
in 1854, at the advanced age of one hun- 
dred and four years. He married Polly 
Byrd, who was born in 1748, and died in 
1853, at the age of one hundred and five 
years. The grandfather, Asa George, was 
born in 1803, and met his death by accident 
in 1863. By occupation he was a farmer. 
The maternal grandfather of the father of 
our subject, Mr. Freshour, was a cente- 
narian at the time of death, and his wife, 
who bore the maiden name of Barbara 
Williams, is still living, and has passed the 
one hundredth milestone on life's journey. 

Mr. Lee H. George, father of our sub- 
ject, was born in Alabama, was reared in 
Mississippi, and became a resident of Na- 
varro county, Texas, in 1856. He there 
married, in 1858, Miss Lou A. Jeffers, a 
ilative of Navarro county. Her father was 
the first settler of that county, and lived 
there at the time of the Texas revolution. 
He was of English descent, and both he 
and his wife reached advanced age. She 
was born in 1800, and died in 1887. Of 
her children, eleven sons and two daughters 
reached mature years. To L. H. and Lou 
A. George were born five children,— a son. 



— the subject of this sketch, — and four 
daughters who lived to maturity; and they 
lost three sons, two of whom died by acci- 
dent. The father of this family entered 
the Confederate service at the beginning of 
the civil war, as a member of the Nine- 
teenth Texas Cavalry, under Nat M. Bur- 
ford, and served as orderly sergeant until 
the close. He is still living, at the age of 
fifty-seven years, and is well preserved. 
The mother, also, Lou A., is still living, 
and her sincere piety, good judgment and 
great moral worth makes her loved by all 
and of great influence for good in her home 
and community. 

It will thus be seen that the ancestry of 
our subject is noted for longevity, and it 
seems that Mr. George may not be an ex- 
ception to the rule. He is a man of fine 
physique, six feet tall and weighing one 
hundred and eighty pounds, and possesses 
excellent athletic power. He was born in 
Navarro county, July 21, 1864, and when 
twenty-two years of age made the best rec- 
ord as a sprint-runner in Texas, covering 
one hundred yards in ten seconds, and one 
thousand feet in thirty-four and one-fourth 
seconds. His splendid physical develop- 
ment has fitted him for his business life, for 
it is well known that the strongest minds 
are found in healthy bodies. His mental 
training has been such as to make him a 
ripe scholar, and his education has been 
largely self-acquired. He attended the 
common schools, and afterward acquired 
some knowledge of Greek and Latin. 

In May, 1887, he took up the study of 
law in the office of A. M. Carter, of Fort 
Worth, Texas, and in August of the same 
year was admitted to the bar, before George 
McCall, judge of the district. He then 
taught school for two years, and in 1889 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



began the practice of law in Hamilton, 
Texas, where he remained for four years, 
when he removed to Stephenville. He 
served as district attorney in the twenty- 
ninth judicial district of Texas in 1891 and 
1892, and has gained a place among the 
foremost representatives of the legal pro- 
fession in this section of the state. In 1894 
he was a candidate of the Democracy for 
the state legislature, receiving the nomina- 
tion entirely without his solicitation, and 
though he ran ahead of the ticket he suf- 
fered defeat with the others of his party. 

On the i6th of April, 1889, Mr. George 
was married to Miss Willie Akers, in Ham- 
ilton county, Texas, and they now have a 
son, Sawnie, six years of age. 



@EORGE E. J ACIvSON.— History 
and biography for the most part 
record the lives of those only who 
have attained military, political or 
literary distinction, or who in any other 
career have passed through extraordinary 
vicissitudes of fortune. The unostentatious 
routine of private life, although in the ag- 
gregate more important to the welfare of 
the community, cannot, from its nature, 
figure in the public annals, bat it is the men 
of private life who are the true source of 
strength of a nation. We cannot all fol- 
low the example of those who have been 
warriors or statesmen, but the man who has 
been true and honorable in all the relations 
of life furnishes to the world a career that 
is well worthy of emulation. 

Such a man is the subject of this re- 
view, — George E. Jackson, — who is justly 
regarded as one of the leading farmers and 
stock-raisers of Hood county, and he has 
the esteem of all who know him. He was 



born in Georgia and is the second child and 
eldest son of Andrew Jackson, a promi- 
nent citizen of this locality. The natal day 
of Mr. Jackson was April 23, 1849. When 
a child of eight years he was brought to 
Texas and was reared on the Paluxy, his 
time being largely passed in the work of the 
farm. His school privileges were meager, 
his boyhood being spent in assisting in the 
improvement of the frontier farm. He re- 
mained with his parents until he had attained 
his majority and then started out in life for 
himself, turning his attention to the pursuit 
with which he had become familiar when 
under the parental roof. 

In 1872 Mr. Jackson made his first pur- 
chase of land, becoming the owner of a tract 
of one hundred and thirty-five acres, of 
which twenty acres were under a partial 
state of improvement. He at once began 
its further development, and success has 
crowned his energetic and well directed ef- 
forts. In connection with general farming 
he is engaged extensively in stock-raising, 
making a specialty of the breeding of Jer- 
sey and Berkshire hogs, graded shorthorn 
cattle and Clydesdale horses. 

He may truly be called a self-made man, 
for he started in life without means, and by 
his own industry and perseverance has accu- 
mulated a handsome property, comprising 
three hundred and twenty acres of fine land 
on the Palu.xy, of which one hundred and 
ten acres are under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He makes the best of his opportuni- 
ties and demonstrates that success is not a 
matter of genius but the result of earnest 
purpose and energetic labor. 

Mr. Jackson has a pleasant home and 
happy family. He was married on the 14th 
of September, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Car- 
away, a native of Tennessee, and a daugh- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



ter of Bryant and Rachel (Deil) Caraway, 
who came to Hood county in 1859. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jackson are the parents of nine 
children, namely: Charles I^. , Emma S., 
Mary T. , Jessie A., Catherine M., Alice R., 
Robert E. , Sarah E. and George A. Our 
subject is devoted to the interests of his 
family and has provided his children with 
good educational advantages, thus fitting 
them for life's practical and responsible 
duties. He and his wife are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, south, their 
membership being with the congregation at 
Marion Chapel. Socially Mr. Jackson is 
connected with Palu.xy Lodge, No. 393, 
A. F. & A. M., has passed all the chairs 
and is the present master of the lodge. Po- 
litically he votes with the Democracy. 



>Y'0HN DILLARD hunt, one of the 
J extensive landowners and leading 
A 1 farmers of Shive, Texas, was born 
April 4, 1839, in Bastrop county, 
Texas. He has in his veins an admixture 
of the Scotch and Irish blood and the best 
characteristics of those nationalities are 
manifest in his life. His great-grandfather 
was born in Scotland and founded the fam- 
ily on this side the Atlantic. The grand- 
parents of our subjects were George and 
Lydia Hunt, the former a native of Tennes- 
see, the latter of Pennsylvania, of Dutch 
lineage. Shortly after their marriage they 
removed to Alabama and the husband plat- 
ted the town of Huntsville, which was 
named in his honor. He bought about six 
hundred and forty acres of land there, 
founding the little village, which has since 
become of considerable importance, both 
in size and business interests. He proba- 



bly served in the war of 1812 and was al- 
ways known by the title of Captain. His 
political support was given the Democracy. 
He was a man of five feet ten inches in 
height, weighing two hundred pounds and 
of a nervous temperament. His death oc- 
curred when about fifty-seven years of age. 
His children all became residents of Texas, 
and a record of the family is as follows: 
John C. , the first of the family to come to 
Texas, arrived in 1830 and resided princi- 
pally in Fayette and Bastrop counties, 
where he followed surveying. He amassed 
considerable landed property and died un- 
married about the year 1S42. Minerva 
married Thomas G. McGebee, and lived in 
Hayes county, having a family of ten chil- 
dren; George was a farmer of Bastrop 
county; Sarah died at the age of eighteen 
years, while on the way to Texas. Eliza- 
beth married Alfred C. Hall and had three 
children; they lived in Fayette and had a 
farm in Washington county. Alexander 
was a farmer of Bastrop county. David 
died at the age of nineteen years. Palmyra 
became the wife of D. M. Oliver, by whom 
she had five children, and after his death 
wedded Thomas Hubbard, by whom she 
had two children. Her husbands were 
farmers of Bastrop and Fayette counties. 

William Hunt, the father of our subject, 
was born in Talladega county, Alabama, 
and was married there in July, 1836, to 
Lucinda Herndon Gaines. Soon afterward 
he removed to Washington county, Texas, 
accompanied by his parents and a number 
of his brothers and sisters. After a year 
spent in Washington county they all went 
to Bastrop county, where the grandfather 
located a headright of six hundred and forty 
acres. He spent only a portion of his time 
upon the place, improving it, and in the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



winter of 1837-8 he died of winter fever. 
It had been his intention of taking the fam- 
ily to his new farm in the spring, and the 
widow and her children moved to the place 
at that time, living there until 1852. Mrs. 
Hunt, the mother of our subject, was born 
in Georgia in 1820 and was a daughter of 
John Gaines, of Scotch descent. Her death 
occurred in 1887. Her children were John 
Dillard, of this review; Elizabeth Ann, who 
married Luke Hart; Martha, wife of Thomas 
H. Martyn; Evaline, who became the wife 
of John Hall and after his death wedded 
Samuel Nuckles; Sarah; Alexander David, 
deceased; Mary, wife of W. Robert Wal- 
lace; Alice, wife of John Wallace; Willie; 
Lou, deceased, who married William Bul- 
lard and after his death became the wife of 
Hugh Sherrell. 

In the spring of 1848, when John Dillard 
Hunt was a boy of nine years, he accom- 
panied his parents on their removal to Hayes 
county, Texas, and in the fall of the same 
year went with them to Fayette county, 
where he made his home until 1881. Dur- 
ing the war he entered the service of the 
south, enlisting in July, 1861, as a member 
of Company I, Eighth Texas Cavalry. An 
attack of measles caused his discharge on 
account of disability in January, 1862, but 
in his short service he participated in the 
battle of Green River. Recovering suffi- 
ciently he re-enlisted in September, 1S62, 
in Company I, Fifth Texas Cavalry, and 
participated in its many engagements to the 
close of the war, in April, 1865. 

Mr. Hunt returned to his home in Fay- 
ette county, and on the 15th of June, 1865, 
was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Colonel John 
Henry and Eliza (Cummings) Moore. She 
was born in Fayette county, Texas, Novem- 



ber 2, 1844. Her father. Colonel Moore, 
came to this state in 1818 and located a 
headright where the city of Lagrange is now 
located, and was almost continuously in the 
service of Texas until after annexation to the 
United States in 1845, when the declining 
health of his faithful wife called him home; 
and preferring to be by her side, he withdrew 
from public life. (See Thrall's and other 
histories, as well as state papers, acknowl- 
edging his valuable services rendered.) He 
was truly one of the pioneers of the region. 
He was married June 14, 1827, and the 
following children were born to the Colonel 
and his wife: William, who was born May 
5, 1828, and is now deceased; Armsted, 
who was born March 17, 1831, and died in 
infancy; Tabitha Bowen, who was born De- 
cember 25, 1832, and died November 20, 
1895; Eleanor, who was born August 25, 
1835, and died in infancy; Eliza Francis, 
born August 9, 1837, and is deceased; John 
Henry, born March 20, 1840, also deceased; 
Robert James, born June 12, 1842, de- 
ceased; and Mrs. Hunt. The grandfather 
of the last named was Colonel Armsted 
Moore, who removed from Virginia and set- 
tled near Carthage, Tennessee. He mar- 
ried Tabitha Adams Bowen, daughter of 
Captain John and Mary Henley (Russell) 
Bowen, of Pennsylvania. Her mother was 
a daughter of William and Tabitha (Adams) 
Russell, and General Russell was the origi- 
nal emigrant of the family in America, sail- 
ing from England to Virginia in 17 10. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have but one child, 
John William, who was born Mary 29, 1866, 
and was married in December, 1888, to 
Lillie D. Laxon, daughter of William La.xon, 
of Reynolds county, Texas. The children 
of this marriage are Hattie Erma, born No- 
I vember, 27, 1889; Lola, born in November, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



1892; and Mary Wallace, born in October, 
1894- 

Mr. Hunt continued his farming in Fay- 
ette county until September, 1881, when he 
removed to Bell county, Texas, residing 
there until 1883, when he purchased six 
hundred and forty acres, where he now re- 
sides. To his farm he has added from time 
to time until he now has one thousand six 
hundred and thirty acres, all in one body. 
When he made the first purchase the land 
was entirely unimproved, but with character- 
istic energy he began arrangements for its 
development and now has three hundred 
acres under a high state of cultivation. In 
addition to this ranch he owns three hun- 
dred and twenty acres in Floyd county. 
His well directed efforts have been crowned 
with success and he is to-day one of the 
prosperous farmers of the county. 

In his political sympathies he is a Popu- 
list. Socially he is a Mason, having united 
with the order in Lafayette Lodge, No. 34, 
F. & A. M., in 1862. He is also connected 
with Hamilton Lodge, No. 3021, Knights 
of Honor. Since 1859 he has been a mem- 
ber of the Christian church, and social, edu- 
cational and moral interests receive his 
support and co-operation. 



iHOMAS HOOKER, a prominent 
early settler and Baptist preacher 
of Texas, and now the senior mem- 
ber of the mercantile firm of 
Hooker & Miller (the latter his son-in-law), 
at Duffau, Texas, was born in Tennessee, 
February 12, 1821. His history is in some 
respects unique and is well worthy a place 
in this biographical record. 

Mr. Hooker's ancestors were among the 
original families of Virginia and North Car- 



olina, and his parents, Thomas and Sarah 
(Walker) Hooker, were natives of Tennes- 
see, the former of Welsh descent and the 
latter of Irish. The senior Thomas Hooker 
was a Baptist minister and farmer, was a 
man of great usefulness in his day, and died 
in his native state in 1 831, at the age of 
fifty-three years. His widow survived him 
a number of years, moved to Texas with her 
family, and died here in i860. They were 
the parents 6f ten children, two of whom 
died young, seven came to Texas, and of 
this number only two, Thomas and Walker, 
are now living. Their names in order of 
birth are: Charlotte, wife of William 
Kitchens; Mary, who was twice married, 
first to C. Massie and after his death to 
Benjamin Childers; Ruth, wife of William 
Harris; James; Samuel; Thomas; William; 
and Walker, now a farmer of Hunt county. 
James Hooker came to Texas at an early 
day and was prominent here for many years, 
living first in Red River county and later in 
Hunt county. He died in Hunt county. 
For years he was largely interested in farm- 
ing and stock-raising, owned a large number 
of slaves and accumulated great wealth. 
Also he figured conspicuously in public life. 
He served as county judge and time after 
time was honored with a seat in the state 
legislature. 

The subject of our sketch spent his boy- 
hood days on the farm and grew up under 
Christian influence. He, however, had only 
limited advantages for obtaining an educa- 
tion, this being due to the circumstances in 
which the family were left at his father's 
death, that being when Thomas was ten 
years old. He remained in Tennessee until 
he was nineteen, when he went to Missis- 
sippi; but before leaving his native state he 
had left the home farm and clerked for a 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



399 



time in Carthage, Lebanon and Rome. 
Soon after going to Mississippi he married 
and settled down to farming, buying land 
there and remaining thus occupied nine 
years. 

While clerking at Rome he was leader 
of a gang of young men, owned two race- 
horses, lived fast and gambled; but fortu- 
nately for him he saw the error of his ways 
before it was too late. On one occasion, 
after some days and nights of carousing, he 
awoke to the realization of the life he was 
leading, the thought of his early home 
influence and Christian parents came to 
him, and he turned away in disgust from the 
dissipations that had so fascinated him. He 
disposed of his liquors and sold his race- 
horses, and shortly afterward was converted 
and joined the Missionary Baptist church. 
His companions in vice left him and he 
sought other and better company, and soon 
he began in a feeble way to preach the gos- 
pel of salvation. He preached at intervals 
while he was engaged in farming in Missis- 
sippi, has ever since continued to tell the 
glad tidings whenever opportunity was af- 
forded, and during his ministry, which has 
covered a period of about fifty-four years, 
he has been instrumental in the accomplish- 
ment of great good. 

About 1854 Mr. Hooker moved to Texas 
and located in Hunt county, which county 
at that time had only one Missionary Bap- 
tist church. He organized the second one. 
Near the church he established was a 
grocery and a race track, both of which 
soon felt his influence, the result being that 
the groggery in a few years was closed and 
the race track grown over with grass and 
weeds. Later Mr. Hooker had charge of as 
many as four churches at one time. He 
never received a stated salary for his serv- 



ices, nor did he ask it, his object being not 
to make money but to elevate humanity and 
to honor his Maker. At the same time he 
has always been more or less interested in 
various business enterprises and has suc- 
ceeded financially in his undertakings. While 
in Hunt county he owned and ran a woolen 
factory and had an interest in a steam mill, 
and also farmed. The factory and mill he 
ran during the war in the interest of the 
war widows. During the latter part of the 
war the factory was impressed into military 
service by Kirby Smith, who was in the act 
of tearing it down and hauling it away on 
wagons he had seized for the purpose, when, 
at this critical period, the women took up 
arms, came to the front and prevented its 
removal. 

Soon after the close of the war Mr. 
Hooker moved to Fayette county, where 
his vocations for three years were farming 
and preaching the gospel, and at the end 
of that time he went from there to Hill 
county and settled on a farm. In 1891 he 
sold out and came to his present location, 
DufTau, where he engaged in merchandising 
with Mr. Miller, under the firm style of 
Hooker & Miller, and has since conducted a 
prosperous business and at the same time 
frequently preaching. Also he has other 
interests here. He owns a farm near the 
town, runs a blacksmith shop, and is the 
owner of town property, including his resi- 
dence and the building occupied by their 
store. 

Mr. Hooker married Mrs. Martha J. 
Dement, a young widow and a daughter of 
William and Eliza (Norwood) Justice. Her 
father and mother were natives respectively 
of North Carolina and Alabama, and her 
father was a prominent farmer and slave- 
holder, and religiously was a Methodist. He 



400 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



died in Mississippi before the war. Her 
mother subsequently moved to Texas, and 
died in this state. In their family were ten 
children, five sons and five daughters, all of 
whom came to Texas, namely: David W. , 
Martha J., Franklin H., Frances M., Mary 
A., Eliza, Caroline, Joseph, John and Del- 
cia. Four of this number are yet living. 
Mrs. Hooker had one child by her first hus- 
band. She and Mr. Hooker are the parents 
of the following named children: Dolphin, 
wife of M. Wigginton; Silana, wife of T. J. 
Dozier; Thomas; James, deceased; William 
J.; Paul; Flora, wife of M. Magee; and 
Sally, wife of J. W. Miller. Paul Hooker 
is a minister and is working in the interest 
of the Salvation Army. The children, 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren of 
Mr. and Mrs. Hooker now number fifty-four. 
Politically Mr. Hooker has been a Dem- 
ocrat ever since he became a voter and has 
always taken a commendable interest in 
both local and national issues, but has never 
been an office-seeker. He is now in favor 
of free silver. He is now nearly seventy- 
five years of age and is a hale and hearty 



HARON BENJAMINE ANDER- 
SON. — There is something in the 
life of every self-made man that 
excites admiration and respect, for 
those qualities which can overcome difficul- 
ties and obstacles and press forward to suc- 
cess are worthy the highest commendation 
and furnish an example that is indeed wor- 
thy of emulation. When men make the 
best of their opportunities to improve them- 
selves and their surroundings and by the 
exercise of those abilities with which nature 
has endowed them win success in a chosen 



calling, they command and receive the re- 
spect and esteem of those with whom they 
are associated. The subject of this review 
is such a man. He started out for himself 
empty-handed, but diligence and persever- 
ance have brought to him prosperity and to- 
day he ranks among the leading farmers 
and stock-raisers of Hood county. 

Mr. Anderson was born in Pendleton 
county, Kentucky, April 21, 1850, and is a 
son of William and Jane (Tucker) Ander- 
son. He was reared on the old homestead, 
remaining with his mother until he arrived 
at years of maturity. During his early 
childhood the family removed to Knox 
county, Missouri, where they remained until 
the year i860; they then moved to Dade 
county, Missouri, and remained there until 
1863, when all the property they po.ssessed 
was stolen and burned up by the soldiers. 
They could not remain there any longer, 
and at once constructed a cart out of the 
two hind wheels of an old wagon, which 
was drawn by two cows, and moved, in this 
conveyance, to Arkansas, and afterward 
came to Texas, settling in Lamar county, 
in 1865. 

There Mr. Anderson turned his attention 
to farming and continued the cultivation of 
his land there through the succeeding dec- 
ade, when he removed to Hood county, in 
18715. For three years after his arrival in 
this section of the state he rented land and 
then pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
acres, which at that time was still in its 
primitive condition, not a furrow having 
been turned or an improvement made on 
the tract. With characteristic energy he 
began its development and it was soon 
transformed into rich and fertile fields. As his 
financial resources grew Mr. Anderson also 
added to his property from time to time un- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



401 



til his landed possessions now aggregate six- 
teen hundred acres, of which two hundred 
are under a high state of cultivation and 
yield to the owner a golden tribute in return 
for the labor he bestows upon it. In con- 
nection with general farming he is exten- 
sively engaged in stock-raising and now has 
three hundred and fifty head of cattle and 
seventy-five head of horses. He is recog- 
nized as one of the leading farmers of the 
county, for he is progressive in his methods 
and keeps fully up with the improvements 
of the age and with advancement in any 
way connected with his chosen occupation. 
He is to-day the possessor of a good prop- 
erty, all through his own efforts. 

In 1 87 1 Mr. Anderson was united in 
marriage with Miss Victoria Ann Gunter, a 
native of Texas, and resided in Nacogdoches 
county. They have three children, two 
boys and one girl. The first boy, Robert 
Newton Anderson, was born in Lamar coun- 
ty, Texas, on January 28, 1872; the second, 
a girl, Susie Anderson, born in Hood county, 
Texas, on August 23, 1878; and the third, 
a boy. Bee Anderson, born in Hood county, 
Texas, July 31, 1880. Their mother died 
in Hood county, Texas, May 18, 1881. 
Mr. Anderson was married on September 
6, 1882, to Miss Mary Frances Ring, in Hood 
county, Texas, who was a native of John- 
son county, Illinois, and came to this state 
in the spring of 1877; she was born June 
II, 1 86 1. By this union there are four 
children: John Anderson, born in Hood 
county, Texas, May 13, 1883; Evaleaner 
Anderson, born in Hood county, Texas, 
May 7, 1885; William Anderson, born in 
Hood county, Texas, September 21, 1889; 
and Hattie May Anderson, born in Hood 
county, Texas, March 15, 1894. 

Mr. Anderson is a member of Jubilee 



Lodge, No. 599, A. F. & A. M., in politics 
is a stalwart Democrat, and is deeply inter- 
ested in all that pertains to the county's 
welfare and upbuilding. 



^~>^AMUEL I. RUNDELL.— On the 
•^^11* highway leading east from Walnut 
f<_y Springs, three and a half miles dis- 
tant from the town, is found the 
pleasant home and nice farm of one who is 
a recent acquisition to Bosque county, — 
Samuel I. Rundell. He became identified 
with this place in the autumn of 1895, ^nd 
while his residence here has been brief it has 
been long enough to gain him recognition as 
a public-spirited citizen and a man of more 
than ordinary ability. 

Mr. Rundell is a Texan by birth. He 
was born in Rusk county. May 6, 1859, son 
of Isaac M. and Leo N. (Holt) Rundell, 
both natives of South Carolina. Of his pa- 
ternal grandparents he knows little or noth- 
ing. His maternal grandfather was Israel 
Holt, a native of South Carolina and a rep- 
resentative of a family that settled there at 
an early day. Isaac M. Rundell went from 
South Carolina to Mississippi and in 1856 
came from the latter state to Texas, locat- 
ing in Rusk county, where he engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. He was exempt from 
service in the late war and during that per- 
iod was occupied in freighting, a business 
which was profitable here before the advent 
of the railroad. His death occurred in 
Bosque county in 1867. The mother still 
survives, is now sixty-seven years of age, 
and resides with her son Samuel I. The 
children of this worthy couple numbered 
seven, brief record of whom is as follows: 
Frances, deceased; Harriet E., wife of W. 
H. Cunningham, of Bosque county; Israel, 



402 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



a resident of the Indian Nation; Samuel I., 
whose name graces this article; Sarah J., 
who died at the age of seventeen years; 
John W. , a farmer of Bosque county; and 
Mary E. J., wife of A. K. ISender, of De 
Leon, Texas. 

Samuel I. Rundell was nine years old at 
the time his father died. Five years later, 
at the early age of fourteen, he left home and 
pushed out to make his own way in the 
world, at first securing employment as a 
farm hand. From farming he turned to 
railroading. For four years he was con- 
nected with the Texas Central, afterward 
with the Santa Fe line and again with the 
Texas Central, spending in all about eight 
years in railroad employ. After this he 
bought a farm in Eastland county, where he 
resided and carried on agricultural pursuits 
about three years, selling out at the end of 
that time and investing in a farm in John- 
son county. After four years residence in 
Johnson county he again sold out, and it was 
at this time that he came to his present lo- 
cation. Here he purchased 165 acres, all 
under fence, and eighty-five acres in cultiva- 
tion, and the place well improved with com- 
modious residence, good outbuildings, or- 
chard, etc. When Mr. Rundell first set- 
tled down to farming he made a specialty of 
the live-stock business, but he now keeps 
only enough stock for the support of his 
land, and raises the usual crops of this 
vicinity. 

Mr. Rundell was married in 1883 to Miss 
C. A. Harris, a native of Missouri and a 
daughter of John M. Harris. Her father 
was a Tennessean who removed from Mis- 
souri to Texas in 1880, returned soon after, 
but came back in 1883, and in this state 
passed the residue of his life with his chil- 
dren. He died in Bosque county in 1888. 



Four children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Rundell, three of whom are living, — 
Marion Otto, Cathie N., Stella E. 

Mrs. Rundell's father was a stanch mem- 
ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
in which he reared his family, and of this 
church both Mr. and Mrs. Rundell are con- 
sistent and acceptable members. Also Mr. 
Rundell is a member of the Masonic order. 



>-T*OHN THOMAS JAMES, a success- 
J ful druggist at Hamilton, Texas, was 
/• J born at Napa, California, April 2, 
1856, and is a son of William Har- 
rison and Lucy Ann (Wade) James. His 
parents took him with them to the east 
when he was thirteen years of age, and lo- 
cated for a time at Warrensburg, Missouri, 
where he attended school for twelve months. 
Then he was taken with his father and family 
to Webster county in the same state. As 
he grew older he studied pharmacy and read 
medicine under his father's supervision. He 
was quite competent, and when he had 
reached the age of twenty struck out for 
himself, coming to Hamilton, February 
5, 1876, and at once opened a drug store, 
in company with Z. C. Law, with whom he 
remained in business until 1880. In 1877 
they added banking to their other business, 
and branching out extensively into the sheep 
business, incurred many and serious losses, 
which compelled an assignment in 1880, our 
subject losing everything he had in the 
world ! 

Mr. James was not discouraged, but with 
a pluck peculiarly American, he sought em- 
ployment as a clerk in the service of Dr. 
George F. Perry. The clerkship presently 
grew into another partnership, out of which 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



has come the present firm of Perry & James. 
Mr. James was instrumental in the organiza- 
tion of the Hamilton National Bank, of 
which institution he is at present vice-presi- 
dent. He has been much interested in the 
insurance business since 1884, and has had 
large representations of loan and investment 
interests since 1886, acting as local agent for 
prominent state and eastern companies. In 
these years he has been remarkably success- 
ful in all his business turns, and is now the 
owner of thirteen hundred acres of farm 
land in Hamilton county, besides much city 
and other property. 

Mr. James led to the altar September 3, 
1879, Miss Mary T. Bouldin, a native of 
Arkansas, and for a number of years a resi- 
dent of Belton, Texas. Mrs. James is the 
daughter of Captain H. M. and Nancy (Gill- 
espie) Bouldin, and has borne her husband 
two children — Cecil Bouldin and Malcolm 
Gillespie, born January 10, 1882, and No- 
vember 17, 1883. 

Mr. James has been actively identified 
with the Democratic party, but has never 
been an office-seeker or a holder of official 
position. He is associated through his wife 
with the Episcopal church, and is a Mason 
of considerable prominence, having become 
a member of Rock House Lodge, No. 417, 
July 17, 1880. He may well congratulate 
himself upon the very large measure of suc- 
cess that he has won through these stormy 
and desperate years. In 1880 he had lost 
everything that he possessed, and to-day he 
enjoys the reputation of being one of the 
strongest and most reliable moneyed men of 
the county. 

William Harrison James, the father of 
our subject, is now a practicing physician in 
Missouri, at the age of sixty-eight. He was 
born near Knoxville, in east Tennessee. 



The mother of our subject is a native of 
Virginia, but her parents took her while 
still a child to Arkansas, where she was resi- 
dent a brief time. Then the family moved 
on to California, where she met and married 
the father of our subject. She is the mother 
of four boys and three girls, of whom all 
but one are living. John James, the grand- 
father of our subject, married Elizabeth 
Moulton Kelly; was the father of eight 
children, — four boys and four girls, — and 
died when upward of sixty years of age. 
The James family is of English extraction. 
Thomas B. Wade, the maternal grandfa- 
ther of our subject, was a native of Vir- 
ginia, and died in Arkansas. He was mar- 
ried to Phoebe Ann O'Driskell, and spent 
the greater part of his life at Richmond, 
Virginia. They were the parents of nine 
children. 



>Y*EFFREY R. BELL.— On the road 
H leading southwest from Alexander, 
A 1 and about three miles out from the 
town, is the pleasant home and fine 
farm of one of the most enterprising and 
successful farmers of Erath county, — Jeffrey 
R. Bell; and at this point in this series of 
biographical sketches we take pleasure in 
referring briefly to his life and ancestry. 
Although a native of Alabama, Mr. Bell has 
never known any other home than Texas. 
He was born in Alabama, February 22, 1846, 
and in the fall of that same year was brought 
by his parents to the Lone Star state, their 
location being in Rusk county. 

Mr. Bell's parents, Thomas and Mary 
(Holland) Bell, were born in Tennessee and 
Georgia respectively, and were married in 
the latter state. Thomas Bell was a son of 
Thomas Bell, Sr., who was of Irish descent 



404 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and a resident of Tennessee. The senior 
Mr. Bell and a Mr. Carmicle laid out the 
town of Knoxvilie, Te.xas. In 1847 Grand- 
father Bell came to Texas and made settle- 
ment in Cherokee county, where he passed 
the residue of his life and where he died in 
1862. He built the first small gin and mill 
in Cherokee county. He was a farmer and 
slaveholder, and a member of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian church, and both in Ten- 
nessee and Texas he figured as a prominent 
man and enjoyed the confidence and respect 
of ail who knew him. 

The father of our subject, as above 
stated, settled in Rusk county on coming to 
Texas. He first located on wild land and 
made a farm, and later sold out and bought 
an improved farm. He died in December, 
i860, in the prime of life, leaving a widow 
and a large family of children. His widow 
is still living, is now nearing the octoge- 
narian ranks, and has a pleasant home with 
her son Jeffrey R. In 1864 she came to 
Dublin, where her father, John Holland, 
had formerly lived. At the close of the war 
she sold her Rusk county homestead and 
located with her family near Alexander. 
Of recent years she has lived with her son. 
Of her children, we record that Simruda, 
widow of William Caison, is a resident of 
Cherokee county, Texas; Thomas is a farmer 
in that county; Martha is the wife of B. 
Quaid, a Cooke county farmer; Jeffrey R. 
is the subject of this review; Mary has been 
twice married, first to Joseph McDow and 
after his death to Green Britton, a Mills 
county farmer; Amanda's first husband was 
Thomas Hollis, and her present husband, 
Samuel Robinson, has a wagon-yard and 
boarding house in Stephenville; Azilee is 
the wife of George Salmon, a stockman of 
La Salle county; and Antinette, whose first 



husband was Jesse Hollis, is now the wife of 
G. B. Phillips, a farmer of Erath county. 

Jeffrey R. Bell passed his boyhood days 
on his father's frontier farm in I^usk county, 
was early inured to the various kinds of 
hard work known only to pioneer farmers, 
and in consequence of the unsettled condi- 
tion of the country had only the most mea- 
ger educational advantages. At the time 
the civil war broke out he was not yet 
grown. His youth, however, did not pre- 
vent him from entering the service of his 
country, and in 1862, at the age of sixteen, 
we find him enlisting as a member of Bird's 
battalion. He was mustered in at Shreve- 
port, Louisiana; consigned to the Western 
Department, under Kirby Smith, and was 
with the forces that operated in Indian 
Territory, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. 
From his enlistment until the close of the 
war he was on active duty, being detailed 
most of that time as courier, and at the 
time of the surrender was at Clarksville, in 
Red River county, this state. From there 
he returned to his old home in Rusk county, 
and shortly after joined his mother in Erath 
county. Here they took a squatter's claim 
on an old survey, bought a stock of cattle, 
and pioneered again, and the following three 
years our subject spent most of his time in 
the saddle, looking after the stock and con- 
ducting the affairs of the ranch. Then they 
sold out and bought a claim on the Little 
Duffau, Jeffrey having full charge of its op- 
erations and being his mother's chief sup- 
port. In 1875 he came to his present loca- 
tion. After that his mother gave the claim 
to a son-in-law and he subsequently sold it. 

On coming to his present location, Mr. 
Bell purchased eighty acres of partially im- 
proved land, twenty-six acres being under 
cultivation, and into the log cabin which he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



405 



found here he moved his family, he having 
been married about three years at that time. 
To this eighty-acre tract he added by later 
purchase until he now has five hundred and 
twenty acres, one hundred and seventy of 
which are under cultivation, and the log 
cabin has long since been replaced by a 
commodious and pretty home, surrounded 
by ail that goes to make life pleasant in this 
favored clime. With the selling of his herd 
of cattle years ago Mr. Bell's interest in the 
stock business did not cease. He has al- 
ways handled more or less stock, usually 
keeping a surplus, and, like not a few of the 
most enterprising farmers of this part of the 
country, is now directing his attention more 
especially to a higher grade of stock than 
was formerly deemed profitable here. He 
has tried various breeds of hogs and finds 
Poland-China and Berkshire the most desir- 
able; makes his own pork and lard. Since 
1 893 he has been raising sheep, his flock 
including a mixed stock of the best breeds. 
When he began grading up his cattle it was 
first with Durham, next Holstein, and re- 
cently he has crossed with Jerseys. Espe- 
cially has he been interested in improvingthe 
grade of horses. He has owned some fine 
stallions and at this writing has a valuable 
Morgan steeldust Jordan horse. Also he 
has handled jacks to some extent. The 
visitor to Mr. Bell's delightful rural place is 
at once impressed with the system and order 
which prevail on every side and concedes to 
him a first place among the most progress- 
ive farmers of his day. 

Mr. Bell served one term as county 
commissioner of Erath county and has not 
infrequently been solicited to run for other 
offices, but he has never been an aspirant 
for official honors, feeling that the demands 
of his own private affairs were sufficient to 



require all his time and attention. It was 
during his term of office as commissioner 
that the courthouse at Stephensville was 
erected, and his service on the board at 
that time was of inestimable value. Mr. 
Bell has long been identified with the Demo- 
cratic party, — in fact, was reared a Demo- 
crat; but recently has taken more advanced 
views than those advocated by the old party 
and is now what is known as an independ- 
ent Democrat. Fraternally, he affiliates 
with the Masonic order. He and his wife 
and mother are all members of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church. 

Mr. Bell was married in 1872 to Miss 
Elephare Boatright, a native of Cherokee 
county, Texas, and a daughter of George 
Boatright. Her father was a Georgia man 
who came to this state about 1850, bringing 
with him his family and slaves belonging to 
Mr. Harris, and settling in Rusk county, 
where he became a prominent citizen and 
where he still resides. During the late war 
he served as a member of Ochiletree's regi- 
ment, Walker's division. After only a few 
brief years of happy wedded life, Mr. Bell 
was called upon to mourn the loss of his 
young companion, her death occurring in 
1875. She left two children, namely: 
Laura, now the wife of F. Ross, a farmer 
of this county; and Eudora, wife of Algie 
Monroe, also a farmer of Erath county. In 
1877 Mr. Bell's marriage to Miss Sallie 
Myers was consummated. She was born in 
Cherokee county, Texas, in 1855, daughter 
of Judge Abraham Myers, formerly of Ten- 
nessee. Judge Myers came to Texas in 
1845, lived in Cherokee county until i860, 
and then moved to Bosque county, where he 
died in 1881. He was a prominent Demo- 
crat and popular man, was largely interested 
in farming and stock-raising in Bosque 



406 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



county, and there filled the offices of justice 
of the peace and county commissioner. He 
had served as judge previous to his removal 
to this state. Mr. Bell and his present wife 
have four children, \'\z.: Azilee, Abraham, 
John and Jeffrey. 



>Tr«OSHUA H. EDWARDS.— Among 
m the prominent and enterprising farm- 
A 1 ers of Erath county and veterans of 
the late war is the subject of this 
sketch — Joshua H. Edwards. He was born 
in the Old North State (North Carolina), 
September 20, 1843, son of Leonard and 
Mary ( Glasscock ) Edwards, both natives of 
that state. Not long after the birth of our 
subject his parents emigrated to Ohio and 
settled in Lawrence county, where the father 
continued work at his trade, that of wheel- 
wright, and where he died about 1848. His 
widow survived him until 1855. They were 
not rich in this world's goods and the chil- 
dren as soon as possible scattered and be- 
came self-supporting. Of their family of five 
sons and six daughters we make the follow- 
ing record: John, deceased, never left Ohio; 
Charles went out to Washington Territory 
and there died; William and Elisha died in 
Ohio; Washington died in Virginia; Joshua 
H. Edwards, whose name heads this article, 
is the youngest of the sons and the only one 
now living; Elizabeth is the wife of a Mr. 
Brown; Tempa B. married George Bru- 
baker; Margaret, wife of J. H. Roberts, has 
been a resident of Texas since 1858; Mary 
J. was married in Texas to John Brown, and 
their home is now in Washington state; and 
Louisa C, widow of William Tatum, re- 
sides in Kansas. The mother of these chil- 
dren was a member of the Baptist church. 
Joshua H. Edwards, early thrown upon 



his own resources, came to Texas about 
i860, at about the age of sixteen, joining 
some distant relatives here and being em- 
ployed by them as a farm hand. In Octo- 
ber of the following year he enlisted in the 
Confederate service, in the Tenth Texas 
Regiment, under Colonel Nelson. After 
Colonel Nelson's death R. Q. Mills took 
command of the regiment and it was con- 
signed to the Tran-Mississippi department. 
At the battle of Arkansas Post the larger 
part of the regiment was captured and taken 
to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where they were 
held three months, after which they were 
exchanged and sent to Petersburg, Virginia. 
From this time on young Edwards was with 
the forces that operated in the east and 
south. He was under General Bragg in the 
battle of Chickamauga. Other engagements 
in which he took part were Lookout Moun- 
tain, New Hope Church and Tunnel Hill. 
At Marietta, Georgia, he was again captured. 
This time he was taken to Chattanooga, 
where he was offered his freedom if he would 
take an oath not to enter the Confederate 
service again. On his refusal to accept 
these terms he was sent to Camp Morton, 
Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was held 
eight months. He was then paroled and 
transferred to Virginia, where he was re- 
leased by his own officers; and on his way 
home, at Jackson, Mississippi, he learned of 
the surrender of General Lee. 

The year after his return from the army 
Mr. Edwards married and settled down to 
farming on rented land. Two years later 
his home was broken up by the death of his 
wife. From 1870 to 1875 he traveled 
throughout various parts of the country, but 
finally returned to Texas, and in 1885 was 
married again. Since his second marriage 
he has occupied his present farm in Erath 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



407 



county and given his attention to general 
farming, also working some at his trades, 
he being both a carpenter and stone mason. 
Some years ago he dealt considerably in 
stock but of recent years it has been his 
purpose to keep only enough stock with 
which to carry on his farming operations. 

Mr. Edwards had his share in the Indian 
troubles which prevailed in Texas between 
the years 1859 and 1 87 1. He was in many 
a raid after the red men and in one battle 
with them, namely, Sandy Creek, where 
twenty-five Indians were arrayed against 
eight white men. The latter, although so 
much in the minority, came out victorious, 
completely routing the Indians. The other 
men in this engagement besides Mr. Ed- 
wards were George Keith, J. K. Roberts, 
Jerome McCallister, John Beal, Hezekiah 
Bellamy, Leonard Roberts and Albert Hen- 
ing. Mr. Hening received a flesh wound 
in the left side, but in due time recovered 
from it. It is not known that any of the 
Indians were killed. 

Mr. Edwards was first married in 1 866, 
to Miss Elizabeth Bellamy, daughter of 
Hezekiah Bellamy, an Ohio gentleman who 
had moved from Ohio to Missouri and 
thence to Texas, where he died. During 
this marriage there occurred the birth of 
one child, William W., who is now a farmer 
of Erath county. Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards 
was a member of the Methodist church, was 
a most amiable woman and was loved by all 
who knew her. Her untimely death occur- 
red in 1868. In 1885 was consummated 
Mr. Edwards' marriage to Mrs. Sarah E. 
Galbreath, his present companion. By her 
former marriage she had three children, — 
Roy E., Ada M., and Ida D. M.,— two of 
whom are now married. Mrs. Edwards 
was born in Washington county, Texas, in 



1846, daughter of J. B. and Matilda (Pen- 
nington) Dupuy, the former a native of 
Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. Mr. 
Dupuy was a mechanic of great ingenuity, a 
wheelwright, cabinet-maker, etc. ; was pub- 
lic-spirited and took an active interest in 
local affairs; in politics was Democratic, and 
served as justice of the peace and also filled 
other minor offices. He came to Erath 
county in 1857 and died here in 1864. His 
eleven children were named as follows: 
Mary J., Riggs, Joanna, Sarah, Rebecca, 
William, John, Liddia, Adeline, Ellen and 
Capitola,— all now living except Riggs, who 
was assassinated by a Mexican. The mother 
is still living, is seventy-nine years of age, 
and is well preserved both mentally and- 
physically. She is a member of the Chris- 
tian church, as also are Mr. and Mrs. Ed- 
wards. By his present marriage Mr. Ed- 
wards has two children, — Leonard B. and 
Sarah A., both at home. 

Mr. Edwards served as deputy sheriff of 
Erath county under A. L. Kirk, and was 
shot at twice by a desperado in Texas, 
while on duty as an officer, both shots tak- 
ing effect, one of which severed the right 
collar bone. He did not fully recover from 
this wound for seven years. Mr. Edwards 
has the bravery to encounter any kind of 
opposition to principle and official duty. In 
this respect he has the character of Andrew 
Jackson. 



HH. REEDER, a leading and rep- 
resentative citizen of Somerville 
county, Texas, has been a resident 
of Texas since 1873, and since 
1 89 1 has lived upon his present farm, own- 
ing three hundred and twenty acres of good 



4D8 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



land, where he is surrounckd by the desira- 
ble things of life and enjoys the esteem and 
confidence of his neighbors. He was born 
in Washington county, Arkansas, near Cin- 
cinnati, December 12, 1854. 

Noah Reeder, his grandfather, came to 
Texas in 1840, but returned to Washington 
county, Arkansas, and died there. McCa- 
ger Reeder, father of the last mentioned, 
was a native of Kentucky, who moved first 
to Arkansas and afterward to Te.xas, settling 
at the mouth of the Big Cany creek, before 
the Mexican war, but finally returned to 
Arkansas, where he died. 

The birth of his father, A. G. Reeder, 
also occurred in Arkansas, some sixty-four 
years ago, and he was of Irish descent. In 
Washington county, that state, he married 
Miss Nancy Caroline West, who was born 
there, and is the daughter of Jonathan 
West, who belonged to an old and promi- 
nent family of the south. Ten children 
were born of this union, namely: A. H., 
Samantha, William T. , Ellen, John, Ed, 
Dora, Ula, and two who died in infancy. 

From Arkansas the father removed with 
his family to Kansas, living for a time near 
Ottumwa, Coffey county, and later near 
Emporia, Lyon county. Returning to Mis- 
souri he made his home there for about 
seven years, near Carthage, in Jasper coun- 
ty, after which he went to Montgomery 
county, Kansas, remaining at Independence 
for eighteen months. Since that time he 
has resided in Somerville county, Texas, 
where he has an excellent farm of one hun- 
dred and ten acres, well improved. In 
politics he is a stalwart Democrat, and in 
religious matters his wife is a Methodist. 

Our subject accompanied his parents on 
their various removals, coming to Texas 
with them in 1873, but previous to that 



time he had acquired a common-school edu- 
cation. He gives close attention to his 
farming interests, raising corn, cotton and 
all the cereals adapted to this clime, and 
his place is also well stocked with horses 
and hogs. He has a good residence, barns 
and other outbuildings and his fields are 
enclosed by good fences. 

At the age of twenty, Mr. Reeder was 
married, the lady of his choice being Miss 
M. J. Moon, a native of Mississippi, and 
a daughter of Jack and Martha (Johnson) 
Moon, both of whom died in that state. 
Nine children grace this union, seven sons 
and two daughters — Robert M., Henry G., 
Joseph R. , George W. , Jack A., Martha 
C, Bert E., Kate and John F. 

Mr. Reeder is a firm Democrat in his 
political views. He is an influential citizen, 
taking a deep interest in public affairs and 
is highly respected by all who know him. 
His excellent wife holds a membership in 
the Baptist church. 



aN. JOHNSTON, who follows farm- 
ing and stock-raising in Erath 
county, where he has made his 
home since 1876, was born in 
Conecuh county, Alabama, March 13, 1847, 
his parents being W. F. and F. C. (Collins) 
Johnston. He was reared on a farm and 
continued on the old homestead until the 
civil war was inaugurated. In 1862, al- 
though only fifteen years of age, he joined 
the Confederate forces, becoming a member 
of Company I, Fifteenth Alabama Volun- 
teer Cavalry. He served in Florida, Ala- 
bama and Mississippi, doing duty on the 
coast until the close of the war. 

When hostilities had ceased Mr. John- 




^.%^rm 



af/i. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



409 



ston returned to Alabama, where he followed 
farming until his marriage. That important 
event in his life occurred in January, 1871, 
when he led to the marriage altar Miss Re- 
becca Orum, a native of Alabama and a 
daughter of Henry and Caroline Orum. Ten 
days after their marriage the young couple 
started for Te.xas and made a location in 
Limestone county, where Mr. Johnston de- 
veloped a farm, continuing its cultivation 
until 1876, the year of his arrival in Erath 
county. 

On reaching this county our subject 
rented land for a period of seven years and 
was successfully engaged in farming, on the 
bank of the Palu.xy. He also engaged in 
the stock-raising business, and when he had 
acquired a sufficient capital he purchased 
his present farm, in 18S3. The work of 
improvement had been scarcely begun on 
the two hundred and forty acre tract of 
which he became owner, but he was indus- 
trious and energetic, and now has eighty 
acres highly improved, the well tilled fields 
telling to the passer-by the story of his labors 
and enterprise. He raises principally corn 
and cotton, and for his products finds a 
ready sale on the market. He also pur- 
chased cattle at nineteen dollars per head 
and to-day he owns one hundred head of 
fine graded cattle. He has been very pros- 
perous in his labors and his success is well 
deserved, as it has all been acquired through 
his own efforts, resulting from energy and 
sound judgment. 

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are the parents 
of four children, M. A., a farmer residing in 
Erath county; M. W., O. A., and G. A., 
all at home. In his political views he is in- 
dependent. His wife is a member of the 
Baptist church and both are highly esteemed 
people. 



^^OHN CALHOUN MAIN, county 
J judge of Hamilton county, Te.xas, 

A J has made a somewhat remarkable 
record of winning a position on the 
bench of Texas when not yet twenty-six 
years of age against fierce competition, and 
of administering the duties of that high po- 
sition so fairly and honestly as to secure a 
triumphant re-election two years later. It 
is a pleasure to the historian to tell the 
story of so successful a career. Judge Main 
is a choice specimen of the possibilities of 
the Blue Grass country in the way of strong 
and sturdy manhood, hailing as he does 
from Bell county, Kentucky, where he was 
born December 14, 1868. 

His parents were Benjamin Franklin 
and Susan (Siler) Main, his father being a 
native of Middle Tennessee, where he was 
born in 1842. Elder Main himself is far 
above the average in point of ability, char- 
acter and energy. At the outbreak of the 
civil war he sided with the cause of the 
north, and enlisted in the Eighth Kentucky 
Regiment, serving throughout the great 
struggle. In this movement he was accom- 
panied by his brother John, though disap- 
proved by the rest of his people. The two 
had the usual army experiences. The young 
soldier, Benjamin, was captured at Gettys- 
burg and wounded at Murfreesboro. He 
was held a prisoner of war for two months 
at Dalton, Georgia, when he was exchanged. 
His nature early turned to religious matters 
and he began to preach when only seven- 
teen years of age. He acted as chaplain 
during part of his service in the army, and 
is now a practicing physician and a preacher 
of the Missionary Baptist church in Lansing, 
Oklahoma. The mother of our subject 
died in 1889, at the age of thirty-eight. Her 
birthplace was the village of Boston, Ken- 



410 



HIS TORT OF' TEXAS. 



tuckj', and she was the mother of seven chil- 
dren, all of whom are living, but only one is 
found in Texas. Their names are Charles, 
Calvin (our subject), Benjamin Franklin, 
Mack, Green Clay, Joe Smith and Sidney. 

The grandfather of our subject, Charles 
Calvin Main, is how living at Stephenville, 
Texas. He is a native of North Carolina, 
and has been a lifelong agriculturist, and is 
a devoted member of the Missionary Bap- 
tist church. He was early married to Mollie 
Jones, of Scotch extraction, who has borne 
him the following children: John Calhoun, 
Benjamin Franklin, Martha, Ann (married 
a man named Thomas), J. Davis, William 
Henry, Charles A., James Mack, Louisia A. 
(Cooper), Thomas, and Rosa Belle (Mar- 
low). The Mains are of English origin, a 
Main and a Miss Berisford coming from 
England in colonial times and settling in 
Virginia as missionaries, where they were 
presently married. The name was origin- 
ally spelled Mayne, but was changed in 
handling checks, and has remained as above 
written. James Siler, the maternal grand- 
father of our subject, was married to Susan 
Stanfill ; both were Kentucky people. They 
became the parents of Susan, Shirel, Caro- 
lina, Efifie, two boys, and Mary, and are 
still living. 

Our subject is a conspicuous illustration 
of the possibilities of American life. He 
has made his way upward to a high position 
with few advantages, and against tremen- 
dous difficulties, and while still a young man 
holds a prominent position in the judiciary 
of Texas. He was an attendant at Union 
College at Barbersville, Kentucky, for ten 
months, and spent one term in teaching in 
that state in 1885. The next year he left 
Kentucky, and came to Clifton, Bosque 
county, Texas, where he worked on a farm 



for a year. He then found employment on 
the sheep ranch of J. B. Barbee. He 
taught a term at Enterprise, and in the 
summer found work on cattle ranches, and 
continued in this way until 1892, when he 
was admitted to the bar. Two years before 
our subject began reading law under the 
direction of H. A. Allen, of Hamilton, but 
now of Henrietta, Clay county, and re- 
ceived also the counsel and advice of J. A. 
Eidson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in 
this work. 

Immediately after his admission to the 
bar. Judge Main began the practice of his 
profession. In the early part of 1893 he 
formed a partnership with J. W. Warren, 
under the firm name of Warren & Main, 
which was dissolved January I, 1895. Since 
that time he has been alone in his practice. 
He has taken a deep interest in political 
affairs, and has cast his lot with the fortunes 
of the Populist party, and much of his best 
work has been done in the direction of pro- 
moting the interests of that organization, 
in 1893 he inaugurated the Hamilton Jour- 
nal, with which he was associated for some 
nine months. He was a candidate for 
county attorney in 1892, and was defeated 
by J. B. Allen. Two years later he was 
nominated for county judge, and was elected 
to that responsible and highly honorable 
position. He was tendered the nomination 
for district judge in 1896, also for district 
attorney, but declined to accept both nomi- 
nations. He has faithfully discharged the 
duties of his office as county judge, and is 
a candidate for re-election. He and his wife 
are members of the Presbyterian church, 
and he is also prominently associated with 
the Odd Fellows and Masonic orders. 

On the 7th of May, 1893, the Judge 
married Miss Leila Ada Roddy, at Shiver, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



411 



Texas. She is the daughter of Joseph 
Berry and EHzabeth Jane (Murray) Roddy, 
and the granddaughter of Ephraim and 
Harriet H. (Earl) Roddy. They have two 
children, namely: Thomas Talmage, born 
June 17, 1894, at Hamilton; and an infant 
daughter, born May 13, 1896. 



>^AMES FRANKLIN WOODWARD, 

■ one of the most popular and wide- 
A 1 awake business men of Hamilton 
county, where he is familiarly known 
as Captain Woodward, was born on the 30th 
of May, 1836, in Wayne county, Tennessee, 
and is a son of Solomon H. and Elizabeth 
(Bivins) Woodward, who took their family 
to Tishomingo county, Mississippi, in 1840, 
where the father died two years later. The 
mother then returned to Tennessee, and 
and there she passed away in 1845. She 
was the daughter of Abram Bivins, whose 
birth occurred in Virginia, but he was mar- 
ried in Tennessee, and there spent most of 
his life. William Woodward, the paternal 
grandfather of our subject, was also a na- 
tive of the Old Dominion, and was a farmer 
by occupation. With six brothers he aided 
the colonies in their struggle for independ- 
ence, and in the war of 181 2 the father of 
our subject served, being with General 
Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. 

After the death of his mother. Captain 
Woodward went to Chickasaw, now Cal- 
houn county, Mississippi, and made his 
home with W. B. Woodward, a store-keeper 
and farmer, with whom he remained until 
1856, when he went to New Lexington, 
Alabama, and stayed," with a cousin, T. W. 
Smith, for the purpose of going to school. 
In 1858 he began teaching and taught for ' 



ten months in Walker county, Alabama. 
We next find him in Cass county, Texas, 
where he had cousins living, reaching Jeffer- 
son, in what was then Cass county, but is 
now Marion county, on the 12th of January, 
1859. He clerked for B. F. Miller in Cusseta 
in a general store for twelve months, re- 
ceiving six hundred and fifty dollars and 
board. In connection with A. P. Therrell, 
he bought out the stock of his employer, the 
firm becoming Woodward & Therrell. 

This partnership continued until the be- 
ginning of the civil war, when Mr. Therrell 
enlisted in the First Texas Infantry, under 
Captain A. G. Clopton, and was killed at 
Sharpsburg, Maryland, in 1862. Mr. Wood- 
ward was made first lieutenant of the com- 
pany known as the Lone Star Rifles, being 
mustered in at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 
September, 1861, and reported to Albert 
Sydney Johnston at Bowling Green, Ken- 
tucky. He participated in the battle of 
Shiloh, after which he went to Alabama, 
where he raised a company of cavalry, be- 
coming its captain. This was Company B 
of the Fifth Alabama Cavalry, and served 
with General Forrest most of the time. 

At the close of the war. Captain Wood- 
ward was in Mississippi, from which state 
he returned to Cass county, Texas, but in 
1866 went to Bell county, where he engaged 
in dealing in horses for a time, and then 
in the real-estate business. He purchased 
considerable land in Hamilton county, and 
located large tracts for other parties. It 
was on the 22d of May, 1879, that he lo- 
cated at his present place, and is still quite 
extensively engaged in real estate. He has 
owned several thousand acres in Hamilton 
county, where he yet has two thousand 
acres, and also one thousand in Mills coun- 
ty, a part of which is under cultivation. He 



412 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



has a farm of three hundred acres in culti- 
vation, four miles west of Hamilton. 

On the 31st of March, 1875, ^^'^s cele- 
brated the marriage of Captain Woodward 
and Miss Henrietta Elizabeth Smith, who 
was born in Randolph county, Georgia, 
June 15, 1846, and was the daughter of 
Jonithan and Martha (Barker) Smith. She 
was called from this life, September 6, 1894, 
leaving many friends as well as relatives 
to mourn her loss, but no children. Cap- 
tain Woodward was married the second 
time, to Miss Julia H. Witherspoon, in the 
city of Bessemer, Alabama, on the ist day 
of June, 1896, and is still occupying his 
old home four miles west of Hamilton, 
Texas. 

The Captain was a Democrat until 1892, 
since which time he has supported the Peo- 
ple's party, and, religiously, for twenty-five 
years has been a faithful member of the 
Missionary Baptist church. Socially, he is 
identified with Cusseta Lodge, No. 162, 
F. & A. M., and is also a Royal Arch Mason, 
now holding a dimit from Golden Rule 
Lodge and Golden Rule Chapter, both of 
Robertson county, Texas. Captain Wood- 
ward has traveled extensively throughout 
the state, and is well acquainted with its 
natural resources. He is one of the large 
landowners of Hamilton county, and has 
done much to improve the locality and in- 
troduce new settlers. He is in prosperous 
circumstances and knows how to enjoy life. 



^y^ ICK BRYAN.— He whose life now 
I \ comes under review must be dis- 
\ \ tinctively regarded as one of the 
representative men of Bosque coun- 
ty, — one whose identity with the county and 
its development covers a period of twenty- 



eight years, the date of his arrival in Texas 
being 1868. 

Mr. Bryan is a native of Alabama, born 
December 10, 1846, was reared to farm 
pursuits, and though his educational advan- 
tages in youth were limited in scope, yet he 
secured a good practical education which 
has been most admirably supplemented by 
the wide experience which has been his in 
later years. He is a son of William E. and 
Charity (Jay) Bryan, who were born, reared 
and married in Alabama, and who moved 
from there to Louisiana in 1846. In Lou- 
isiana William E. Bryan bought and im- 
proved a farm and lived on it until 1856, 
when he sold out and moved to another 
farm in that state, where he died the follow- 
ing 'year, of flux, his wife, four children, 
two grandchildren and a son-in-law, nine in 
all, dying in eight days, and all of the same 
disease. The parents and all the children 
were Methodists. The father, following 
farming all his life, was a well-known man 
and one greatly respected, and his untime- 
ly death and that of his wife and children 
was a sad blow to the remaining members 
of the family and their many friends. Of 
the surviving children, we record that Ellen 
became the wife of T. J. Tanner, came to 
Texas in 1871, and died here some years 
later; Nick is the subject of this sketch; 
James removed to Texas in 1868 and has 
since been engaged in farming in Bosque 
county; and two of the younger children 
died during the war. Thus the two broth- 
ers, Nick and James, are the only ones now 
left of this large family. After the death of 
the parents the orphan children were taken 
into the home of an uncle, where all re- 
mained until nearly grown. 

The direct subject of this review, Nick 
Bryan, had not entered far into his 'teens 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



413 



when war was inaugurated between the 
north and the south, and young as he was 
he was enthusiastic for the success of the 
cause he had been reared to believe was 
right, and was anxious to go out and fight 
for it. Six months before the war closed he 
entered the southern army, and remained on 
duty until after the surrender. After this 
he secured employment as a farm laborer in 
Louisiana, where he was thus occupied for 
two years, until 1868, when he came to 
Texas. Arrived in this state, he found him- 
self without money and with no capital what- 
ever save his energy and his determination 
to succeed. His first location was at Waco, 
where he hired out as a farm hand and re- 
mained one year. In 1869 he came to 
Bosque county and rented land of Temple 
Spivey, one of the pioneers of the county, 
and farmed this land for two or three years, 
after which he bought the place. In the 
meantime, in December, 1870, he took to 
himself a wife. He continued his residence 
on that farm until 1880, when he sold out, 
and the following year he bought and moved 
to his present farm, two miles east of Ire- 
dell. His original purchase here was 360 
acres, with some improvements thereon, and 
to it he has since added until now his landed 
estate comprises 529 acres, all well fenced 
and 250 acres in a fine state of cultivation. 
He has a commodious and attractive resi- 
dence, good outbuildings, windmill, orchard 
and many other modern improvements and 
conveniences, and is nicely situated for con- 
veniently carrying on both farming and 
stock-raising. Mr. Bryan is a lover of fine 
stock, and takes a just pride in the fine 
horses and cattle that graze in his broad 
pastures. Like many of the most intelli- 
gent and best posted farmers of this part of 
the country, he has reduced his stock in 



numbers and increased it in quality. His 
horses are of the Norman and Steeldust 
breeds, and he has sold some for as high a 
figure as five hundred dollars, thus demon- 
strating that it pays to keep a high grade of 
stock. His cattle are Holstein and Jersey 
strains, and his hogs are chiefly of the 
Berkshire breed. A fine apiary is another 
one of the attractions of this model farm, 
which literally "flows with milk and 
honey." In his bees Mr. Bryan finds a good 
source of revenue. On the whole premises 
— the delightful home, the well-cultivated 
fields, the fine stock, the well-stored hives, 
the productive orchard, and, in short, every 
where about the estate — is apparent the 
touch of a master hand. 

Mr. Bryan's marriage, which has already 
been referred to, occurred in Bosque county, 
the lady he wedded being Miss Elizabeth 
Ford, a native of Louisiana, born in 1849. 
Her father, Thomas Ford, a Georgian by 
birth, moved to Louisiana and from that 
state came in 1855 to Texas, locating on the 
Brazos river in this county, where he was 
for many years a prominent and influential 
man. He took an active interest in public 
affairs and filled many responsible offices. 
For several years he was county judge, he 
took the census of Bosque, Hamilton and 
Hood counties in 1870, was superintendent 
of free schools with his office at Austin, was 
postmaster of Cyrus for a long time, and 
besides these filled many other offices. He 
was a loyal member of the Masonic frater- 
nity for many years. Personally, he was a 
man of fine physique, always genial and 
approachable, and commanded the respect 
and esteem of all who knew him. He died 
in January, 1879, and his wife in 1888. 
Their family comprised the following named 
members: William, deceased, was a prom- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



inent man and at one time represented 
Bosque county in the Texas state legislature; 
Cyntha Ann, wife of Dr. A. M. Attaway, of 
Hillsboro; Thomas is one of the leading 
merchants of Morgan, Texas; Henry is a 
retired merchant of Whitney; Elizabeth is 
now Mrs. Bryan; and Caroline, deceased, 
was the wife of John Mosely. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bryan have six children, viz.: Ella, 
wife of Robert L. Roberts, is a resident of 
Hico, Texas; Thomas F. and William E. 
are students at Waco; and Clemma, Frank 
and May are at home. 

Both Mr. Bryan and his wife are devoted 
and consistent Christians, differing, how- 
ever, in their creeds and maintaining rela- 
tion with the churches in which they were 
reared. He is a Methodist and she and 
three of the children are identified with the 
Baptist church. 



^^^EORGE W. LUKER, an exam- 
■ ^^\ plary citizen of Comanche county 
\^^ who is successfully engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, was born in 
Alabama, on the 22d of October, 1844, and 
is descended from one of the old families of 
that state. His grandfather, Joshua Luker, 
made his home in Alabama, was widely and 
favorably known and was a local Methodist 
minister, engaging in work of the church as 
well as in farming pursuits. He served in 
the Seminole Indian war and was a Demo- 
crat in politics, but never aspired to office. 
His entire life was spent in the state of his 
nativity. The parents of our subject, James 
and Elizabeth (Edwards) Luker, were also 
born, reared and married in Alabama, and 
there remained until called to the eternal 
home. The mother was a member of the 



Baptist church and died in 1851. The fa- 
ther survived her several years and passed 
away in 1862. His religious views accorded 
with the doctrines of the Methodist church, 
and his political support was given the 
Democracy, although he never cared for 
the honors of public office. The family 
numbered eight children, as follows: Mary 
became the wife of L. Ingram and both are 
now deceased, her husband having died 
while serving in the late war; Susan became 
the wife of James Buckler, later came to 
Texas and is now deceased; Joseph E. yet 
resides in Alabama; John W. is a prominent 
farmer of Comanche county; George W. is 
the next younger; Sarah M. became the wife 
of Joseph Graham and died in Alabama; 
Benjamin F. came to Texas in 1872, and 
died in Comanche county; and James B., 
who arrived in this state the same year, is 
now a Methodist minister of Cherokee 
county, Texas, belonging to the east Texas 
conference. 

Our subject was reared on his father's 
farm and received but limited school privi- 
leges. He was a young man of only sev- 
enteen when, in March, 1862, he enlisted 
in the Twenty-second Alabama Infantry 
and went to the front with the ' ' boys in 
gray." He served in all the campaigns and 
battles of the Army of the Tennessee up to 
Atlanta, where he was captured and sent to 
Camp Chase, Ohio, where he remained for 
eight months. He was exchanged at Rich- 
mond, Virginia, and was granted a thirty- 
day furlough, during which time General 
Lee surrendered and the war was brought 
to a close. Mr. Luker then went to Merid- 
ian, Mississippi, where he took the oath of 
allegiance to the United States, and thus 
ended his military record. He was a true 
and brave soldier, loyal to the cause which 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



415 



he espoused, and served continuously until 
his capture. 

Mr. Luker at once returned to his home, 
and purchasing an interest in the old home- 
stead, he managed that place (Choctaw, 
Alabama) until 1872, when he moved to 
Sumter county, that state, where he fol- 
lowed farming until 1876, and then he came 
to Comanche county, Texas. He was mar- 
ried in January, 1867, to Miss Frances E. 
Graham, who was born in Alabama, March 
7, 1845, a daughter of Charles and Mar- 
garet Graham. Her parents were natives 
of South Carolina, and in that state were 
married. Her father was a prominent 
farmer and followed agricultural pursuits 
throughout his entire life. He died in 
Alabama, and his wife, who survived him 
several years, passed away in 1876. Both 
were faithful members and active workers 
in the Methodist church. In their family 
were eight children: Dempsey, Moses, 
Elizabeth, Napoleon, Frances, Amelia, 
Charles, and James, who died in infancy. 

Upon his marriage Mr. Luker began 
business on his own account, and purchas- 
ing an interest in the old homestead he 
operated that land until 1876, when he 
come to Comanche county, Texas. After 
raising one crop on rented land he purchased 
his present farm, becoming owner of one 
hundred and seventy-five acres, to which he 
has since added until he now has two hun- 
dred and sixty-eight acres. He has made 
many excellent improvements upon the 
place, and although only twenty acres were 
broken when he came into possession of the 
place, he now has one hundred acres under 
cultivation, and the well tilled fields indi- 
cate his careful supervision. He has a 
commodious frame dwelling, substantial 
'outbuildings, two good tenement houses and 



a fine orchard. His home is pleasantly sit- 
uated five miles southeast of Proctor, and 
he carries on general farming, and raises 
stock not only for the support of the farm 
but also some to sell, adding not a little to 
his income in this way. 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Luker has 
been blessed with eight children, and the 
family circle yet remains unbroken by the 
hand of death. In order of birth they are 
as follows: Benjamin F., a farmer; Mar- 
garet E., wife of F. A. Tucker, a farmer 
and Methodist local preacher; Ella, wife of 
James Robinson, a teacher and agricultur- 
ist; C. F., a farmer; and Annie; George 
W., Thomas and Katie, — all at home. 
The parents are members of the " Holiness 
church," and their children, all carefully 
reared, are members of the Methodist 
church. Mr. Luker gives his political sup- 
port to the Democracy. His upright life 
has won him the confidence and esteem of 
all, and over the record of his career there 
falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of 
evil. 



,>^ L. HENLEY is one of the most 
I ^^ energetic and progressive agricul- 
\ _ p turists of Erath county, and has 
won a success that is certainly 
creditable in the highest and best sense of 
the term, — a success that does not consist 
alone in property acquired, but comprises 
also the building up of a character that wins 
the respect of all, for it includes the posses- 
sion of manly virtues, of honorable dealings 
and conscientious performance of duty. 

Mr. Henley was born in Hart county, 
Georgia, July 21, 1850, and is a son of 
John S. and Minerva Elizabeth (Mclntyre) 



416 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Henley. His mother was a native of Geor- 
gia and his father of Tennessee. Upon his 
father's farm he spent the days of his child- 
hood, working in the fields until after his 
father's death, which occurred when our 
subject was a youth of fourteen years. One 
year later the mother died, leaving Mr. 
Henley an orphan at the age of fifteen, — 
that period in a boy's life when he most 
needs a parent's care. He possessed a reso- 
lute spirit, however, and resolved to make 
the best of his opportunities. He secured 
employment in the neighborhood and thus 
worked for others until he had acquired 
enough capital to engage in business for 
himself. With the hope of bettering his 
financial condition he came to Texas in 
1 87 1, and was engaged in farming in several 
places prior to his arrival in Erath county. 
Here he made purchase of one hundred and 
sixty-three acres of wild land, which he at 
once began to clear and improve. Fields 
were plowed, crops planted, and in course 
of time good harvests were garnered. Thus 
the work of development has been carried 
forward until he now has one hundred acres 
under a high state of cultivation, and to his 
farm he has added from time to time until 
within its boundaries lie two hundred and 
thirteen acres. His possessions are a monu- 
ment to his industry and enterprise, for all 
has been acquired under his own efforts. 
Politically he affiliates with the Populist 
party, but the honor and emoluments have 
not been strong enough attraction to win 
him from his chosen calling to the field of 
politics. 

In 1872 Mr. Henley was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Sarah Turnbow, who was born 
in Mississippi but was reared in Texas. 
They had ten children, eight of whom are 
living: Rhoda L., J. Thomas, R. H., Pearl, 



Beulah, Nora, Bell and Rene. Rosetta 
died at the age of four years and Nettie 
died in infancy. ' 



,y^AVID A. WHITE, deceased, was 
I I ^ m2iW of excellent principles and 
/^^ blameless life, and thoroughly en- 
joyed the esteem and respect of 
the community in which he resided, and 
died mourned by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances. He was a native of Texas, 
born March 18, 1849, and his marriage 
to Miss Sarah Darden, who survives him, 
was celebrated September 6, 1871. Mrs. 
White was born in Heard county, Georgia, 
and is the daughter of Captain R. S. Dar- 
den, who emigrated to Texas thirty-eight 
years ago, and is now deceased. His wife, 
who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth 
Towles, is a native of South Carolina, and 
descended from one of the old and influen- 
tial families of that state. 

Mrs. White is the second in order of 
birth in a family of seven children, and by 
her marriage became the mother of ten chil- 
dren: W. Seaburn, Dora, Ella, Katie, Clay- 
ton, May, Daisy, Ethel, David and Maud. 
She is also rearing two orphan nephews, — - 
John and Luther. She resides upon the 
fine farm of four hundred and eighty-five 
acres left her by her husband, which lies 
four and a half miles east of Clifton, and 
one hundred and eighty acres of the amount 
is now under a high state of cultivation. 
Upon the place is a nice orchard, composed 
principally of peach trees, and the farm is 
stocked with an excellent grade of Jersey 
cattle. 

W. Seaburn White, the eldest son of the 
family, now manages his mother's farm. 
He is a gentleman of culture and one that 



HIS TOUT OB TEXAS. 



417 



keeps fully abreast with the times. He 
was born on the 27th of May, 1872, was 
educated in the public schools of Bosque 
county, and in 1889 began teaching. That 
profession, however, was not in keeping 
with his ambition, and four years later he 
entered the law office of Lockett & Kimble, 
well known attorneys of Meridian. Mr. 
White proved an apt scholar in the legal 
profession and was duly admitted to the 
bar September 25, 1894. At present he is 
looking after the interests of the farm, but 
expects soon to begin his professional prac- 
tice. He is a young man of steady, in- 
dustrious habits, and one who has the re- 
spect and confidence of a large circle of 
friends. 



ISAAC F. COWAN is one of the ex- 
tensive land-owners of Erath county 
and one of its leading and influential 
citizens. His name stands conspicu- 
ously high upon the roll of honored pioneers, 
and the part which he has taken in the up- 
building of the region well entitles him to 
this distinction. His active co-operation in 
all matters tending to promote the general 
welfare has been of material benefit to the 
community, and he has advanced civiliza- 
tion by his efforts in establishing homes on 
the frontier, aiding many of the settlers in 
making locations in this region. For thirty- 
seven years he has been a resident of Erath 
county, and throughout the community no 
man is held in higher regard than Mr. 
Cowan. 

A native of North Carolina, our subject 
was born in Rowan county July 14, 1822, 
and is the only survivor of the six children 
whose parents were Benjamin F. and Eliza- 
beth (Cowan) Cowan. On both sides he 



has descended from good old Revolutionary 
stock. The father's people were of English 
ancestry and the family was established in 
North Carolina in early colonial days. 
When the war of the Revolution was in- 
augurated the grandfather, Henry F. Cowan, 
who was also a native of North Carolina, 
entered the service and bravely aided in the 
struggle for freedom. The maternal grand- 
father of our subject, David Cowan, was of 
Scotch-Irish lineage, was reared in Rowan 
county. North Carolina, and was also one 
of the heroes of the war which brought to 
America her independence. In the state 
where their ancestors had lived both Ben- 
jamin and Elizabeth Cowan opened their 
eyes to the light of day for the first time. 
They lived on a farm in Rowan county for 
some years, and in 1832 removed to Iredell 
county, North Carolina, where they re- 
mained until 1846, removing then to west 
Tennessee, which continued to be their 
place of abode until called to their final 
rest. 

The boyhood and youth of Isaac F. 
Cowan were spent on his father's farm, 
where he early became familiar with all the 
duties that fall to the lot of the agricultur- 
ist. He obtained his education in the com- 
mon schools and remained with his parents 
until nineteen years of age, when he ac- 
cepted a position as overseer on a planta- 
tion in North Carolina. He was afterward 
employed in a similar capacity in Mississippi, 
spending about ten years in that way, when 
he removed to Gibson county, Tennessee. 

In November, 1848, Mr. Cowan was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Branch, 
a native of Duplin county, North Carolina, 
and daughter of Bryant M. and Sarah (Car- 
away) Branch, who became residents of 
Gibson county, Tennessee, during the early 



418 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



girlhood of their daughter. After his mar- 
riage Mr. Cowan turned his attention to 
farming, following that pursuit in the " Big 
Bend state" until 1859, when he emigrated 
to Te.xas, making the journey with teams 
and reaching his destination after nine 
weeks of travel. The settlement which he 
made seemed on the very border of civiliza- 
tion. Around him stretched miles of un- 
broken prairie, affording excellent fields for 
grazing stock; but the latter attracted the 
Indians and in the early years the settlers 
had to be constantly on guard lest their en- 
tire herds should be stolen by the savages. 
Mr. Cowan pre-empted one hundred and 
sixty acres of land and also purchased an- 
other quarter section. He at once began to 
clear and improve the place, and in connec- 
tion with this work engaged extensively in 
stock-raising. He now has three thousand 
acres of land, of which three hundred and 
fifty are now under a high state of cultivation. 
His success is the crown of his own labors 
and may be attributed entirely to his indus- 
try, perseverance and good management. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cowan are the parents of 
eleven children: A. B., of Erath county; 
Bryant M., who died at the age of twenty- 
seven; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the 
age of five years, when the family were on 
the way to Texas; J. M. B., of Erath coun- 
ty; William P., who died at the age of two 
years; Mary L. A., wife of James T. Will- 
iams; Isaac Elihu, of Greer county; John 
F., who died at the age of seventeen; 
Amanda Ellen, who died at the age of three 
years; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age 
of twenty-one years; and Bedford Forest, 
who died at the age of ten years. 

Mr. Cowan is a member of the Masonic 
lodge at Bluff Dale. In politics he is a 
stalwart Democrat and for eight years served 



most acceptably as magistrate. In all the 
relations of life he has been true and faith- 
ful to the trust reposed in him. In the 
early days he was indeed a benefactor to 
this locality, taking a most active part in its 
improvement and extending a helping hand 
to the pioneers who came here to found 
homes. In his business dealings he is 
straightforward and honorable and has the 
high regard of all with whom he has come 
in contact. 



,>^ ENJAMIN HARE.— To a student 
l<''^ of human nature there is nothing 
J^^J of more interest than to examine 
into the life and history of the self- 
made man and to analyze those principles 
which have enabled him to pass many on 
the highway of life and attain a position of 
prominence in the community. He of 
whom we write has forced aside the barriers 
that obstruct the way, and climbing up the 
hillside of endeavor has reached the plain of 
prosperity. 

Mr. Hare is of English birth. A native 
of Lincolnshire, England, he was born about 
fifteen miles from the city of Lincoln, on 
the 1 8th of September, 1829, a son of Ben- 
jamin Hare, Sr., and a grandson of James 
Hare, both natives of the same county. 
The Hares were not a wealthy people; in 
fact their worldly possessions were rather 
limited, but they were honest and industri- 
ous and as such were esteemed by their 
neighbors and friends. The father of our 
subject wedded Mary Scott, a native of Lin- 
colnshire, and they had ten children, three 
sons and seven daughters: James, Mary, 
George, Elcy, Ellen, Ben, Sarah, Martha, 
Eliza and one deceased. The parents were 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



419 



Methodists in religious belief and both died 
when eighty-seven years of age. 

Our subject was reared in the place of 
his birth and from an early age had the care 
of a large flock of sheep. He early learned 
those habits of industry and honesty which 
are such essential qualifications to success, 
and the principles thus inculcated have 
become salient points in his character. He 
attended the public school to a limited ex- 
tent, but has greatly added to his knowledge 
by the experiences gained through travel, 
observation and business life. He has 
always been a student and has read broadly, 
assimilating what he has read until he is 
now an excellently well informed man. At 
the age of twenty-two, on the 17th of Jan- 
uary, 1852, he left Liverpool for New York, 
and from there went to Buffalo and on 
to Orleans county, of the Empire state, 
where he remained for eight months. Con- 
tinuing his westward journey he next took 
up his abode at Portland Corners, Niagara 
county, same state, where he remained 
twelve months; thence he removed to St. 
Joseph county, Michigan, where he had a 
brother living and where he lived a year. 
Removing to Dakota county, Minnesota, he 
became one of its pioneer settlers, purchased 
land and began farming. During the war 
he enlisted in the Eighth Minnesota Infan- 
try, under Captain George F. Pettit, and 
served for two and a half years, mostly in 
the northwest fighting Indians, who greatly 
molested the white settlers living on the 
frontier, the safety of their homes and lives 
being constantly endangered. He received 
an honorable discharge in January, 1865, 
and then went to Sauk Center, Stearns 
county, Minnesota, making his home there 
for the succeeding six years. 

Forming a business connection with the 



Northern Pacific Railroad Company, he re- 
mained in their service for a year as cook, 
and then went to Chicago, where he had 
charge of the stage and transfer barn for a 
time. He came to Texas overland with a 
team, and casting his lot with the citizens 
of Comanche county is now one of its ex- 
tensive landholders, his possessions aggre- 
gating over one thousand acres. He has 
ninety acres planted with crops, while four 
hundred acres, all under fence, is used as 
pasture for the stock. He has a comforta- 
ble residence, good barns and yards, tank 
and well, and the many conveniences of 
farm life and the neat and thrifty appear- 
ance of everything here to be found illus- 
trates the enterprising, progressive spirit of 
the owner. 

Mr. Hare was married in Hastings, Min- 
nesota, to Ann Maria Depue, who died 
eight months later. He afterward wedded 
Miss Fidelia Tucker, who was born in Wis- 
consin, and by this union there are four 
children, three yet living, — Mary Elcy, 
Anna Maria and Emily Genet. After the 
death of his second wife Mr. Hare was 
united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth 
Tucker, ncc Mackeral, who was born in 
Devonshire, England, and lived in Cleve- 
land, Ohio, for a time after coming to this 
country. 

In his political views Mr. Hare is a stal- 
wart Republican and is a member of Sam 
Houston Post, No. 55, G. A. R., also of 
Sipe Spring Lodge, No. 537, A. F. & A. M., 
in which he has held several offices. His 
extensive travels over this country and his 
native land, in which he has exercised his 
powers of observation and his retentive 
memory, have made him a well informed 
man, and he is an interesting companion 
who has the high regard of many friends. 



420 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



at 



ILLIAM A. FIELDER.— Among 
the successful farmers who have 
been identified with the growth 
and development of Comanche 
county for the past twenty years is the gen- 
tleman whose name introduces this bio- 
graphical sketch. Through the period of 
the county's great advancement he has been 
an important factor in its upbuilding, and it 
is therefore a matter of justice that he be 
represented in this work. 

A native of Mississippi, Mr. Fielder was 
born on the 7th of January, 1846, and is a 
son of William B. Fielder, who was born 
in Alabama and became one of the early 
settlers of Mississippi. His death occurred 
August 9, 1862. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Eliza A. Smith, was a na- 
tive of South Carolina, and in 1893 she was 
called from this life to the eternal home. 
Both parents .were descended from promi- 
nent and influential families of the south that 
trace their ancestry back to early colonial 
days. 

Our subject is the third in order of birth 
among the ten children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Fielder. He was reared in the state of his 
nativity and is indebted to its public schools 
for the educational facilities which he en- 
joyed. During the months of vacation he 
worked on the home farm and continued to 
aid in its cultivation until 1862, when, at 
the age of eighteen, he left home and went 
to the defense of the south, then engaged in 
civil war. He valiantly defended the prin- 
ciples in which he so firmly believed and dis- 
played the bravery that marks the true sol- 
dier in any land or clime. When the war 
was over he returned to his home in Missis- 
sippi, and in 1866, when twenty years of 
age, came to Texas, where he has since 
made his home. He first located in Smith 



county, but afterward resided in Fannin 
and Bastrop counties. For seven months 
he was a member of the Texas Rangers, an 
organization formed for protection against 
the Indians. He made a permanent loca- 
tion in Comanche county in 1874, and now 
resides sixteen miles northwest of the city 
of Comanche. His farm comprises one 
hundred and sixty acres of land, of which 
eighty-five acres are highly cultivated. He 
has also a fine orchard of five acres, con- 
taining peaches, pears, plums, grapes and a 
variety of berries. The many improvements 
upon his place indicate the care and atten- 
tion he has bestowed upon it, and are as a 
monument to the thrift and enterprise of 
the owner. 

On the 2ist of October, 1872, Mr. 
Fielder was united in marriage to Miss 
Martha E. Carter, a native of Texas. They 
have twelve children, as follows: Rufus, 
Lillie (now Mrs. William Courtney), Lena, 
Wilson, Irene, Florence, Jacob, Leo, Joseph, 
Robert, Winnie and Maiden. 



,y^AVID EMISON.— Among the early 
I I settlers of Brown county, Texas, 
^^^J none are perhaps better known or 
more worthy of mention in a vol- 
ume of this character, devoted to the best 
citizens, than the gentleman whose name 
introduces this review. He is a native of 
the state noted for its brave men and beau- 
tiful women, his birth having occurred in 
Scott county, Kentucky, on the 29th of 
November, 1820. His father, Hugh Emi- 
son, was a native of Ireland, and belonged 
to a prominent family of the land that fur- 
nished many representatives to the military 
service of the government. Hugh Emison 
was a young man of seventeen when he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



421 



came to Ketrtasky. He wooed and won 
one of the belles of that state, a lady of 
intelligence and culture, — Elizabeth Mar- 
shall, a cousin of Thomas Marshall, who 
served as one of the supreme judges of the 
state. By this union were born the follow- 
ing children: Hugh, Greenup, George, 
David, Joseph, Eliza, Nancy, Lucy and 
Amanda. The father of this family was an 
Episcopalian in religious faith and his wife 
belonged to the Methodist church. He 
died at the age of eighty-two years, and his 
wife was sixty-three years of age when called 
to the eternal home. 

David Emison, of this review, was reared 
in the state of his nativity, and into his 
mind were instilled the lessons of industry 
and honesty which have left their impress 
on his entire life, proving salient points of 
his character. He acquired a good educa- 
tion and was thereby well fitted for life's 
practical duties. During the war his influ- 
ence was all on the side of the Union and 
in opposition to secession, which would de- 
stroy the nation. When a young man of 
twenty-seven he chose as a companion and 
helpmeet on life's journey Miss Elizabeth 
Brown, belonging to a good family of 
Kentucky, a daughter of Samuel and Dor- 
cas Brown, the parents natives of Vir- 
ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Emison have four 
children, namely: Frank, Julian, Sally Fish 
and Maggie, wife of Rev. Frank Wagnon. 
They also lost four children, three of whom 
died in infancy, while Mary E. died at the 
age of twenty-two years. She was the 
wife of M. H. P. Williams, a son of Judge 
Williams, of Kentucky. 

InFebruary, 1875, Mr. Emison removed 
with his family to Texas, taking up his 
residence in Brown county, locating on 
one hundred and si.xty acres of wild land 



amid the mountains. He went to the coun- 
ty surveyor to secure the services of that 
official to survey his land, but that official 
said that the Indians were too numerous 
among the mountains and would not consent 
to undertake the task. Mr. Emison then 
borrowed the surveyor's instruments, sur- 
veyed his own land and also that of several 
of his neighbors. He was afterward elected 
to the office of county surveyor, in which 
position he served for four years, with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to the 
public. The greater part of his attention, 
however, has been given to his farming in- 
terests. He owns one hundred and si.xty 
acres, of which seventy acres are under cul- 
tivation and well improved with buildings 
and fences. 

In 1896 the happy home of Mr. Emison 
was made desolate by the loss of his loved 
wife, who died on the loth of May. She 
was to him a faithful companion and help- 
meet for forty-eight years; they had shared 
in the hardship of pioneer life together, in 
the joys and sorrows, the adversity and 
prosperity which checker the career of all, 
and her vacant place in the household is 
one which can never be filled. She was a 
lady of many virtues, esteemed and beloved 
by all. Mr. Emison is a true southern gen- 
tleman, chivalrous, courteous, kindly and 
true. His genuine worth is recognized in 
the friendship which is extended him, and 
it is with pleasure that we present this re- 
view of his life to our readers. 



ar 



ILLIAM C. JACKSON, of the 
firm of H. C. Jackson & Son, 
proprietors of a cotton gin at 
Sidney, Texas, is a fair repre- 
sentative of the enterprising young business 



422 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



men of this state; and at this point in this 
series of biographical sketches we are 
pleased to make the following allusion to 
him. 

Mr. Jackson claims Greenwood county, 
Kansas, as the place of his birth. He is 
the eldest in the family of seven children of 
Henry C. and Martha J. (Whaley) Jackson 
and was born January 25, 1866. His fa- 
ther is a native of the " Hoosier" state and 
his mother was born in Missouri. The 
former had settled in the "Garden of the 
West" in 1864, where he made his home 
for three years, and in 1877, accompanied 
by his wife and children, he emigrated to 
Te.xas and located in Comanche county, 
where he has since maintained his residence 
and where he is ranked with the honored 
and respected citizens of the community. 

In Comanche county William C. Jack- 
son was reared. He is now in partnership 
with his father at Sidney, where they are 
operating a cotton gin, the business being 
conducted under the name of H. C. Jackson 
& Son, as already stated. Their gin was 
erected in August, 1895, has two stands of 
seventy rows each, and is provided with all 
the modern machinery and conveniences. 
Its daily capacity is twenty-five bales. The 
management of the gin is given over entire- 
ly to the younger member of the firm, and 
under his able direction the business is in a 
prosperous condition. 

When he was twenty-two years of age 
Mr. Jackson joined the ranks of benedicts. 
He was united in marriage, February 29, 
1888, to Miss Roxie A. Johnson, a native of 
Texas and a daughter of William M. John- 
son, honorable mention of whom will be 
found on another page of this work. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jackson have an interesting fam- 
ily of three children, namely: Oral K., Bar- 



ney H. and Helen. Also they have one 
daughter deceased. 

Ever since he became a voter the sub- 
ject of our sketch has given his support to 
the Democratic party. He is not, however, 
active in politics nor has he ever sought of- 
ficial honors. Socially he affiliates with 
the Masonic order, retaining metnbership in 
Sipe Springs Lodge, No. 537, A. F. & A. M. 
As a citizen and business man, he stands 
high in the estimation of all who know him. 



>Y*AMES L. BELCHER.— Four miles 
^ east of Morgan, and lying along 
A 1 Steel's creek, in Bosque county, is 
found the farm owned and occupied 
by the subject of this sketch, James L. Bel- 
cher. This farm comprises about two hun- 
dred acres, eighty of which are under culti- 
vation, and all the improvements upon the 
place, including fences, residence and farm 
buildings, have been put here by the pres- 
ent owner, who purchased the land in its 
wild state in 1879. As one of the repre- 
sentative farmers of his community, it is 
appropriate that a sketch of his life be given 
a place in this volume. 

James L. Belcher is a native of the 
"Empire State of the South," and is closely 
related to a number of people who have 
figured prominently in that commonwealth. 
It was July 21, 1845, and on a farm in 
Jasper county, Georgia, that he was born, 
his parents being O. R. and Comfort (Mad- 
dox) Belcher. His paternal grandfather, 
Obid Belcher, was an Englishman who was 
a participant in the Revolutionary war, and 
who at the close of the war made a settle- 
ment in Georgia, where he passed the re- 
mainder of his life and died. He owned a 
large plantation and many slaves, and was 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



well known and greatly respected. His 
good wife survived him a number of years, 
and died at the venerable age of ninety- 
nine. At her death she freed several of her 
oldest slaves. O. R. Belcher, the father of 
our subject, grew up in Georgia and lived 
and died there, his death occurring in 1886. 
He was a public-spirited man, and filled 
numerous responsible positions. For ten 
years he was county judge, and for many 
years he served as justice of the peace, and 
in the Methodist church, of which he was 
an honored member, he long filled the office 
of steward. His vocation was the same as 
that of his father before him, and he was 
prosperous in his undertakings until the war 
came on, when his forty-odd slaves were 
freed, much of his property destroyed, and 
he practically broken up. His wife, lue 
Miss Comfort Maddox, was a daughter of 
John M. Maddox, one of the wealthy plant- 
ers and slaveholders of Georgia. He reared 
a large family of children, ten in all, some 
of whom were prominently identified with 
the country. James L., deceased, was for 
many years the incumbent of some office of 
trust, for a time being honored with a seat 
in the state legislature, and was a wealthy 
and influential man. Another son, W. D. 
Maddox, was an eminent physician, and 
two of the sons, S. H. and Shackford, were 
noted Methodist ministers. Still other mem- 
bers of the family figured prominently as 
farmers. All are living except three sons 
and a daughter,— James L., Emery, Abram 
and Sarah. Sarah was the wife of William 
Flanon, a wealthy and influential man. The 
mother of our subject survived the father a 
short time, her death occurring in 1887. 
She, too, was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Of their children, seven 
in number, we make the following record: 



Greenberry, who was killed in the late war; 
John, a farmer of Bosque county, Texas; 
William D., a practicing physician of Geor- 
gia; O. R., a Methodist minister, who died 
in Bosque county; J. L., whose name in- 
itiates this article; Sarah, wife of Jasper 
Stallings. Both she and her husband are 
deceased, and left four children; and Crosby 
D., who died at Bryant and left a wife and 
one child. 

James L. Belcher remained with his 
parents until the outbreak of the civil war. 
In 1862, at the age of sixteen years, he en- 
listed in the Sixth Georgia Infantry and 
was consigned to the Army of Virginia. 
He was detailed for special service near Fort 
Sumter, his business for one year being to 
carry the mail. Afterward he was hospital 
nurse, acting as such until he was taken 
sick and went home on furlough. It was 
not until after the close of the war that he 
fully recovered. In the meantime, in 1864. 
at the early age of eighteen years, he was 
married. 

In the fall of 1866 Mr. Belcher, accom- 
panied by his young wife, came to Texas 
and settled on a rented farm in Grimes 
county, where he made his home four years. 
The next six years he lived in Brazos county 
and then spent two years in Hill county, all 
this time renting land, and in 1879 he came 
to his present location in Bosque county, 
and, as stated at the beginning of this 
sketch, purchased the property upon which 
he has' since made his home. This tract is 
a portion of the Spencer survey. 

Mr. Belcher married Miss Mary E. Kel- 
ly, a native of Georgia, born October i, 
1846, a daughter of Michael and Sophia 
Kelly, who were of Irish descent. Her father 
moved to Texas in 1866, and died in Bosque 
county in 1891- He was a farmer. His 



424 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



wife survives him, has recently entered the 
octogenarian ranks, and is kindly cared for 
by her children. She is the mother of 
eleven children, five of whom are yet liv- 
ing, four in Texas and one in Georgia. 
Mrs. Kelly is a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church, with which her husband 
also was identified for many years. Mr. 
and Mrs. Belcher are Methodists, their 
membership being with the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, south, and he is a steward in 
the same. They have had seven children, 
of whom three died in infancy, and one, 
John M., at the age of twenty-one years. 
Those living are William R. , James D., and 
Roy L. 

Mr. Belcher has always been stanch in 
his support of the Democratic party and its 
principles, but he has never had any office- 
seeking inclinations. 



"^i* F. ROBINSON is numbered among 
J that class of honored pioneers to 
A ■ whom a community owes its develop- 
ment and upbuilding. He is now the 
oldest living settler on the Paluxy, and dur- 
ing the years that have passed since he lo- 
cated here he has borne an important part 
in the work of bringing under subjection the 
uncultivated land, transforming it into richly 
improved farms, and has taken an active and 
commendable interest in everything pertain- 
ing to the welfare of the district. Farming 
and stock-raising now claim his attention, 
and he is justly regarded as one of the lead- 
ing agriculturists of Erath county. 

Mr.' Robinson is a native of Alabama, 
his birth having occurred in Marengo county, 
on the 4th of June, 1839, and his parents 
being Rev. William and Julia (Fulford) 



Robinson. The father was a native of Ala- 
bama and his ancestors were numbered 
among the early colonists of Virginia, where 
their residence antedates the war of the 
Revolution. The mother of our subject 
also was born in Alabama. Rev. William 
Robinson followed farming in early life and 
when a young man removed to northern 
Louisana, whence, in 1848, he continued 
his westward journey to what seemed the 
very frontier of civilization, locating in Rusk 
county, Texas. After a short time he re- 
moved to Johnson county and assisted in its 
organization. He was also one of the or- 
ganizers of Erath county and was a promi- 
nent factor in public affairs, laboring ear- 
nestly for the best improvement of the differ- 
ent localities with which he was connected. 
He took up his residence on the bank of 
Paluxy creek in 1856 and the same day be- 
gan plowing and planting, raising the first 
crop of corn on the creek. He entered upon 
the work of the ministry in 1854 in Rusk 
county and .was one of the most eminent 
pioneer preachers in this section of the state. 
For many years he followed this holy calling 
on the frontier, bravely meeting all the hard- 
ships and dangers it involved. During the 
early part of the civil war he went to Bel- 
knap and for some time furnished the Con- 
federate army with beef and engaged exten- 
sively in the stock business for a time. He 
made his home in Stephenville and after- 
ward removed to Coleman county, where he 
followed the stock business until his retire- 
ment from active life on account of ad- 
vanced age. Later he removed to Coman- 
che, and the energetic spirit of the man not 
permitting him to lay aside all business cares 
he took up the milling business. At pres- 
ent, however, he is enjoying a rest that he 
has truly earned and richly deserves. Al- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



425 



though eighty-six years of age he still retains 
the mental and physical vigor which usually 
accompanies middle life. 

In the family of Rev. William and Julia 
Robinson were twelve children, ten of whom 
reached years of maturity, while five are 
still living, our subject and one sister being 
residents of Erath county. The mother 
died in 1 846 and the father afterward mar- 
ried Isabel Brant, of Hinds county, Missis- 
sippi. By this marriage were born six 
children. 

The gentleman whose name begins the 
introductory paragraph of this review was a 
child of only ten years when brought by his 
father to the Lone Star state. On the old 
home farm he was reared, and early he was 
inured to the arduous labor of developing 
new land and cultivating the farm. He also 
became familiar with the best methods of 
caring for stock. His educational privileges 
were necessarily quite limited, as there were 
then few schools on the frontier. He re- 
mained at home until his marriage, which 
was celebrated December 22, 1859, the lady 
of his choice being Miss Elizabeth Nealy, a 
native of Tennessee and a daughter of 
Charles Nealy. 

After his marriage Mr. Robinson engaged 
in stock-raising until the spring of 1862, 
when, bidding good-by to his little family, 
he enlisted in the Confederate army and 
served in Parsons' Texas cavalry until the 
close of hostilities, his command being at- 
tached to the western army. He partici- 
pated in the battle of Yellow Bayou and 
others of lesser importance, and when the 
war was over returned to his home and 
resumed his old occupation of stock-raising. 
He is a man of good business ability, and 
his straightforward dealing and tireless 
energy have brought to him success and won 



for him the confidence of all with whom he 
has been brought in contact. 

Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are the parents 
of twelve children, namely: Rebecca, widow 
of J. J. Collins, of Erath county; Mary, 
wife of Frank Perry; Julia, wife of Will 
Adams; Belle, wife of Thomas Perry; Lin- 
nie, wife of A. Letherman; Martha, wife of 
Price Carter; Charles W., William J., Dora. 
Thomas Paine, Robert I. and John Volney. 
The family is one widely and favorably 
known and their friends throughout the 
community are many. In his political 
views Mr. Robinson is a Populist. He is a 
disbeliever in revelation,— believing all re- 
ligions and religious beliefs to be of human 
origin. 



^^LUFORD L. HOLLIS, Duffau, 
|,^ Texas.— In the gentleman whose 
A^ name forms the heading of this 
sketch is found one who was born 
in this state the year following its admission 
into the Union, and whose whole life has 
been spent within her borders. He grew 
up in the saddle out on the range with his 
father's cattle, had many exciting and thrill- 
ing experiences with the Indians, for years 
figured as one of the leading stock men of 
the county, is now identified with the farm- 
ing interests of Erath county, and is proba- 
bly as well posted on the various phases of 
life in the Lone Star state as any man to 
be found here. His history therefore is of 
particular interest in this connection. 

Bluford L. Hollis was born in Anderson 
county, Texas, June 9, 1846, his parents 
being Harvey B. and Polly A. (McCarty) 
Hollis, natives respectively of Tennessee 
and Alabama, who came to Texas only a 



426 



niSTORT OF TEXAS. 



short time previous to his birth. Mr. Hol- 
Hs knows little of his paternal ancestry save 
that his grandfather Hollis was a farmer in 
Tennessee and died there. His maternal 
grandfather, James McCarty, was of Ala- 
bama birth and emigrated from that state 
to Texas about 1846, the McCarty and 
Hollis families all coming together and set- 
tling in Anderson county, and about 1852 
removing to what afterward became Erath 
county and locating on the Duffau. Here 
some years later Mr. McCarty died. Har- 
vey B. Hollis brought with him to this 
county his stock, was successful in the stock 
business and increased his herds from year 
to year until 1874, when he sold out to his 
son, our subject. During his early e.xper- 
ience here many of his horses and cattle 
were stolen by the Indians, and many a 
time he went in hot pursuit after them. 
His own saddle horse he kept locked to a 
log by his cabin door in order to keep him 
from being stolen and to have him there 
ready for an emergency. By those uniniti- 
ated the story of pioneer privation and dan- 
ger can never be fully appreciated. It 
takes a genuine frontiersman to understand 
what it means to live fifteen miles from a 
neighbor and have to go sixty miles to mill 
and be in constant danger of surprise by In- 
dians. Such was the experience of Mr. 
Hollis. His first breadstuff was procured 
at Milford, sixty miles away, and later he 
went to mill at Meridian, only thirty miles 
distant. The county of Erath was not or- 
ganized until 1856. Then the land was 
put on the market and he purchased the 
tract upon which he had settled, a part of 
the Wisenhetter survey. Years later, after 
he had sold his stock to his son, he gave his 
attention to farming and handling stock in 
a small way. Democratic in politics and 



well posted on the issues of the day, he was 
called upon to fill some important positions 
in the county, which he did both with 
credit to himself and those whom he served. 
He was county assessor and also tax collec- 
tor. He, however, never sought office of 
any kind, these being given him unsolicited. 
Of his children, there were seven by his 
first marriage and four by the last. Of the 
family were: Bluford L. ; Harriet, wife of 
W. L. Hale; Mary, wife of W. L. Robin- 
son; Joseph, who died in the Indian Nation; 
James H., a carpenter of Stephenville, 
Texas; Martha, wife of J. M. McCanless; 
and William, a farmer of Erath county. 
The mother of these children died in Janu- 
ary, 1 867. Four years later the father 
married again, and the children of his sec- 
ond wife are: Calla, wife of John Robin- 
son; Walter, at home; Ira, wife of John 
Houlton; and Ada, at home. Religiously, 
this worthy pioneer was a Primitive Baptist, 
his wives members of the same church, and 
in this faith the children were reared. 

Bluford L. Hollis, as stated at the be- 
ginning of this article, spent his boyhood in 
riding over the country watching his father's 
cattle, and owing to the limited educational 
advantages afforded here his schooling was 
neglected. Later in life he acquired a prac- 
tical knowledge of affairs that has been of 
more value to him in his business transac- 
tions than has book learning been to many. 
He remained with his father, assisting in the 
stock business, until 1867. In 1863 he en- 
tered the ranging service, and was on the 
frontier until the close of the war. He was 
in Colonel Mullen's command. During this 
time he was in many raids after the Indians 
and was in one regular engagement with 
them, namely, the second battle of Dove 
creek. In this battle young Hollis had his 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



427 



clothes twice pierced with bullets, he, how- 
ever, escaping uninjured. The war over, 
he resumed the stock business, but for sev- 
eral years after was at intervals greatly an- 
noyed by the Indians. In 1868 they stole 
forty head of horses, taking them in broad 
daylight from the herder. A few of these 
horses were afterward recovered. At an- 
other time he was with a party out hunting 
stock and got into a fight with the Indians 
and two of his company were killed. These 
Indian troubles did not cease until about 
1871. Mr. Mollis has made application to 
the government for pay for his stock then 
lost, and has furnished the proper proof, 
but as yet has not had his claim recognized. 
About 1868 he purchased his father's 
cattle and brand and assumed charge of the 
whole business. After the range here in 
Erath county was reduced, the country be- 
coming more thickly settled, he moved his 
stock to broader pastures, first to Throck- 
morton county, where he remained three 
years, at the end of that time selling out. 
Then he bought another herd, which he 
moved to the Rio Grande country, and later 
sold. Buying again, he took his herd to 
Scurry county, where he ranged them until 
the fall of 189s and then sold out. About 
1882 he purchased one hundred and sixty 
acres of land where he now lives, and for 
some years his attention was divided be- 
tween his stock interests and the improve- 
ment and cultivation of his land. In the 
meantime he bought other land, one tract 
of one hundred acres, and another tract of 
six hundred and forty acres, making in all 
nine hundred acres, one hundred and fifty 
of which are at this writing under cultivation 
and nearly all in the hands of renters. Mr. 
Hollis now raises only enough stock for the 
support of his land, his attention being di- 



rected t_othe quality rather than the quan- 
tity of stobk,^ __ 

March 14, 1867, Mr. Hof-hs-married Miss 
Mary Gillentine. She was born in Tennes- 
see, in 1850, of Tennessee parents, Nicholas 
and Elizabeth (Parker) Gillentine, and came 
with them in 1 8 59 to Texas. The Gillentines 
spent one year in Hunt county and from there 
came to Erath county, where Mr. Gillentine 
farmed some and dealt largely in horses. 
He was in the ranger service two years, 
and in the memorable battle of Dove creek, 
in December, 1864, was killed, as also was 
his eldest son John. Another son, William, 
was wounded in that battle and died a few 
years later from the effects of his wounds. 
Of his other children, we record that Jane 
married Benjamin Beach, a prominent farm- 
er of this county; Terry is a resident of 
Stephenville; and Spencer died and left a 
wife and four children. William also was a 
man of family; he left a wife and two daugh- 
ters. Mr. and Mrs. Hollis have been 
blessed in the birth of eleven children. Two 
died young. The names of the others in 
order of birth are: Jane, wife of J. C. Laney, 
a farmer of this county; Nannie, wife of 
James P. Koonsman, a farmer; and Nicholas 
M., Emma, Blufa, Amanda E., Betty, 
Johnie and Spencer, — all at home. 

Fraternally, Mr. Hollis is an Odd Fel- 
low. Politically, like his father before him, 
he has steadily adhered to the principles advo- 
cated by the Democratic party, and has 
never had aspirations for official position. 



^VOHN M. BIRDWELL, who carries 
J on general farming and stock-raising 
«f in Erath county, is a native of Ala- 
bama, born October 11, 1833, but 
since the days when the Lone Star state 



428 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



was the republic of Texas he has been one 
of its residents. His parents were George 
and Matilda (Garner) Birdwell, the former 
a native of Georgia and the latter of Mis- 
sissippi. When our subject was a lad of five 
years they emigrated with their family to 
Texas, locating on Blossom Prairie in what 
is now Paris county. Again with the tide of 
emigration they drifted westward and their 
last days were spent in Young county. The 
father died at the age of eighty-nine years 
and the mother passed away at the age of 
seventy-nine. 

Mr. Birdwell of this review was reared 
on the frontier of Texas, and his youth was 
largely spent in caring for his father's cattle 
and preventing them from being driven off 
by the Indians. He experienced all the 
hardships and difficulties of such a life, and 
his early years were largely a period of toil. 
When he was twenty-five years of age he 
left home, beginning life on his own ac- 
count. In i860 he was united in marriage 
with Miss Caroline Miller, a native of Pitts 
county, Missouri, and a daughter of George 
Miller, who came to Texas in 1858. The 
marriage of our subject was celebrated in 
Wise county, where he turned his attention 
to the stock business, which he followed for 
ten years, his labors being interrupted only 
by his services on the frontier during the 
civil war. When the Indians with daring 
and boldness made their attacks on the out- 
lying settlement he went to the defense of 
that region and royally aided in keeping back 
the savages. 

Mr. Birdwell removed from Wise to Palo 
Pinto county, where for a time he engaged 
in dealing in horses, and then went to Tar- 
rant county, where he followed farming for 
two years. In 1874 he came to Erath 
county, where in company with a cousin he 



purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
of wild land on Richardson creek and began 
the task of making a home on the frontier. 
He now has an excellent farm of two hun- 
dred acres, of which eighty-five acres is un- 
der cultivation and yields to the owner a 
golden tribute in return for the care and 
labor he bestows upon it. He is a thrifty, 
energetic farmer, and the prosperity of the 
state is largely due to the class of citizens of 
which he is a worthy representative. While 
residing in Wise county Mr. Birdwell lost his 
wife. He afterward married Charity Ann 
Weatherby, a native of Alabama, who when 
a child came to Tyler, Texas, with her par- 
ents, George and Charity (Heflin) Weather- 
by. The marriage of our subject was cele- 
brated in Wise county, and he has had six 
children, namely: Virginia, deceased wife 
of Martin Clarke of Erath county; Jessie, 
wife of John Pinkeny Flinn; Beatrice, wife 
of Martin Clarke; George, of Erath county; 
Charles, at home; and Dollie Ann. 

In his political viesvs Mr. Birdwell is a 
Democrat. Both he and his father were 
opposed to the secession of the southern 
states and voted for the Union. He has 
ever been a loyal citizen, unfaltering in sup- 
port of all he believes to be right, and is 
highly esteemed for his sterling worth and 
strict integrity. 



/^^ USTAVUS FREDERICK LEWIS 
\Q\ BANOWSKY, an agriculturist of 
\^^ energy and ability, making his 
home near Indian Gap, in Hamil- 
ton county, is a native of Germany, born 
June 26, 1S49, and is a son of Lewis Fred- 
erick and Augusta (Matschke) Banowsky. 
In 1849 the father emigrated to Texas, and 
the following year the mother brought her 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



429 



two children, — our subject and Otelia. The 
father, who was a cabinet-maker and car- 
penter, was working at his trade in Grimes 
county at the time his family joined him, 
but in 1852 removed to Burnet county, 
where he took up a claim of one hundred 
and sixty acres. On selling this he pur- 
chased a second tract there, consisting of 
three hundred and twenty acres. In 1882 
he went to Kimball county, Texas, where 
he is now engaged in stock-raising, owning 
about theee thousand acres, a portion of 
which is farming land. 

At the age of fourteen our subject left 
home and worked for wages until his mar- 
riage, which important event in his life was 
celebrated on the 13th of November. 1879. 
For three years he then followed farming 
upon a tract of fifty acres belonging to his 
wife, and then removed to Kimball county, 
where he purchased three hundred and 
twenty acres, partially improved. At the 
end of two years he purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres on Mesquite creek in Hamil- 
ton county, five miles north of Pottsville, 
and in December, 1890, removed to that 
village, where, in connection with W. A. 
Taylor, he started a store under the firm 
name of Taylor & Banowsky, our subject 
buying out B. B. Kinney, the firm being 
originally Kinney & Taylor. Selling out his 
interest at the end of one year, Mr. Ba- 
nowsky then dealt in cattle until January, 
1893, when he bought his present place of 
the William King heirs, it comprising two 
hundred and fifty-one acres. His present 
residence was completed in May, 1893, and 
he has bored a well one hundred and forty 
feet deep, placing therein a windmill. 

On the 13th of November, 1879, Mr. 
Banowsky wedded Sena Hannah Johnston, 
who was born November 14, 1857, in Dal- 



las county, Texas, and is the daughter of 
Isaac and Thursey (Weaver) Johnston, both 
natives of Tennessee, the former born in 
White county, in 1812, and the latter in 
Warren county, July 27, 1815. In their 
family were nine children, of whom Mrs. 
Banowsky was the youngest. At the age of 
eighteen years her father went to Illinois, 
and, in October, 1854, located in Dallas 
county, this state, where he owned three 
hundred and twenty acres. His death oc- 
curred May 10, 1862, and his wife, who 
long survived him, passed away February 
25, 1896. Six children grace the union of 
our subject and wife, viz. : Lawrence Aubra, 
born August 10, 1880; Richard Henry, born 
January 15, 1882; lola Elizabeth, born 
February 22, 1884; Albert Mercer, born 
September 23, 1892; Lottie May, born May 
I, 1894; and Emma Blanche, born March 
I, 1896. 

Mr. Banowsky is one of the most pro- 
gressive and wide-awake citizens of Hamil- 
ton county, and though of German birth, 
he is not only a good American scholar, but 
is Americanized in all his dealings and life. 
His political support is ever given to the 
Democratic party, and since the age of 
twenty-one years he has been a consist- 
ent and devoted member of the Christian 
church. 



HB. GATEWOOD.— Back to the 
Old Dominion, one of the historic 
landmarks, does the subject of this 
sketch trace his lineage, and, hke 
all true sons of Virginia, has reason to be 
proud of his blood. In him is found an ex- 
cellent representative of the Bosque county 
farmer and stock dealer, and a man whose 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



prominence justifies the presentation of this 
biographical rcsuinc. 

A. B. Gatewood was born in Stafford 
county, Virginia, January 29, 1822, son of 
Thomas J. and Frances (Harding) Gate- 
wood, both natives of that state. At an 
early day Thomas J. Gatewood emigrated 
with his family to Missouri, locating in that 
state a few years after its admission to the 
Union, and there he died soon after, in the 
prime of life, his death occurring in 1830. 
His wife survived him a number of years 
living to the advanced age of eighty-two 
years. Both were members of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church, and by occupation 
he was a farmer. In their family were 
seven children, one of whom died in infancy, 
and of the others we record that Henry is 
deceased; A. B., of this sketch, is the next in 
order of birth; Jefferson is a resident of 
Missouri; Enoch is deceased; Festus went 
to California in the daj's of '49 and his 
whereabouts is now unknown; and Eliza- 
beth married Mr. Thomas Northcut and 
resides in Missouri. 

The subject of this biography was small 
at the time his father died and remembers 
little of him. He remained with his mother 
and other members of the family, growing 
up on their frontier farm and receiving no 
other educational advantages than those of 
the common schools near his home. On 
emerging from his 'teens, and before reach- 
ing his majority, he took to himself a wife 
and launched out as a farmer in Clarke 
county, Missouri, where he remained for a 
number of years, including the war period. 
At the close of the war, in 1865, he sold out 
and went to California, where he spent three 
j-ears in farming and working at the car- 
penter's trade, after which he came to 
Texas, landing here in 1868, and first making 



settlement near Fort Worth in . Tarrant 
county. There he bought land and im- 
proved a farm and lived upon and cultivated 
the same until 1879, when he disposed of his 
property and removed to his present loca- 
tion in Bosque county, five miles northeast 
of Walnut Springs. At this point he pur- 
chased four hundred and fifty-three acres of 
land, which had for some time been used as 
a stock ranch, but which had no improve- 
ments save a small house. Through his 
efforts during the years that have passed 
since then a-change has been wrought. A 
hundred acres of the soil have been fur- 
rowed and refurrowed, and, with the excep- 
tion of two seasons, have always produced 
fine crops. The whole tract is now well 
fenced, a substantial and modern residence 
has been built, and an orchard has been 
planted and brought into bearing. For 
five or six years after settling here Mr. 
Gatewood gave considerable attention to the 
cattle business and had as fine a herd as was 
to be found in this section of the country. 
In 1882 he sold his cattle and turned his 
attention to sheep. 'At one time his band 
of sheep numbered as high as five hundred 
head, but at this writing he has only about 
three hundred. Also he has been much 
interested in raising horses, making a spe- 
cialty of improving the grade, and now is 
the owner of a fine stallion of the Steeldust 
and Norman strains. He carries on both 
his farming and stock-raising by the most 
modern and improved methods and is justly 
deserving of the success which is his. 

Reference has already been made to his 
early marriage, and now we would look fur- 
ther into that part of his history which is 
more especially domestic. Mr. Gatewood's 
first marriage was to Miss Ann E. Shackle- 
ford, a native of Missouri and a daughter of 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



431 



Morgan Shackleford and his wife, whose 
maiden name was Monroe. Mr. Shackle- 
ford was one of the respected farmers of 
his community. While Mr. Gatewood and 
his family were on the way to California, in 
1865, Mrs. Gatewood died, and a mound 
by the wayside marks her last resting place. 
She left three children, — JohnW., Camillus 
A. and Cornelius L., — all of whom are still 
living and successfully engaged in agricult- 
ural pursuits in Texas. In 1868 Mr. Gate- 
wood was married in this state to Miss Emily 
Oxer, a native of Warren county, Indiana, 
who came to Texas with her father, Samuel 
Oxer, and family about 1844, their location 
being on a rented farm in Dallas county. 
There her father died that same year, leav- 
ing a widow and seven children. Four 
years later the mother moved with her fam- 
ily to Parker county, where she lived for 
many years, and whence she finally moved 
to Thorp Spring, Hood county, where she 
died about the year 1882. She and her 
husband were both members of the Freewill 
Baptist church. Of their family, we record 
that their eldest son, James O., is deceased; 
Rachel is the wife of Dr. Bateman, of Mor- 
gan, Texas; Mary A. has been twice mar- 
ried, her first husband's name being Lewis, 
and her present companion a Mr. Kirkland; 
William is deceased; and Emily is the wife 
of our subject; and besides these there were 
two other children that died in early life. 
The marriage of Mr. Gatewood to Miss 
Oxer has resulted in the birth of six chil- 
dren now living, namely: Annie, wife of 
J. L. Mingus; Charles, a farmer; Rachel, 
a dressmaker of Morgan, this county; and 
Julian, Eddie and Garvin, at home. Also 
they lost one child in infancy. 

Both Mr. Gatewood and his wife are 
identified with the Christian church, of 



which they are consistent members. In his 
political views he harmonizes with the prin- 
ciples advocated by the Democratic party. 
During the late war he, being of southern 
birth and education, naturally sympathized 
with the southern cause, and he was for a 
time a member of the home guard in Mis- 
souri. 



^j'AMES H. HANSON, a prominent 
B farmer of Comanche county, has 
f^J been a resident of central Texas 
through the years of his manhood, 
becoming identified with the interests of 
this section of the state when a youth of 
sixteen. He has ever been an advocate of 
those movements and enterprises which are 
calculated to promote the general welfare 
and gives an intelligent support to all that 
is tending to bring about a better condition 
of affairs, both temporal and spiritual. Thus 
he has made himself a valued citizen of 
the community and one of the most popular 
and highly respected residents of Comanche 
county. 

Mr. Hanson was born in Marion county, 
Alabama, December 24, 1845, a son of 
William and Martha (Duse) Hanson, the 
former a native of Virginia and the latter 
of Georgia, in which state they were mar- 
ried. The Hansons were of Scotch-Irish 
descent, with some Cherokee blood in their 
veins. The father of our subject was reared 
and educated in Georgia and always fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits. In 1861 he 
came with his family to Texas, locating near 
the present home of his son in Comanche 
county, which was then an almost unbroken 
wilderness. The land was not then on the 
market and there were no settlements in 
the vicinity. Mr. Hanson opened up a 



432 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



small farm and engaged in raising hogs and 
afterward in raising other kinds of stock, 
following this pursuit through his remaining 
days. He died in 1872, and his wife, who 
survived him for a number of years, passed 
away in 1885. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat but never sought for political distinc- 
tion. His wife was a member of the 
Primitive Baptist church. Her father, John 
Duse, of Georgia, was a prominent farmer 
and died in Alabama in 1858. He, too, 
exercised his right of franchise in support 
of the men and measures of the Democ- 
racy. To Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were born 
nine children, all of whom reached years 
of maturity and became residents of the 
Lone Star state. These were John, who 
served through the late war but is now 
deceased; William, who was in Price's army 
and is now a farmer of Comanche county; 
Jack, of Montague county, Texas; Jessie, 
who resides in Alabama; Elizabeth, wife of 
William Howell, a resident of Indian Ter- 
ritory; Jane, wife of William Durr, both 
now deceased; James, of this review; P. M., 
of the Chickasaw nation; and Armstead, 
deceased. 

Having spent the first sixteen years of 
his life in Alabama, James H. Hanson then 
came with his parents to Texas, living with 
them through the years of his minority and 
caring for his widowed mother after her 
husband's death. In 1883 he purchased 
land and made a home for his mother. He 
afterward bought one hundred and sixty 
acres of heavy timber land., and with char- 
acteristic energy began to clear away the 
trees and develop a farm. All the improve- 
ments upon the place have been made b\' 
him, including the erection of the comfort- 
able home and substantial outbuilding. 
About eighty-five acres have been put under 



the plow and now yield a good return for 
the labor bestowed upon it, while an orchard 
adds to the value of the place. One hundred 
acres are under fence and the farm is one of 
the best improved properties in this section 
the state. All this Mr. Hanson has accom- 
plished himself, notwithstanding that during 
the greater part of his life he has been a 
great sufferer from rheumatism and white 
swelling. His farm claims the greater part 
of his attention and in his labors he has 
met with a well-deserved success. 

In 1885 Mr. Hanson was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Lucinda Marquis, who was 
born in Cherokee county, Texas, August 18, 
1854, a daughter of William and Martha 
(Burleson) Marquis, the former a native of 
Mississippi, the latter of Alabama, and a rep- 
resentative of the prominent Burleson family 
in Texas. Mr. Marquis was an early settler 
of this state, locating in Henderson county, 
and afterward entering the Confederate serv- 
ice, his death occurring while in the army. 
In his political views he was a Democrat, 
and in his religious belief was a Missionary 
Baptist. His widow, who is also a member 
of that church, still survives him, and is 
now living in Limestone county, Texas, at 
the age of sixty years. In their family 
were five children, namely: Mrs. Hanson; 
John T., deceased; Susanna, wife of Will- 
iam Burleson; Elizabeth, deceased; and 
Sarah A. , wife of F. Ainsworth. Four chil- 
dren grace the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Hanson: Walter, born February 8, 1887; 
Homer J., born September 28, 1888; Ed, 
born October 27, 1890; and Ada, born 
April 26, 1894. 

Mr. Hanson is deeply interested in the 
welfare of the county in which he makes 
his home, is a warm friend of church and 
educational enterprises, and has given three 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



acres of land on which to erect a church 
and schoolhouse. His wife is a faithful 
member of the Christian church and he con- 
tributes liberally to the support of the same. 
His political support was formerly given the 
Democracy, but he now votes with the Pop- 
ulist party. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson are most 
highly esteemed people and their genuine 
worth has gained them a large circle of 
friends. 



"^^ R- BLAIR. — More than fifty years 
8 ago, shortly before Texas was ad- 
* J mitted into the union of States, there 
landed within the Texan border, 
among other emigrant families, a widow and 
her children. They settled on the frontier 
and the children "grew up with the coun- 
try" and took rank with its leading and re- 
spected citizens. One of the members of 
this family has long been a prominent factor 
in the agricultural and stock interests of 
Bosque county. His name is well known 
throughout the county and forms an' appro- 
priate heading for a sketch in this biograph- 
ical record. 

J. R. Blair was born on a Georgia farm, 
September 5, 1829. His parents, William 
and Elizabeth (Robinson) Blair, were na- 
tives of South Carolina, were married in 
that state, and some time later removed to 
Georgia and settled on a farm, where he 
died in the year 1836, leaving his family in 
good circumstances. William Blair was a 
man of many estimable traits of character, 
followed the quiet pursuits of the farm all 
his life, and enjoyed the respect and esteem 
of all with whom he came in contact. In 
his political views he was what was called a 
Jackson Democrat. In 1844 his widow and 
her family left the old home in Georgia and 



sought a new one in the republic of Texas, 
and in due time landed in what is now called 
Titus county. Here she bought a tract of 
land and with the assistance of her sons 
opened up a farm. They continued their 
residence at that point until 1858, when 
they sold out and removed to Hunt county. 
The mother died in Hunt county the follow- 
ing year. Of the seven children composing 
her family, we make the following brief 
record: Evaline married Andrew Blair, a 
distant relative, and both are now deceased; 
William died unmarried; Andrew, deceased, 
left a wife and one child; Marinda is the 
wife of Elisha Keith and is a resident of 
Arizona; Louisa is the widow of William 
Long, who was killed in the late war; J. R., 
the subject of this review, was the sixth 
born; and Emily, the youngest, is the widow 
of Cyrus Fares and is a resident of Grayson 
county, Texas. 

J. R. Blair was only seven years of age 
at the time his father died and was in his 
'teens when he came with his mother to the 
Lone Star state. His education has been 
gained chiefly in the practical school of ex- 
perience. On attaining his majority, he en- 
gaged in the stock business on his own ac- 
count, and has been more or less interested 
in that business for a period of forty-five 
years, remaining in Hunt county until 1875, 
since which time he has been identified with 
the county of Bosque. 

When civil war was inaugurated the sub- 
ject of our sketch was naturally in sympathy 
with the southern cause, and gave to it his 
support. He enlisted in 1861 as a member 
of the Third Texas Cavalry, under Colonel 
Greer and General McCulloch, and was 
consigned to the Western Department. He 
was with the forces that operated in Arkan- 
sas, Missouri and Kansas, and was a partic- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ipant in all the memorable battles and raids 
of those states. Then he went with Gen- 
eral Price's command to Corinth, Mississippi, 
in which engagement he took part, after 
which he went to Rome, Georgia, and con- 
tinued in the Army of the Tennessee until 
the close of the war. He was in much hard 
service, and there were few hardships of war 
that he did not endure, but through it all he, 
in many instances almost miraculously, 
escaped wounds and capture; and during the 
whole war he never had a furlough, nor was 
he ever off duty, with the exception of a 
short time when he was sick and in hospital 
at Carthage, Missouri. At the close of the 
war he was on his way home, his regiment 
having been sent west, and was in Titus 
county when he heard of the surrender. He 
at once left the ranks and returned home, 
and, as he expresses it, has never yet been 
surrendered ! 

The war over, Mr. Blair resumed the 
stock business in Hunt county, where he 
remained until he brought his stock in 1875 
to Bosque county. He had married that 
same year and was accompanied by his wife 
to the new home. There was then no farm- 
ing done in this part of the country. There 
were only two families located on Steel's 
creek, and they were engaged in the stock 
business. He was among the earliest to 
settle on this creek. Here he purchased 
two hundred acres of choice valley land, 
and as soon as practicable put a portion of 
it under cultivation. From time to time he 
added to his original purchase, investing his 
profits in land, and now he has a fine tract 
of seven hundred acres, all under fence and 
with excellent improvements thereon, one 
hundred and eighty acres in cultivation and 
producing as fine crops as any raised in this 
favored clime. When he first came here he 



built a cheap house, which served for a 
home until he erected his commodious and 
attractive residence a few years ago. Also 
he built a good barn and outbuildings and 
has two tenant houses. About 1888 Mr. 
Blair took his herd of cattle to Colorado for 
wider range, kept them there a year or two 
and then sold out. Since then he has kept 
fewer stock, and, like his intelligent and 
prosperous neighbors, has given more atten- 
tion to the quality than quantity. 

Mr. Blair was married in 1875 to Miss 
Ellen Andrews, a native of Hunt county, 
Texas, born September 25, 1856, daughter 
of David and Sarah Jernigin, natives of 
middle Tennessee, who had come to Texas 
when young, the father landing here as 
early as 1829. Her parents were married 
in Red River county, Texas, but afterward 
removed to Arkansas, where they made their 
home until 1856, that year returning to this 
state and locating in Hopkins county, where 
the venerable father still lives, now at the 
age of eighty-two years, the mother having 
passed away in 1890, at the age of seventy- 
five. Farming and stock-raising have been 
his life occupation, and he has for many 
years been a consistent member of the 
Christian church. Their family is com- 
posed of ten members, namely: William, 
Jane, Lee, George, Franklin, John B., 
Elva, Thomas, Amanda, and Ellen (Mrs. 
Blair). Mrs. Blair is the only one of her 
family living in Bosque county. Five of her 
brothers served in the late war and all re- 
turned in safety except George, who was 
killed in battle. The children of Major and 
Mrs. Blair are Tolbert, Elbert, William and 
James R., all attending school at Walnut 
Springs. 

Much more might be said of this popular 
and enterprising citizen and his estimable 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



435 



family, but enough has been given even in 
this succinct review to serve as an index to 
his character and show that he and his wife 
and children are entitled to the high esteem 
in which they are held. 



OSBORNE LEVI LOCKETT. — 
Among those who are justly en- 
titled to honorable mention in a 
work of this character is the gen- 
tleman whose name heads this brief sketch. 
The opportunities offered him for acquiring 
an education were indeed limited, although 
he made good use of his time and became 
well grounded in the simpler banches of 
study. However, he has gained most of 
his knowledge in the school of experience, 
and by his own efforts has obtained a good 
practical education, and may justly be 
termed a self-made man. 

In early manhood Mr. Lockett learned 
the trade of brick mason and also became a 
practical butcher, and later engaged in 
teaching school; but for generations back 
his paternal ancestors were of the profes- 
sional class, and to follow in line was young 
Lockett's greatest desire. During the time 
he followed school-teaching and other occu- 
pations he was filled with high hopes and a 
laudable ambition to succeed. His hours 
were well spent in reading law, and he be- 
came an apt scholar, although he had no 
preceptor. In after years — 1877 ^'id 1878 
— he attended the law school at the State 
University of Virginia. 

From the beginning of his professional 
practice Mr. Lockett has occupied a promi- 
nent place among the leaders of the Bosque 
county bar, and is the peer of the brightest 
and ablest in the profession. He was ad- 
mitted to practice in 1877. In i88o he was 



elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, 
but after one year resigned that position in 
order to resume his private practice. 

Mr. Lockett was born in Cole county, 
Missouri, February 19, 1849, and is the 
eldest in the family of nine children born to 
Rev. Thomas F. and Sallie W. (Dixon) 
Lockett, the former a native of Virginia and 
the latter of North Carolina. The mother 
descended from the well known Dixon fam^ 
ily, of her native state. The father, who is 
a Baptist minister, traces his lineage back 
to old and influential families, and is a dis- 
tant relative of Henry Clay. He was a 
Missouri pioneer in 1845, and served as 
color-bearer during the Mexican war. 

On leaving his native state our subject 
came to Texas in 1863, first locating in 
Washington county. He resided in Robin- 
son, McLennan and Hill counties until 1874, 
when he settled permanently at Meridian, 
and at the present time is a member of the 
city council. He owns farm property in 
Taylor county, and is also engaged in cattle- 
raising in the western portion of the state. 

In Bosque county, on the 25th of April, 
1880, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
Lockett and Miss Dora M. Cureton, a na- 
tive of Texas, and the daughter of Captain 
Jack Cureton, an old frontiersman, whose 
sketch may be seen in another portion of 
this work. Four children have come to 
bless this union, namely: Maggie, Orby J., 
Richard and William C. The parents are 
consistent members of the Baptist church. 



,>^ENJAMIN FRANKLIN HARRIS. 

\c^^ — Situated on the prairie adjacent 

J^^J to and overlooking the town of 

Morgan, Texas, is the homestead 

of one of Bosque county's venerable citizens, 



436 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



a man who has long resided within the Texan 
border, and whose residence at his present 
location covers two decades. This gentle- 
man is Mr. B. F. Harris. During his long 
identity with the state he has made hosts of 
friends and acquaintances, and by many will 
a review of his life be perused with interest. 
Mr. Harris was born January 8, 1824, 
his native place being in Monroe county, in 
the "Empire State of the South," and his 
parents, Thomas N. and Lucy (Robinson) 
Harris, among its best citizens. Both were 
natives of South Carolina, as also were their 
parents, but of the latter little is known ex- 
cept that they died before passing middle 
life. Thomas N. Harris and his wife were 
married in South Carolina, moved from that 
state to Georgia and some years later to 
Alabama, and in Alabama they spent the 
evening of life and died, her death taking 
place about 1848 and his in 1859. He was 
a prominent and wealthy slaveholder and 
planter, and carried on agricultural pursuits 
all his life. In church circles he was active 
and influential. For many years he was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
was an exhorter and filled the office of 
steward and class-leader, and both by ex- 
ample and precept showed that he was a 
true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Politically, he was what was called a Henry 
Clay Whig, and while he always took a deep 
interest in all public affairs, he never had 
any desire for official honors. While living 
in Georgia he served as justice of the peace 
for about seven years. His family, which 
was composed of six sons and three daugh- 
ters, have all passed away with the excep- 
tion of B. F., the subject of this article. 
Their names in order of birth are: Martha, 
John, Rebecca, Daniel, Wesley, Ann, 
Thomas N., B. F. and Reuben C. All 



Were reared and educated in Georgia and 
Alabama, and of the nine only two, — Dan- 
iel and B. F. , — came to Texas. 

B. F. Harris was fifteen years of age at 
the time he removed with his parents from 
Georgia to Alabama, where he remained 
until he was thirty, engaged in farming. In 
the meantime, in 1845, on attaining his 
majority, he married and left the parental 
home and started out in life on his own 
responsibility. In 1854, following the trend 
of emigration to Texas, he brought his wife 
and six children with him to this state, 
landing in Galveston in January of that year. 
Soon he made his way to Boonsville and a 
few months later to Waco. On his arrival 
in Texas, as he had but little means, he 
found it necessary to turn his genius into 
account, which he did by transforming him- 
self into a cabinet-maker and manufacturing 
his own furniture. He cut down a mul- 
berry tree, prepared the lumber himself, 
and made it up into chairs, tables, etc. 
That was while he was in Boonsville. On 
his removal to Waco that same year he 
formed some genial and desirable acquaint- 
ances, with one of whom he entered into a 
partnership and commenced the manufacture 
of household furniture. This proved a 
profitable business, and they made and sold 
furniture for about four years, until the out- 
break of the civil war. Mr. Harris was 
opposed to secession and never entered the 
army. In 1861 he was made postmaster of 
Waco, in which position he rendered faith- 
ful and efficient service until after the war 
closed. During the reconstruction period 
he refused to take the "iron-clad oath," 
and his successor was accordingly appointed, 
that being about 1866. His refusal to take 
this oath was based on the fact that he had 
never sought or taken office with a view of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



437 



aiding the rebellion. His successor, George 
A. O'Brien, secured Mr. Harris's services as 
deputy in the office, and meanwhile petition 
after petition went up to the department at 
Washington asking that Mr. Harris be re- 
instated, the result being that Mr. O'Brien 
resigned and a son of Mr. Harris was 
appointed, the appointment being made by 
President Johnson. The younger Mr. Harris 
served as postmaster of Waco for several 
years, his service, like his father's, being 
characterized by promptness and the strictest 
fidelity. 

In 1866 the subject of our sketch formed 
a partnership with Mr. R. W. Bright and 
engaged in general merchandising, which 
they conducted successfully for some time. 
That same year he was elected alderman, 
in which office he served three years, and 
in 1869, when a vacancy was created by the 
resignation of the mayor, the council elected 
Mr. Harris to fill the place. He was the 
incumbent of the mayor's office for four 
years, until 1872, at the expiration of his 
first term having been appointed by the 
"enabling act." Also he was appointed 
justice of the peace and notary public, in 
both of which positions he proved himself 
the right man in the right place. Before 
the war he had served as deputy sheriff at 
Waco. In 1873 Mr. Harris moved to 
Cleburne, Johnson county, where he was 
soon after honored with appointment to the 
office of postmaster, which he filled four 
years, resigning at the expiration of that 
time. In 1870 and 1871 he bought a tract 
of wild land, 1,280 acres, where he now 
lives, and in 1877 he left Cleburne and came 
here, for a time making his home within the 
corporate limits of Morgan. Since then he 
has sold and given away some of his broad 
acres, retaining for his homestead eight 



hundred and forty acres adjoining the town. 
Here he has a delightful home. His resi- 
dence is comfortable and commodious. His 
farm buildings, fences, orchard and other 
improvements are kept in excellent repair, 
and both the exterior and interior appoint- 
ments of his home are indicative of culture 
and refinement as well as means. Since 
coming here Mr. Harris has been engaged 
to some extent in stock-raising, making a 
specialty of cattle and sheep, and giving 
attention to improving his breed of cattle, 
grading up with Herefords and Durhams. 
He has about a hundred acres of his land 
in cultivation, which he rents, himself fur- 
nishing the teams and seed and exercising a 
general supervision over the crops. 

We now turn to that page in the history 
of Mr. Harris which is more purely domes- 
tic, and find that August 27, 1845, he was 
united in the bonds of wedlock to Miss Mar- 
garet Robinson, a lady of intelligence and a 
member of a good family. She was born 
in Monroe county, Georgia, September 23, 
1828, a daughter of Joseph T. and Rennie 
(Rutland) Robinson, natives of South Caro- 
lina, and the latter of French and Irish 
descent. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had six 
children that grew to maturity, namely: 
William, deceased; Francis, widow of John 
Burlage and a resident of Rockdale, Texas; 
Alfred, deceased; Joseph T., deceased; Mar- 
garet, wife of our subject; and Charity, de- 
ceased. Mr. Harris and his wife have been 
blessed in the birth of twelve children, ten 
of whom lived to adult age, as follows: Noah 
W. , deceased; Eugenia, who has been twice 
married, first to John Goode and after his 
death to Henry Gates, and has one child; 
Emily, wife of J. M. Corbus, died without 
issue; Jane, deceased; Henrietta, widow of 
H. L. Muse; Rennie is the wife of G, Wal- 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



ters, a farmer and stock dealer; Martha E., 
wife of J. Hayward, died and left two chil- 
dren; Jessie D. is the wife of Dr. W. A. 
Reeves and resides in Indian Territory; 
Kufus, deceased; and Rosa L. , at home. 

Time has dealt gently with Mr. and Mrs. 
Harris. He has lived out his threescore 
years and ten, and she has nearly reached 
that mark, yet both are well preserved physi- 
cally and mentally and appear much younger 
than they are. Side by side they have 
traveled life's pathway for more than half a 
century, sharing the sorrows and felicities 
that have come to them, and in their old 
age enjoying together the fruits of their 
early years of toil. Both are devoted Chris- 
tians, he being a Methodist and she a mem- 
ber of the Episcopal church. In addition 
to the official positions already mentioned 
as having been filled by Mr. Harris, we fur- 
ther state that he was for two years mayor 
of Morgan, and more than this, it was only 
his own modesty that kept him from higher 
official honors; for such has been his wide 
acquaintance throughout Texas, his marked 
popularity and his ability, that he might 
have had any office in the gift of the people 
if he had asked for it. 



*y* EROY PARKS.— This enterprising 
I r Texan numbers his stock and broad 
1 jj acres by the thousands. He has 
long been a resident of Bosque 
county, having located here in 1859, and 
during all the years which have intervened 
since then he has figured as a leading farm- 
er and stock man. His long identity with 
the county and his prominence here render 
him therefore a fit subject for biographical 
honors, and we are pleased in this connec- 



tion to offer the following resume of his 
life. 

Leroy Parks was born in Marshall coun- 
ty, Mississippi, October 5. 1827. His fath- 
er, John Parks, was of North Carolina birth, 
spent much of his life in frontier districts, 
was a noted Indian fighter, a veteran of the 
war of 1812, and was for many years en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising. He was 
married in Lincoln county, Tennessee, to 
Miss Elizabeth McMillin, and after his mar- 
riage moved to Mississippi, whence in 1839 
he came to Texas and settled in Nacogdo- 
ches county, remaining there until 1844 
and then removed to Anderson county. 
Only a few years after their removal to 
Texas, when their son Leroy was fourteen 
years old, Mrs. Elizabeth Parks died, her 
death occurring in Nacogdoches county. 
John Parks lived to the advanced age of 
eighty-two years. They were the parents 
of a large family of children, namely: Felix, 
Leroy, Jane, Mary, William C. , John, 
Thomas, Bedford, and Martha Small. 

The subject of our sketch, Leroy Parks, 
was reared in Mississippi and Texas and his 
frontier life gave him little opportunity for 
schooling. In 1859 he settled at his pres- 
ent location in Bosque county, on a tract of 
three hundred and twenty acres, a portion 
of his present property, and here he built a 
little cabin, 16 x 16 feet, which served as 
his home until better and more commodious 
quarters could be secured. During his early 
experience here he was interested in raising 
both horses and cattle, at one time having 
threehundredheadofhorses and one thousand 
five hundred of cattle; but of recent years his 
stock operations have been confined almost 
entirely to cattle. From time to time he 
has added to his original holdings until now 
his landed estate covers no less than 4,600 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



acres, 270 of which are under a good state 
of cultivation. The little cabin has long ago 
been replaced by a spacious and comfort- 
able residence. Two large barns have been 
built, and many other modern conveniences 
add attractiveness and value to this model 
farm. 

Reverting to Mr. Parks' domestic life, 
we state that he was married in 1856 to Miss 
Susan Wheeler, a native of the same coun- 
ty in which he was born. She is a daugh- 
ter of James and Mary (Quinn) Wheeler, 
both of Virginia birth. Mr. Wheeler died 
in Mississippi, in 1837. Mrs. Wheeler came 
to Texas and passed the closing years of her 
life in Bosque county, where she died, at 
the age of sixty-nine years. They were 
people of deep piety and were members of 
the Primitive Baptist church. In their 
family were five children, their names being 
Jane, Mary, William, James H. and Susan. 
Mr. and Mrs. Parks have had six children, 
of whom four survive, viz. : Mary, wife of 
C. Blythe, of Los Angeles, California, has 
two sons and four daughters; Martha, wife 
of James Preston, of this county, has two 
sons; James W., Stephens county, Texas, 
is a wealthy farmer and stock man, owning 
a fine ranch of 5,000 acres; and Thomas C, 
at home. Those deceased are Lee, who 
died at the age of four years; and John B., 
whose death occurred at Weatherford, 
Texas, where he was attending college, Oc- 
tober 21, 1894, at the age of twenty-one 
years. 



^J* R. POWELL, Duffau, Texas.— 

m None are more worthy of a place in 

^•1 the history of Erath county than this 

well-known and highly respected 

farmer, J. R. Powell. He is a native of 



Maury county, Tennessee, born January 22, 
1 84 1, and traces his ancestry, both paternal 
and maternal, back to the Emerald Isle. 
Several generations of the families, how- 
ever, have been residents of America. His 
parents, E. A. and Cynthia (Turberville) 
Powell, were born in Tennessee; were mar- 
ried there, and there the father carried on 
farming operations until 1867, when he 
moved to Brazos county, Texas, and settled 
near Bryan. Subsequently he moved to Leon 
county, where he died in the year 1 87 1 . He 
was engaged in farming all his life. Dur- 
ing the war he showed his loyalty to his 
country by enlisting in the Confederate ser- 
vice and acting the part of a true, brave 
soldier, remaining on duty for three years, 
until he was wounded and discharged on 
account of disability; and all this after 
he had attained to an age when most men 
think they are too old for army service. 
He was twice married and by each wife had 
four children, and all that are living are 
now residents of this state. His first com- 
panion, the mother of our subject, died in 
Tennessee in 185 1. Her children are: 
Louisa A., now Mrs. Dowell; Martha E., 
wife of S. Rutherford; Josephine, the wife 
of S. Rutherford, Jr.; and J. R., whose 
name introduces this article. Following 
are the children of the second marriage: 
William E., a merchant of Leon county, 
Texas; W. K., also of Leon county; James 
W. , county judge of Leon county; and 
Henrietta, wife of H. McDonald, died and 
left one child. 

J. R. Powell spent his boyhood days on 
his father's farm, assisting in the farm work 
and attending the schools of the district. 
At the time the civil-war cloud gathered 
and burst upon the country we find him on 
the verge of manhood and still 



440 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



honest toil in his father's fields. When the 
call for volunteers was made he was among 
the first to respond. He went out in 1861 
as a member of the First Tennessee Infan- 
try and was in active service throughout the 
war, being with the forces that participated 
in the Virginia and other Eastern cam- 
paigns. To outline even briefly the numer- 
ous engagements in which he took part 
would require much more space than can 
be given any one biography in a work of 
this character. Although he was often in 
the thickest of the fight, the balls flying 
around him and his comrades falling on 
every side, he fortunately escaped without 
capture and with only slight wounds. 
While with Johnston on his famous retreat, 
Mr. Powell was under fire for thirty succes- 
sive days, and at one time in his service he 
went three days without food. 

The war over, our subject was paroled 
at Gainesville, Alabama, and from there re- 
turned home. The following year he clerked 
in a store at Nashville. After this he mar- 
ried and settled on a farm in west Tennessee, 
where he carried on farming operations suc- 
cessfully until January, 1881, the time of 
his removal to Texas. His first location in 
this state was in Leon county. There he 
spent one year and then he removed to Erath 
county, where he has since continued to re- 
side. After renting land here one year he 
purchased his present farm, one hundred 
and seventy-two acres, located half a mile 
east of Duffau, where he carries on general 
farming and raises some stock, having about 
seventy acres of his land under cultivation. 

Mr. Powell has been an enthusiastic 
Democrat ever since becoming a voter and 
has always taken an active interest in public 
affairs. In 1 890 he was elected county com- 
missioner of Erath county, a position he was 



well qualified to fill and one in which he 
gave the best of satisfaction. During his term 
of office public improvement in Erath county 
was vigorously carried forward. The new 
courthouse was built, a number of iron 
bridges were constructed, and numerous 
other improvements made, all of which 
helped to place the county well to the front 
as an enterprising and progressive one. 

Mr. Powell was married in 1866 to Miss 
Seretha A. Mclver, a native of Mississippi, 
born November 22, 1844, daughter of James 
H. and Elizabeth (Dowells) Mclver, the 
former a native of Illinois and the latter of 
Tennessee. Her father, a mechanic in early 
life, later settled down to farming, and is 
still living in west Tennessee. Her mother 
died in 1875. The children born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Powell numbered ten, of whom 
three died in infancy, and of the others we 
record that E. A. is a business man of Dub- 
lin, Te.xas; James J. died in March, 1884, at 
the age of fourteen years; John H. is a resi- 
dent of Hico, Texas; Bessie is the wife of 
M. A. Cole, who is engaged in business at 
Hico; and Mary E., Henrietta and Edgar 
C. , at home. Mr. Powell and his wife are 
members of the Southern Episcopal church. 



tV^ ENJAMIN MARTIN KIKER.— It 
\c^ is with an eminent degree of satis- 
J^,^ faction that the biographer turns 
to the consideration of the more 
pertinent points in the life history of this 
well known and honored citizen of central 
Texas, who is a man of distinguished force 
of character. For a quarter of a cen- 
tury he has been identified with this re- 
gion as one of its most prominent farm- 
ers and stock-raisers, and in his career 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



are shown forth those saHent points in 
his nature that have enabled him to over- 
come obstacles and difficulties and work his 
way upward to prosperity. Such a life 
contains much that is valuable in the way 
of example and inspiration, encouraging 
others to press forward in the race of life 
until the goal of success is reached. 

Mr. Kiker was born in Gordon county, 
Georgia, on the 31st of August, 1847, and 
son of E. R. and Rebecca P. (Bonham) 
Kiker. His father was born in South Caro- 
lina, a son of Benjamin Kiker, who was 
also born in that state. The family, how- 
ever, is of German origin and was founded 
in America by the great-grandfather of our 
subject. The mother of B. M. Kiker was 
a native of Virginia, but was reared in Ten- 
nessee, where her father, Martin Bonham, 
removed at an early day in the history of 
that state. He was probably of Welsh 
descent. The parents of our subject were mar- 
ried in Georgia and Mr. Kiker followed the 
carpenter's trade. Subsequently he removed 
to Alabama, and in 1871 came to Texas, lo- 
cating on Green's creek in Erath county, 
where he and his wife spent their remain- 
ing days. Mr. Kiker died at the age of six- 
ty-four years, and his wife passed away at the 
age of sixty-three. During the war he had 
served as lieutenant of Company A, Twenty- 
eighth Alabama Infantry, which was at- 
tached to the Army of the Tennessee. At 
the battle of Missionary Ridge he was cap- 
tured and confined on Johnson's island for 
eighteen months, or until the close of the 
war. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kiker were members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, 
and were most estimable people. The for- 
mer was a valued member of Stephenville 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and filled all its offi- 



ces, and also belonged to the grange. In 
all matters calculated to improve or benefit 
the community he was deeply interested and 
gave to the same his liberal support. In 
the family were six children, four of whom 
are yet living. 

We now turn to the personal history of 
the gentleman whose name honors the in- 
troduction of this article, a man whom to 
know is certain to lead one to honor him. 
He is a worthy representative of the agricult- 
ural interests of the county and belongs to 
that class of valued individuals who faith- 
fully perform their duties of citizenship and 
their duties to their fellow men. He be- 
came familiar with farm life in its various 
departments at an early age, for he was 
reared on the old family homestead and 
aided his father in its cultivation. The 
common schools afforded him his educa- 
tional privileges, and experience has made 
him a practical man of affairs. He re- 
mained with his parents until he had at- 
tained his majority and made preparations 
for a home of his own by his marriage, 
which was celebrated September 14, 1870, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Mary B. 
McCleskie, a native of Georgia, and a 
daughter of N. T. and M. L. (Gill) McCles- 
kie, who were representatives of old fami- 
lies of Georgia. 

Three weeks after their marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Kiker emigrated to Texas, making 
the journey with teams and reaching their 
destination after nine weeks of travel. Our 
subject pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
acres of land and at once began the arduous 
task of transforming it into a productive 
farm. The team of mules which he drove 
were now used in breaking the land, and the 
household effects which he had hauled in the 
wagons furnished the new frontier home. 



442 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



As time passed success attended his ener- 
getic efforts, and he extended the bounda- 
ries of his farm until it comprised, as it does 
now, nine hundred acres of land, of which 
one hundred acres are under a high state of 
cultivation. He is also extensively engaged 
in stock-raising, and this has proved to him 
a valuable source of income. He now has 
large herds of cattle. Into other lines of 
endeavor he entered, and in 1891 built a 
cotton gin on the Palu.xy river and also on 
the Fort Worth & Rio Grande railroad. 
This has proved to him a profitable invest- 
ment as well as a benefit to the community, 
enabling the farmers in the vicinity to have 
their cotton prepared for market near their 
homes and without paying high shipping 
prices. 

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Kiker com- 
prises nine children, seven of whom are living, 
as follows: Lula Bell, who died at the age 
of seventeen years; Ella Gracie.who died at 
the age of six years; Walter C, a farmer of 
Erath county, who married Maud V. Jack- 
son and now has one child, Charlie Martin; 
Rev. O. P., a minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south, who is now attend- 
ing the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth, 
Texas; Orvil Price, at home; Arab M., who 
is attending the college in Fort Worth; Eli 
Robertson; Ira C. ; and Effie May. 

Mr. Kiker and his family are consistent 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south, and take an active part in its work 
and all that pertains to its upbuilding. Mr. 
Kiker is now serving as church steward. In 
politics he is a stanch Prohibitionist, being 
a stalwart advocate of the cause of temper- 
ance, and for two terms he served as county 
commissioner, discharging his duties with 
marked fidelity and ability. Socially he is 
connected with Harmony Lodge, A. F. & 



A. M., and in lodge, church, political, busi- 
ness and social circles he is held in the high- 
est esteem for his sterling worth. 



HLONZO COOPER, Clifton, Texas, 
enjoys the reputation of being one 
of the most extensive farmers and 
landowners of Bosque county. His 
lands are located five miles north of Clifton, 
and consist of five thousand acres, at least 
one thousand acres being under cultivation. 
In former years Mr. Cooper devoted much 
time to thoroughbred race stock, but lately 
has been much interested in general farming 
and stock-raising for the market. Hogs, 
sheep and cattle, — anything that has money 
in it, — he finds ready to his hands and turns 
into the channels of trade. The farm on 
which he resides is probably one of the 
most picturesque in the county, his dwell- 
ing-house being located on the Bosque 
river, one of the famous water courses 
which have made the county remarkable. 
It is a frame building of modern architecture 
and beautiful design, located on a natural 
building site, with fine lawn surrounding, 
and in the background suitable barns and 
outbuildings for stock. 

Mr. Cooper was born in Clay county, 
Mississippi, August 29, 1843, the third of 
the four children of Charles H. and Eliza 
(Smith) Cooper. His parents were both 
natives of North Carolina. His father was a 
large slaveholder in ante-bellum days, who 
brought his slaves from Mississippi to Texas 
in 1849, the family coming the following 
year. They located in Washington county, 
where our subject was reared and educated. 
His father died in July, 1879, and Mr. 
Cooper located in Bosque county the next 
year. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



443 



Our subject has been four times married, 
and has one son, Julian G. , by his second 
union, and one by the third marriage, AlH- 
son W. His present wife was formerly Miss 
Hattie C. Wood, and by this union there 
are two children, — Harry and Lawrence. 



>Y*AMES W. McINTURFF, Valley 
m Mills, Bosque county, Texas. — The 
A 1 gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch is one of the substantial farm- 
ers and cotton-gin proprietors of Valley 
Mills. He is a Virginian by birth, and his 
first sight of this world was taken on 
"Freedom's Natal Day," July 4, 1849. 
His parents were Philip and Eliza (Cover- 
stom) Mclnturfi. They were both native 
Virginians and descendants of early families, 
which were prominent in colonial times. 
The father was a local minister, and also a 
blacksmith by trade. 

To these good people, our subject was 
the only child that Fortune granted, and he 
was reared to farming pursuits and received 
that wise and thoughtful training that such 
a father would impart. When twenty-two 
years of age he followed a stream of settle- 
ment then flowing from the southern states 
into Texas, and came into the state, locating 
first in Johnson county, but did not long 
remain there. He went to Corsicana, where 
he became engaged on a railroad then under 
construction, and was employed in the car- 
pentry department of the road. 

Mr. Mclnturff came to Bosque county in 
1873, and is now the proprietor of a farm 
property of one hundred and fifty-three 
acres, some three miles west of Vallej^ Mills. 
He has forty acres of this place under culti- 
vation, and has something over an acre in a 



fine peach orchard. His wife raises fowls 
for the sake of the eggs alone; during the 
year 1895 sold in the Valley Mills market 
over seven hundred dozen eggs. Our sub- 
ject, in addition to his farming, carries on 
several profitable and absorbing enterprises. 
He owns a steam threshing-machine, which 
he runs throughout the season. He also 
conducts a cotton gin in this city. This gin 
was erected in 1894, and has a thirty boiler 
and a twenty-five-horse-power engine and 
all modern improvements. The plant has a 
capacity of eighteen bales daily. With it is 
connected a machinery for grist-grinding, 
which is in operation all the year around. 

Mr. Mclnturff is a member of the Farm- 
ers' Alliance, but takes no active interest in 
local politics other than casting his vote in 
the interest of good government. March 15, 
1 874, he espoused in marriage an estimable 
widow lady, Mrs. Mary J. Hilton, nee Ever- 
ett. She is the mother of two sons by a 
former union, — Jesse and James D. Hilton. 



■JrY* AMES DAY is the popular and genial 
A editor of the People's Tribune, of 
A ¥ Walnut Springs. This paper is the 
successor of The Nutshell, which 
was established by J. F. Denton toward the 
close of 1894, and continued until July 20, 
1895, when Mr. Day took charge and 
changed the name to its present form. It 
is now the organ of the Populist party and 
under our subject's able management hdS 
become a very witty and newsy journal. It 
has a circulation of nearly one thousand 
outside of exchanges, and reaches the sur- 
rounding counties and even beyond the state 
limits. 

Mr. Day was born in Texas, his birth- 



444 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



place being in Freestone county, and the 
date thereof July 29, 1866; but in Bosque 
county he was reared and educated. His 
parents were James R. and Barbara E. 
(Weaver) Day, the former a native of Geor- 
gia and the latter of Texas. As early as 
1844 his father came to this state, locating 
first in Rusk county, and was by occupation 
a farmer. His death occurred on the 2d of 
June, 1885. 

Mr. Day of this sketcli is the eldest in 
family of nine children, and early became 
familiar with agricultural pursuits upon the 
home farm, which calling he continued to 
follow until 1890, when he began merchan- 
dising at Iredell, Bosque county. At the 
end of two years he sold out his business 
there and came to Walnut Springs, where for 
a year he conducted a store. 

On the 22d of July, 1886, Mr. Day was 
married, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Louisa E. Flanagan, of Alabama, and to 
them were born five children, two of whom 
are now deceased — Tomy E. and Wiley E. 
Those living are James W. , Frank and Emma 
E. While engaged in merchandising, Mr. 
Day devoted his leisure hours to the study of 
law, and in 1895 was appointed justice of the 
peace, which position he is efficiently filling 
at the present time. In political matters he 
is a stanch and active Populist, and in 1884 
stumped the county in the interest of his 
party. 



,>'^I-:TER DAHL, an agriculturist of 
M m energy and ability, who is residing 
^ three miles southwest of the city of 

Clifton, was born in Bosque coun- 
ty on the 22d of March, 1858, and is a de- 
scendant of one of the early pioneers of the 
state, his parents being Henry O. and 



Christina (Fureset) Dahl. The father's birth 
occurred in Romedal, Norway, and it was 
in the year 1852 that he became a resident 
of Texas. 

Our subject is the third in order of birth 
in the family, which consisted of nine chil- 
dren, and he early became familiar with the 
duties that fall to the lot of an agriculturist. 
He has always followed farming as a life 
work, and now owns a tract of seven hun- 
dred and three acres of valuable land, fifty 
of which he has placed under the plow, 
while all is under fence, the greater portion 
being utilized for pasture lands. His resi- 
dence is far ahead of that of the average 
Texas farmer, being a large two-story frame 
dwelling, located on a very prominent build- 
ing site, with all modern conveniences, and 
at once strikes the beholder as the home of 
a model farmer. 

Mr. Dahl has been twice married. On 
the 28th of December, 1882, he wedded 
Miss Annie E. C. Nelson, whose death oc- 
curred January 10, 1894. By this marriage 
there were seven children, namely: Chris- 
tine E., Hendrek A. , Osunelle M., Axel O., 
Palmer S., Agnes B., and Alma B. who died 
July 4, 1893. His second union was with 
Miss Ingeborg E. Ellengson, a native of 
Norway, whom he married March 14, 1895, 
and she died January 27, 1896, leaving one 
child,— Bernt I. 

Mr. Dahl is one of those gentlemen who 
keeps abreast with the times, taking an act- 
ive interest in all matters pertaining to the 
welfare of his county and state, particularly 
educational matters, and has been for sev- 
eral years a member of the board of school 
trustees of district No. 2 i . Religiously he 
is a consistent member of the Lutheran 
church, and is held in high regard by all 
who know him. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



445 



HNDREW J. WALTON, Eulogy, 
Bosque county, Texas, is one of the 
most progressive, intelligent and 
popular business men of the coun- 
ty. He was born in Neshoba county, Mis- 
sissippi, November ii, 1848, his father and 
grandfather both bearing the name of Will- 
iam, and being natives of that state and 
members of an old southern family. The 
mother of cur subject was Ellen Chipman, 
who was related to some of the best families 
of the old south, her own immediate family 
being among the first settlers of the state. 
She was the mother of six children: Eliza- 
beth, one who died a babe, A. J., W. W. , 
Nancy J. (dead), and Abbie Young, of this 
county. Mrs. Walton died, and later on 
her husband married for his second wife 
Betty Hoye, and by this marriage there are 
six children: George, Lucy, Emma, R. G., 
Ollie and Thomas. He is a Democrat 
and a Baptist. He is still hving and is in 
fine health. 

Our subject grew to manhood on a Mis- 
sissippi farm, and learned something of the 
primary elements of success in life, and his 
earnest devotion to business, his upright 
character, and his persistence in whatever 
he undertakes show the kind of teaching he 
had as a boy. He depended upon the pub- 
lic schools for his education, but has made 
himself a man of thought and judgment, by 
reading and observation. He came to this 
county in 1881, and bought two hundred 
and fifty-four acres, almost in the wilder- 
ness. He worked hard, made money, and 
bought one hundred and seventy-six acres 
more in 1884, and in 1893 made the very 
extensive purchase of nineteen hundred 
acres. This large tract of land he sub- 
divided, platted and sold out at a good 
profit. He now owns four hundred and 



thirty acres, which he keeps up to the very 
front of farming. On this farm he has 
three fine dwelling-houses, large barns, four 
good wells, and a good gin house, and does 
a large business in ginning cotton. His 
farm is well stocked with horses, mules, 
cattle and sheep, and is regarded as one of 
the most successful farmers of the entire 
state. 

Mr. Walton was married February 14, 
1S72, to Miss Cleopatra Williams, a daugh- 
ter of Zachariah Williams. Both she and 
her father were natives of Mississippi. Our 
subject has had twelve children, — ten sons 
and two daughters, — of whom eight sons 
are now living. Zachariah is married and 
has a good farm. William is also married, 
and has a farm. The other children are 
Otho, Andrew J., Jr., Osca, Ollie, R. G., 
and Earley. 

Mr. Walton, our subject, is a strong and 
devoted Democrat, and was county commis- 
sioner for four years, — a position which he 
has filled with honor and credit to himself 
as well as the party. He may fairly be pro- 
nounced a self-made man, and has done ex- 
ceedingly well in whatever occupation he 
has engaged. He is a member of the Bap- 
tist church and also of the Masonic order, 
and is a great favorite with a wide circle of 
friends. 



^»-f H. F. SKIPPER.— It iseminentlyfit- 
g ting that in this connection we incor- 
«1 porate a resume of the life of this well- 
known farmer, J. H. F. Skipper, of 
Skipper's Gap, Erath county, Texas, who 
was brought to the state in his infancy and 
who has resided in the county of Erath for 
more than thirty-six years. 

Mr. Skipper was born in Maury county. 



446 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



Tennessee, April i, 1847, and his parents, 
William and Mary (Goodgine) Skipper, were 
also both natives of that state. In the latter 
part of the same year in which he was born 
the family emigrated to Texas and located 
in Lamar county, where they resided two 
years, removing thence to Hopkins county, 
and in i860 leaving the latter place and 
coming to Erath county. William Skipper 
was one of the primitive settlers of this 
county. He located near the land now 
owned and occupied by our subject, erected 
a cabin to shelter his family, and soon had 
a small patch of ground under cultivation. 
As he prospered he increased his operations 
and carried on both farming and stock- 
raising. He was a natural mechanic. He 
did all sorts of tinkering, and in this way 
was of great value in the settlement, his 
services not infrequently being called into 
use to make coffins, for in those days there 
were no undertakers here. And he was not 
only a farmer and coffin-maker, but also as 
a local politician did he figure prominently, 
his choice being the Democratic party. 
Frequently he was honored with official 
preference. He served as justice of the 
peace, high sheriff of the county, tax col- 
lector, etc. His incumbency as sheriff was 
during the civil war. The office was a hard 
one to fill then and required a man of nerve 
and resolute courage, one not afraid of dan- 
ger and willing to risk his life if need be in 
the performance of his duty; and few, if 
any, could have served with more prompt- 
ness and fidelity than did Mr. Skipper. He 
refused to take the ' ' iron-clad " oath during 
the reconstruction period and -resigned his 
office. When he first settled in this county 
Mr. Skipper had no trouble with the In- 
dians. Later, however, they became hos- 
tile, stole much of his stock, and gave him 



and his neighbors no end of trouble. He 
and his neighbors went out in pursuit of the 
red men and their stolen stock on numerous 
occasions and often got into skirmishes. 
Religiously Mr. Skipper was a Methodist 
and fraternally a Mason, and when he died, 
at Stephenville, in 1892, he was buried by 
the Masonic order. His wife had died in 
1887. Thus passed from this life two of the 
earliest and best beloved pioneers of Erath 
county. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, two of whom died in infancy, and one 
at the age of ten years was killed by a horse. 
Rufus K. died at the age of twenty-one 
years; James died when seventeen; and 
J. H. F., the subject of this review, is the 
only surviving member of the family. 

J. H. F. Skipper was not yet a year 
old at the time he was brought in his 
mother's arms to this frontier state. He 
was reared on his father's farm, was early 
put to the plow, and after he was thirteen 
spent most of his youth in the saddle look- 
ing after their stock. He was yet in his 
'teens when the Indian troubles began and 
there was not a more courageous cowboy 
on the range than he. It was his ambition 
to have the best horse and be first in the 
raid and he was never willing to give up the 
chase as long as there was one to go with him. 
He was in many battles and skirmishes with 
the red men, the most noted of which was 
the Dove Creek battle, in the winter of 
1865, on the Concho river, where eighteen 
men were killed on the spot and four died 
later from wounds received there. The 
loss of the Indians was not known. 

In March, 1865, the subject of our 
sketch took to himself a wife, but for two 
years longer he remained at his father's 
home. After he left the farm he com- 
menced freighting for the government, haul- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



447 



ing supplies from Houston to Forts Chad- 
bourne and Griffin and continuing thus occu- 
pied until 1 87 1 or 1872. In the meantime 
he had some farming operations carried on 
under his supervision. After he quit freight- 
ing he settled down to farming on the place 
where he has since lived and where he car- 
ries on both farming and stock-raising. 
Here he owns two surveys, including about 
1,000 acres, all under fence. 

Mr. Skipper's early life being passed in 
a frontier settlement, he had little time or 
thought for books, and there were no schools 
here. After he grew up he felt the need of 
an education. He began a course of home 
study and he has kept this up through the 
years until now he has a fair business edu- 
cation and is a practical surveyor. He 
takes a deep interest in the educational 
affairs of the community, has been instru- 
mental in securing better schools, and, in 
short, is interested in whatever will promote 
the welfare of his vicinity. It was through 
his influence that the postoffice. Skipper 
Gap, which is in his house, was established. 
His father was the first postmaster of this 
place and his daughter now occupies the 
position. Mr. Skipper is a notary public; 
in politics is a Democrat, active and enthu- 
siastic in party matters, and a prominent 
factor in local conventions, etc. ; and frater- 
nally is a Mason in good standing, maintain- 
ing a membership in New Hope Lodge, 
F. & A. M. Both he and his wife are active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
Mrs. Skipper, nee Ellen Hamilton, was 
born in Hopkins county, Te.xas, in 185 1, 
daughter of T. R. and Mary J. (Miller) 
Hamilton, her father a descendant of the 
old Robert Hamilton family. T. R. Ham- 
ilton was a mechanic. He moved to Erath 
county in 1859 and passed the regt of his 



life here, dying in 1879. He was a Mason, 
a Democrat and a Presbyterian, a man of 
many sterling qualities of both heart and 
mind. His wife died in 1853. They were 
the parents of two children, namely: Mar- 
garet, wife of Elijah Kealrey, a farmer of 
this county; and Mrs. Skipper. Mr. and 
Mrs. Skipper have had ten children, two of 
whom died when young, those living being 
as follows: John T., cashier of the State 
Bank at Opelousas, Louisiana; Mary, wife 
of William Parnell, is a resident of Erath 
county; Frances, wife of Wylie Taylor, re- 
sides at Moody, Texas; and Amanda, 
James A., Edna, Wilty and Henry,— all at 
home, Miss Amanda being the postmistress 
of Skipper's Gap. 



eDGAR A. WILSON, Valley Mills, 
Bosque county, Texas, is a gentle- 
man the writing of whose sketch is 
a pleasant task to the historian 
who loves to deal with the story of promi- 
nent and successful men. Mr. Wilson is a 
native of Georgia, where he was born March 
13. '857. His father died while he was 
still an infant, and whatever he has accom- 
plished in the world he has to thank his 
mother for, for it was her training that has 
made him what he is. She was a native of 
South Carolina, and still resides in the state 
of Georgia. 

Mr. Wilson spent his boyhood's days in 
the calm and peaceful life of a farmer's 
home, and was raised to agricultural pur- 
suits, but when he became a man was for a 
time engaged in mining. He came to Texas 
in 1882, and here he has achieved a large 
success, being now the owner of a fine ranch 
of eight hundred and fifty acres, located 
some twelve miles west of this city, of which 



448 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



he has one hundred and thirty-five acres 
under the plow. He also owns a section 
of land four miles west of the city, in which 
one hundred and seventy-five acres are un- 
der cultivation, and there he has an orchard 
of an acre and a half, in which the peach- 
tree is most frequently seen. He is sole 
owner of a cotton gin within the city limits, 
a large plant operated by a forty-horse- 
power engine and having three seventy-sow 
gins, and is capable of handling thirty bales 
daily. Here chop feed and meal are ground 
daily. Our subject is also a stock-grower 
and breeder and has among his horses one 
very fine Percheron valued at two thousand 
five hundred dollars. 

He is a man of family, and was married 
in the state of Georgia to Miss Susan E. 
Loggins, February 8, 1877. They have nine 
children living: Benjamin F. , Lillia M., Sal- 
lie D., Gary J., William J., Edgar A., Eulo, 
Garl and Effie. They have lost three chil- 
dren, — two boys and a girl. 



'=-»-» EMUEL BRUMBELOW. — The 
I C fine farm owned by this gentleman 
P j^ in Gomanche county invariably 
attracts the eye of the passing trav- 
eler as being under .the supervision of a 
thorough and skillful agriculturist, and a 
man otherwise of good business qualifica- 
tions. His birth occurred in Robinson 
county, Tennessee, March 29, 1832, and he 
passed his younger days in the usual manner 
of farmer boys, aiding his father in the work 
of the fields and receiving a practical edu- 
cation in the common schools. 

His paternal grandfather, Louis I^rumbe- 
low, was a native of North Garolina, was a 
farmer by occupation, and died in Tennessee. 



The father of our subject, who also bore 
the name of Louis Brumbelow, was reared 
in Tennessee, where he married Anna Hall, 
by whom he had nine children, — Nancy, 
Andrew, Mary, Delila, Lemuel, William M., 
Gharity, Anna and Isaac. Our subject and 
William M. are the only ones that live in 
Te.xas. In 1852 the father removed to 
Arkansas, where he followed his chosen 
occupation of farming near Hot Springs, 
and there improved a valuable tract. His 
first wife had died in Tennessee and he was 
again married there. In 1873 became with 
his family to Gomanche, Texas, locating upon 
wild land, which he converted into a good 
farm, and he died there in 1878. His 
second wife survived him until 1886, when 
she, too, was called to her final rest. 
Politically he was a Democrat, and relig- 
iously a member of the Missionary Baptist 
church. 

As long as his father lived our subject 
and his brother, William M., remained with 
him, and since his death have purchased the 
interests of the other heirs in the home 
place, all of which has been fenced and one 
hundred acres of the amount is under a high 
state of cultivation and improved with an 
orchard, good buildings, etc. The farm is 
pleasantly situated in the valley of the Leon 
river, just three miles east of De Leon, and 
comprises three hundred and seventy acres 
of valuable land. 

While in Arkansas, Mr. Brumbelow 
enlisted in the Thirty-fifth Arkansas Gavalry, 
Pagan's brigade, in the Trans-Mississippi 
department, where he saw some hard service 
and engaged in many battles and skirmishes. 
While out on a scouting expedition he was 
captured and held a prisoner at Little Rock 
for one year, being released after the sur- 
render of General Lee. Since returning 




(^.(^fJM 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



449, 



home he has been successfully engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising. 

At the age of twenty-five years Mr. 
Brumbelow was married, in Arkansas, the 
lady of his choice being Miss Georgiana 
Thompson, who was born in Alabama in 
1 843, and is the daughter of George Thomp- 
son, also a native of Alabama, but who 
later became a prominent farmer of Arkan- 
sas, where his death occurred. Six children 
bless this union, namely: Frances A., wife 
of C. C. Blair, an agriculturist; Mary, wife 
of C. L. Rucker, who operates a cotton-gin 
at De Leon; George L. , a farmer; Jennie, 
wife of Lewis Stewart, a farmer; and Agnes 
and Lemma B., both at home. The par- 
ents are worthy members of the Missionary 
Baptist church. Mr. Brumbelow is a stanch 
adherent of the principles of the Democratic 
party, and supports the candidates offered 
by that organization on all occasions. Since 
coming to the state he has never failed to 
raise good crops upon his place, and is 
justly numbered among the most enter- 
prising and progressive agriculturists of 
Comanche county. 



EON. GEORGE FREDERICK 
PERRY, M. D., president of the 
Hamilton National Bank, was 
born December 5, 1846, in Benton 
county, Missouri, and is the son of Chris- 
tian Louis and Margaret Elizabeth (Olf) 
Perry. Our subject had a very fair com- 
mon-school education, and at the age of 
twenty began reading medicine under Dr. 
John Ray, of Cassville, Missouri. At 
twenty-one he set up for himself as a doctor 
of medicine at Corsicana, in that state; but 
he had hardly entered into the real practice 
of medicine than he began to feel his defi- 



ciencies; so that we are not surprised to find 
him enrolled among the students of St. Louis 
Medical College in 1869. He attended for 
a time, and then returned to his practice, 
and came back again to the school in 1874, 
to take his final degree as Doctor of Medi- 
cine. He was for a time at Rocky Com- 
fort, Missouri, and briefly at two or three 
other points. Arriving at Hamilton, March 
18, 1878, he set up an office and has held it 
to this day. He had Dr. H. W. Gregg for 
a partner in 1882, an arrangement which 
continued for four years. He was also in 
partnership for a short time with Dr. Koo- 
ken. Up to six years ago he practiced reg- 
ularly, and did consultation and office work, 
but of late the cares of an increasing and 
growing business have drawn him away, at 
least to an extent, from the full profession 
of medicine. 

In 1878 he started a drug store, with a 
capital of only three hundred dollars. The 
business grew, and in 1881 he took in J. T. 
James as partner, and formed the firm of 
Perry & James, that has continued to the 
present time. Our subject began a private 
banking business in 1883, which was merged 
into the Hamilton National Bank October 
27, 1890. It is an extensive institution for 
the southwestern country, commands a 
large business, and is firmly established upon 
a cash capital of $50,000. Our subject is 
its president, his brother, E. A. Perry, is 
cashier, J. T. James is vice-president, and 
the directors are J. J. Cleveland, J. A. Eid- 
son and J. T. James. Dr. Perry is one of 
the most extensive landed proprietors of the 
county, owning over one thousand acres of 
valuable land. He was also largely inter- 
ested in a roller mill, which was put up in 
1884, at a cost of twenty-two thousand 
dollars, and of which he was superintendent 



450 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and treasurer. It had a daily capacity of 
fifty-four barrels, and was in operation nine 
years, when it was destroyed by fire. The 
broad-minded public spirit which has always 
actuated Dr. Perry was illustrated by his 
hearty co-operation with the effort to found 
and maintain a college in Hamilton county. 
He was president of the county association 
formed for that purpose. A building was 
put up costing seven thousand dollars, and 
conducted as a college for five years, but is 
now used as a public school by the town. 

Dr. Perry has always been a pro- 
nounced and ardent Democrat, and has 
been identified with the history of his party 
in Hamilton county for many years. In 
1890 he was elected representative to the 
state legislature from Hamilton and Coryell 
counties, and held that office for a term of 
two years, but refused to run as a candi- 
date for re-election. Later on his name was 
up as a candidate for nomination for senator 
in the district composed of Hamilton, Mills, 
Lampasas and Coryell counties, but he lost 
the nomination by one vote. He is the 
present chairman of the Democratic con- 
gressional district committee, and has fre- 
quently attended national conventions of 
his party as alternate delegate. 

Mr. Perry was married March 4, 1866, 
to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas 
and Martha Rowena (Bullock) Pogue. 
Mrs. Perry is a native of Barry county, 
Missouri, where she was born December 9, 
1846. To them have been born three chil- 
dren, Irene being the name of the oldest 
daughter. She came to gladden her par- 
ents' hearts June 9, 1867, grew up to 
womanhood, and is now the wife of Joseph 
J. Cleveland, a liveryman of Hamilton. 
Ida P. was born April 11, 1871, and mar- 
ried A. H. Williams, assistant cashier of the 



Hamilton National Bank. Henrietta P., 
born September 6, 1873, is now the wife 
of William Graves, deputy clerk of Hamil- 
ton county. 

The father of our subject, Christian 
Perry, died in October, 1886, in Missouri. 
He was of English extraction, having been 
born in Leicester in the year 1820, and 
passed his life as a farmer. When fourteen 
years of age he accompanied his parents to 
Germany, where he remained until 1842. 
He was graduated at the University of 
Heidelberg, and found his wife in Ger- 
many. When twenty-four years of age he 
came to this country, bought land in Ben- 
ton county, Missouri, and passed the re- 
mainder of his life there. At the time of 
his death he was the owner of a valuable 
farm of two hundred acres. He was the 
father of twelve children, of whom eleven 
grew to maturity, and eight are now living. 

The grandfather of our subject, Henry 
Perry, died in 1859, at the age of sixty- 
eight, after a varied and eventful career, 
including service as a captain in the British 
infantry during the Napoleonic wars. He 
was captured in Italy and kept a prisoner of 
war for six years, in Verdun, France, and 
here he met and wooed his wife. He was 
afterward at the battle of Waterloo. He 
spent the last ten years of his life in this 
country. His father was a military man, 
and also served in the Napoleonic wars, 
dying on the island of Malta from a sabre 
stroke on the head. His father, Roland 
Perry, the great-great-grandfather of our 
subject, was a British captain and was 
killed at the storming of Quebec. 

Dr. Perry has probably done more for 
the building up of Hamilton than any other 
one citizen in it. He is a man of the 
utmost refinement, thoroughly progressive 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



451 



both in his spirit and in all his methods. 
He lends his voice to the right on every oc- 
casion, and is not afraid to come forward in 
behalf of his own convictions, even against 
great opposition. His spirit was shown by 
the very able support he gave to the move- 
ment for prohibition in the town of Hamil- 
ton. He stands among the richest business 
men of the county, and is considered one of 
its most respected and progressive citizens. 



*-!-• EONIDAS HOLLOWOOD.— 
I r Prominent among the enterprising 
I Ji farmers of Erath county, Texas, is 
Leonidas Hollowood, the salient 
points in whose life history we would now 
bring under consideration. He was born in 
Vienna, Canada, November 27, 1842, son 
of Solomon and Lavina (Elliott) Hollowood, 
both natives of Canada and of French de- 
scent, both the Hollowoods and Elliotts 
having long been residents of that dominion. 
Solomon Hollowood became a sailor in 
his early boyhood, later in life was a captain 
on lake vessels, and about 1845 moved with 
his family to Indiana and located at La Fay- 
ette. The year following his settlement 
there he enlisted for the Mexican war, under 
General Wood, went at once to the scene 
of action and was through all the campaign 
up to the battle of Buena Vista, where he 
was killed. After receiving the news of her 
husband's death, Mrs. Hollowood returned 
to Canada with her two children, Leonidas 
and Adelia, and in her native land was sub- 
sequently married to Mr. Cyrus Eggleston. 
About 1850 they, together with her father, 
Isaac Elliott, and his family, returned to 
"The States," this time locating at Milan, 
Erie county, Ohio, where they made per- 
manent settlement. Mr. Eggleston was a 



blacksmith and ran a shop there for many 
years. Grandfather Elliott was a lumber 
dealer. The sister, Adelia, above referred 
to, grew up in Milan, and was twice married. 
By her last husband, a Mr. Myers, she had 
three or four children. She died and is 
buried at Milan, the last resting place also 
of her mother, grandfather and other mem- 
bers of the family. Mrs. Eggleston was a 
member of the Presbyterian church. 

Having thus briefly referred to his parent- 
age, we pass on now to the life of our imme- 
diate subject, Leonidas Hollowood. His 
early childhood was spent in Canada, Indiana 
and Ohio. At the age of fourteen his am- 
bitious and adventurous nature, together 
with a combination of circumstances, led 
him to leave his Ohio home without the per- 
mission or knowledge of his parents and 
seek his fortune in the far west, — in other 
words, he ' ' ran off. " Directing his course 
to Fort Scott, Kansas, he there secured em- 
ployment as mail-carrier. He made weekly 
trips on horseback over a sixty-five-mile 
route, about forty miles of this distance be- 
ing across the prairie and in an almost un- 
inhabited district, only two houses on the 
road. To say the least, it was a lonesome 
ride for a young boy; but the position was a 
responsible one, and he proved himself equal 
to it. Thus was he occupied throughout 
the summer. The next year he went still 
further west on the plains and for some time 
was engaged in hunting buffalo and obtain- 
ing wolf scalps. His next employment was 
as a farm hand in Missouri. At the time of 
the Brown and Lane trouble in Kansas Mr. 
Hollowood was there. He was at Fort 
Scott at the time Brown and Montgomery 
made a raid on the fort and killed one man 
and carried off all the goods they could. 
Indeed, he was familiar with all the Kansas 



452 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



troubles up to the opening of the late war. 
He enlisted under Claiborn Jackson's call 
for six-months militia, served out the time, 
and then re-enlisted for three years or dur- 
ing the war; was in D. C. Hunter's regi- 
ment, Price the commanding general, and 
was through all of General Price's campaigns, 
undergoing much hard service. Indeed, he 
was in almost continual skirmishing, and many 
hotly contested battles. For fifty-six days 
at one time he was under fire! On two occa- 
sions he was wounded. At Wilson's creek 
he received a ball in the left leg, lost some 
time from service on account of this wound, 
and to this day carries the ball in his limb. 
The second wound was not so serious. It 
occurred in the Westport fight and was a 
scalp shot. He was knocked from his horse 
at this time, but rallied at once and con- 
tinued with his command. 

At the time of the surrender Mr. Hollo- 
wood was near his adopted home in Mis- 
souri, and immediatelj' thereafter he settled 
in Vernon county, that state, where he con- 
tinued his abiding place until 1874, then 
removing to Barton county, same state. 
At the latter place he maintained his home 
until 1 88 1. That year he came to Texas, 
direct to his present location in Erath 
county, within four miles of Duffau, where 
he purchased land, his first purchase com- 
prising six hundred and forty acres and later 
he acquired adjoining lands. " Now he is 
the owner of one thousand and fifty-five 
acres, all in one body, nearly all under 
fence, and about three hundred acres in a 
good state of cultivation. He has a com- 
fortable residence, good outbuildings, mod- 
ern wind pump, etc., and the general ap- 
pearance of the farm at once indicates that 
marked intelligence and good judgment 
have been back of the energy here ex- 



pended. Mr. Hollowood raises the usual 
crops of the county and keeps a sufficient 
amount of stock for the support of his farm. 
During the early years of his residence here 
he was largely interested in the cattle busi- 
ness, but recently, like most of the farmers 
of this section, he gives all his attention to 
farming; and during his fifteen years' exper- 
ience here he has never had a failure in 
crops. 

Mr. Hollowood was first married in 
1866, to Miss Catherine White, a native of 
Missouri. She died in January, 1869, and 
their only child, Leona, died in September, 
1892, at the age of twenty-three j'ears. In 
1874 he married Miss Samantha E. Forbes, 
a native of Illinois, with whose life his was 
blended for more than twenty years and 
who died of consumption, April 22, 1895. 
She was a daughter of Isaiah Forbes, a Mis- 
souri farmer, who died in that state. Two 
children were born of this union, namely: 
Lenora, who is at this writing attending 
school at Hico; and Addie, in school at 
Duffau. 

Mr. Hollowood is a gentleman who has 
always kept himself well posted on the 
issues of the day, is broad and progressive 
in his views, especially in his political 
views, and, politically, may be termed an 
independent. He has never sought official 
honors, nor has he ever filled office. 



BR. SCHENCK.— It now becomes 
the pleasant task of the sketch 
writer to revert to the life history 
of one whose identity with Bosque 
county covers a period of eighteen years, 
who has contributed his due quota to the 
development of this section of the country, 
and who stands to-day as one of its leading 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



453 



men, his high position in the respect and 
esteem of his fellow men being assured be- 
yond peradventure. Before proceeding to a 
sketch of his own life, we glance briefly at 
the ancestry from which he sprang. 

Mr. Schenck's forefathers figured prom- 
inently in the southern states. Michael 
Schenck, his grandfather, was born in Penn- 
sylvania, February 15, 1771, of Swiss de- 
scent, and when a young man moved south 
and located in North Carolina, where he 
reared his family and passed the rest of his 
life, dying in that state March 6, 1849. His 
son John, the father of F. R. , was born in 
North Carolina, and in that state was united 
in marriage to Miss Harriet Allyn, a native 
of Connecticut and a lady of culture and 
education, who had gone to North Carolina 
as a school-teacher. As early as 1834, 
shortly after the birth of their first child, 
they removed to Alabama and settled on the 
frontier, where he took mail contracts and 
ran a stage. Also during his early resi- 
dence here he assisted, as a commissioned 
officer, in the removal of the tribe of Sem- 
inole Indians, which was accomplished with 
no little difficulty. Later he purchased the 
largest and best grist and saw mill in all the 
country round, known as Schenck's Mills, 
which he operated for many years. Also 
he owned the land upon which Sulphur 
Springs was located, this place after it passed 
from his hands becoming a favorite resort. 
He lived to an advanced age and died in 
1 89 1 at the old homestead in Alabama, and 
when he passed away the community lost 
one of its best loved and most honored citi- 
zens. His wife, the mother of our subject, 
died many years before, her death occurring 
when F. R. was a lad of thirteen 5'ears. 
Their family comprised the following named 
members: F. R., the eldest and subject of 



this article; Harriet J., wife of F. Smith; 
Maria, aeceased; John C. , a veteran of the 
civil war and now a resident of Indian Ter- 
ritory; Catharine, a resident of northern 
Alabama, is the wife of Merrill Smith, a 
veteran of the late war; and David, who 
died in the army. 

Mr. F. R. Schenck was born in North 
Carolina, March 20, 1834, was taken in his 
infancy to Alabama, and in the latter state 
was brought up as a farmer and miller, re- 
maining with his father until twenty-seven 
years of age. Then fie married, and the 
year following his marriage, in 1862, he en- 
tered the army, going into the service as a 
member of the Ninth Battalion, later the 
Fifty-eighth Alabama Regiment, and was in 
General Bragg's command. He was in 
many of the most important engagem.ents 
of the war, prominent among which were 
the hotly contested battles of Chickamauga 
and Missionary Ridge. In all his service he 
was never captured, but on one occasion was 
slightly wounded. After the engagement at 
Missionary Ridge he resigned his commission, 
that of lieutenant, and returned home, and 
soon after joined a cavalry regiment and 
was detailed to work in a railroad shop, con- 
tinuing thus employed up to the close of the 
war. Returning home, he took charge of 
his father's mill and farm, and continued the 
operations of both until 1876, when became 
to Texas. 

Mr. Schenck's first location in Te.xas 
was in Limestone county, v>here he lived on 
and cultivated rented land two years. In 
1878 he moved to Bosque county, to his 
present locality, and here purchased of Mr. 
Trimble one hundred and ninety-six acres of 
land, slightly improved and having a cabin 
on it. Mr. Trimble, or "Father Trimble," 
as he was called, was the pioneer Methodist 



454 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



preacher of this place, having located here 
in 1867, when there were only three or 
four white families in this section of the 
country. He helped to organize the first 
church here, called Wills Chapel, and it was 
largely through his instrumentality that a 
church and schoolhouse combined was 
erected, and the upper room of this building 
was used for a Masonic hall. A mill had 
been built on the river before the erection of 
the church and schoolhouse, and thus was 
formed the nucleus of the town of Iredell. 
Mr. Schenck soon went earnestly to work to 
improve his land, and with the most grati- 
fying results, notwithstanding the fact he 
was told when he came here he could not 
make a living. In all the eighteen years of 
his residence here he has never had a failure 
of crops. He has made his own pork and 
lard and has had plenty for himself and 
some to sell. He has eighty acres in culti- 
vation, a fine orchard, good barn and out- 
buildings, and the little cabin which served 
for his home at first has long since been re- 
placed by a substantial and convenient resi- 
dence. Besides this fine farm and home, 
which adjoins Iredell, he owns business 
property in the town, — a substantial stone 
building. 

In 1861 was consummated the marriage 
of Mr. Schenck and Miss Mary Woodley. 
Mrs. Schenck is a daughter of William and 
and Emily (Cross) Woodley, natives respect- 
ively of Georgia and Tennessee and early 
settlers of Alabama, where they passed their 
lives and died, Mr. Woodley 's death occur- 
ring July II, 1876, and his wife's in Feb- 
ruary, 1868. He was for many years a 
prominent farmer and stockman, was pub- 
lic-spirited and influential, and was not infre- 
quently called upon to settle difficulties be- 
tween his neighbors, affairs invariab-ly being 



satisfactorily adjusted when entrusted to 
him. He filled the ofiice of county com- 
missioner and numerous other minor offices. 
His family was composed of the following 
named children: Mary E., wife of the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Jack M., who came to 
Texas in 1886 and is now a farmer in this 
county; Urena, wife of W. B. Turner, a 
railroad man; George W., a resident of 
Limestone county, Texas; Asceneth, wife of 
E. Davis, of Alabama; William, of Cottle 
county, Texas; Martha J., wife of William 
Davis, a farmer of Bosque county; and 
Susan B., wife of Ed Turner. Mr. and 
Mrs. Schenck have two children living: Will- 
iam D., who is engaged in farming at the 
home place, is married and has three chil- 
dren; and Walter F., recently graduated in 
law in the University of Texas, at Austin. 
Mr. and Mrs. Schenck are among the 
leading members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church of Iredell, in which he has served in 
various official capacities and of which he is 
now a trustee. In his political predilections 
he is Democratic. He takes a commend- 
able interest in public affairs and is enthusi- 
astic for the success of his party, frequently 
attending its conventions; but he has never 
had any aspirations for official honors. 
Thus briefly is outlined the salient features 
in the history of one of Bosque county's best 
citizens. 



sa 



ILLIAM MAXWELL. —As an 

enterprising and wide-awake busi- 
ness man of Hamilton, and one 
who, through his own efforts, has 
established himself among the prominent 
and wealthy men of the place, owning the 
largest general store there, we take pleasure 
in giving a brief biography of the gentleman 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



455 



whose name stands at the head of this 
sketch. He was born in Decatur county, 
Georgia, February i, 1839, and is the son 
of James George and Malsy (Butler) Max- 
well. 

Our subject remained under the parental 
roof until the breaking out of the civil war, 
when he enlisted in Company F, Fiftieth 
Georgia Infantry, in June, 1861. Being 
captured at Cold Harbor, he was imprisoned 
at Elmira, New York, for nine months, when 
he was exchanged, but, as he was ill at that 
time, he never rejoined his regiment. At 
the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded 
in the right wrist, but not seriously, though 
his gun was broken. 

The war over, Mr. Maxwell returned to 
Georgia, where he engaged in farming for a 
year, and then went to Ashley county, 
Arkansas, remaining there until November, 
1867. He was then married and bought a 
farm in Morehouse county, Louisiana, own- 
ing one hundred and twenty acres there 
until July, 1875, when he sold out and came 
to Texas. He reached Lampasas on the 
4th of July, that year, whence he came to 
Hamilton county, where he camped for 
some time at Rice Spring. Buying a lot in 
Hamilton, he erected a house, but shortly 
after purchased a place on the Leon river 
opposite the Groomer place. This com- 
prised one hundred and sixty acres, upon 
which he removed and made his home there 
for six years, when he returned to Hamil- 
ton. For three years he conducted a 
butcher-shop and engaged in loaning money. 
He next became clerk in the mercantile 
establishment of M. J. Hearne & Company, 
with whom he remained as long as Mr. 
Hearne was in business. 

In 1892, associated with C. E. Horton, 
Mr. Maxwell bought the general store of 



J. L. Spurlin, which was conducted under 
the firm style of Horton & Maxwell until 
1894, when our subject purchased his part- 
ner's interest, and has since been sole pro- 
prietor, carrying on the business under the 
name of William Maxwell. This is the 
largest mercantile establishment in Hamil 
ton, and one of the largest in the county 
Mr. Maxwell has been a careful, pruden' 
and enterprising business man all his life 
and by hard work and economy has sue 
ceeded in saving some means, which he 
loaned to his friends who desired to borrow 
and in this way accumulated more capital 
finally taking an interest in the mercantile 
business. His success increased until he is 
now sole owner of the business which he 
first became connected with as a clerk. 

Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell have no children. 
They live in their neat and quiet home in 
Hamilton, where they enjoy the friendship 
of a large circle of acquaintances. In poli- 
tics he is an unfaltering Democrat, and re- 
ligiously is one of the most zealous and 
important members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, with which organization he 
became connected in 1894. 



^^ C. ROBERTS, a venerable citizen 
A of Bosque county, was born at Ful- 
A 1 ton, on Red river, in what was then 
the territory of Arkansas, January 
28, 1820, and has passed the most of his 
life on the frontier. He is rich in pioneer 
lore, and his life history is replete with in- 
terest. 

Mr. Roberts' father was a Virginian, 
David Roberts by name, who was left an 
orphan at the tender age of six years, and 
was reared in Virginia and Tennessee. He 
married Miss Nancy Caldwell, a native of 



45(5 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Kentucky and a daughter of Andrew Cald- 
well, who was a son of Irish parents. In 
1819 David Roberts and his wife removed 
to far-away Arkansas, which had that year 
been made a territory of the Union, and on 
Ked river in Hempstead county they pitched 
their tent and soon estabhshed a home, 
being among the very earliest settlers of 
that portion of the commonwealth. They 
were Methodists of the truest and stanchest 
type, and in their new home did not forget 
to honor their God and bring up their chil- 
dren in his love and fear. Politically he 
was a Whig. With the passing years sons 
and daughters came to bless and brighten 
their home, — eleven in all, — and all reached 
maturity, namely: Andrew, Joseph C. , 
James, J. G., Cyrena, Louisa, Thomas, 
La Fayette, William, John and Richard. 

Joseph C. Roberts, whose name initiates 
this review, grew up in the wilds of Arkan- 
sas and became more familiar with his gun 
and the haunts of the animals in the primeval 
forest near his home than he did with his 
books. Indeed, his early school education 
was of a necessity greatly neglected. He 
has, however, through his contact with the 
world and his home study long after he was 
grown, acquired a practical education. In 
1853 he was one of the gold-seekers that 
sought the Pacific shore. He made the 
long and tedious trip overland on horseback, 
was five months en route, camping at night 
under the blue dome of the heavens and being 
lulled to sleep by the how] of wild beasts of 
the plain or the forest, wherever he hap- 
pened to be when darkness overtook him. 
In California he spent three years, mining 
and working on a ranch, and at the end of 
that time returned to his old home in Ar- 
kansas, making the return trip via the isth- 
mus of Pana.ma to New Orleans, thence up I 



the Mississippi river to Gaines' landing, and 
thence by stage home. 

Mr. Roberts remained in Arkansas until 
1858, when he came to Bosque county and 
bought the land he yet owns, two hundred 
acres, to the cultivation and improvement of 
which he has devoted many years of labor. 
Now he has seventy acres under plow, has 
a comfortable house, good barn and out- 
buildings, orchard, etc. Besides this farm 
he is the owner of a good business lot and 
valuable store building in Kopperl, which he 
rents. For the past five years he has done 
an extensive business in selling native-herb 
medicines. 

Mr. Roberts was married in 1847, in 
Hempstead county, Arkansas, to Miss Eliz- 
abeth Wylie, a native of Alabama and a 
daughter of Elias and Sarah Wylie. Their 
happy union was blessed in the birth of one 
child, a son, whom the}' named Elias and 
who grew to be a noble young man. He 
married Miss E. Jane Reese, a daughter of 
Edward Reese, and by her had three chil- 
dren, — William Augustus, Martha E. and 
Joseph, the last named dying when young. 
Elias Roberts was cut down in the prime of 
early manhood, his death occurring in 1879, 
at the age of twenty-seven years. His 
eldest child, now twenty-one years of age, 
resides with his grandfather Roberts; and 
his widow, who subsequently became the wife 
of Mr. A. Fairchild, is a resident of Morgan, 
Texas. The wife of our subject departed 
this life September 19, 1881. Both she 
and her son were devoted Christians, mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
died in the full hope of life immortal. 

Mr. Roberts is not only a good repre- 
sentative of the pioneer farmer, but also well 
represents the intelligent citizen of his com- 
munity to-day. He is posted on all current 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



457 



topics, and especially on political issues, 
and gives his stanch support to the Populist 
party. During the late war he served two 
years in the Confederate army, and during 
two years of the war period ran a wagon 
train. He has a store of interesting remi- 
niscences of his early days and travels and 
also of his later life in the state of Texas, 
which, when occasion demands, he relates 
in a manner both entertaining and edifying. 



^^r* EONARD WINDSOR, an agricult- 
I i urist of energy and ability, is one 
H ^ of the honored and representative 
pioneers of Texas, now residing in 
Comanche county. By great energy, per- 
severance and industry, he has brought his 
farm from its original state of pristine wild- 
ness to a condition of excellent culture, and 
it stands to-day a monument to his good 
management and his business qualities. He 
was born in Blount county, Alabama, Sep- 
tember 19, 1825, and is the son of James L. 
and Mary (Bowerman) Windsor, the former 
a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ten- 
nessee, where their marriage was cele- 
brated. 

When young the father left home to join 
the United States army and never returned. 
All through the war of 18 12 he served under 
General Rusk's command, and was in the 
battle where Bowles was killed. After his 
death his wife received a pension. When 
the war was over he went to Tennessee, 
where he was married, and later removed to 
Alabama. In 1835 he came to Texas, 
where his death occurred, in 1848, in Nac- 
ogdoches county. His wife, who long sur- 
vived him, died in the same county in 1893, 
at the extreme old age of ninety-six years. 
The family had much experience with the 



Indians but were always kind to them and 
therefore had their respect and were never 
harmed. Both parents were devoted mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, to which the 
mother belonged for seventy-five years. 

The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
ject was born in Pennsylvania, of German 
descent, was there married and later located 
in Tennessee, whence he removed to Ala- 
bama, where his wife died. In 1835 he be- 
came a resident of Nacogdoches county, 
Texas, where he received one-third of a 
league of land and finally died. He reared 
one son, who remained in Alabama, and a 
daughter who lived in Arkansas, besides the 
mother of our subject. 

Leonard Windsor is the fifth in order of 
birth in a family of six children. Eliza be- 
came the wife of Arch Henry, but both are 
now deceased and only one of their children 
is now living. Malinda married V. Whit- 
aker, and both of them also have passed 
away. Sally wedded M. Brown, who 
served in Houston's army at the battle of 
San Jacinto, and both are now deceased. 
Marston, who was a local preacher in the 
Methodist church for over twenty years, 
served in the Indian war under General 
Rusk and died in 1894. Catherine married 
A. J. Page who is now deceased, and she is 
living in New Mexico. 

Mr. Windsor of this review early became 
inured to the arduous duties of farm life on 
the frontier, and his education was such as 
the schools of the locality afforded. He 
remained with his parents until he was mar- 
ried, in Harrison county, Texas, in 1847,10 
Miss Elizabeth Choat, whose parents died 
in this state. The mother was a member 
of the Methodist church. Three children 
were born of this union: Mary J., wife of 
Jo Garner, a farmer of Comanche county; 



458 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



David, a farmer and stock-raiser of Howard 
county, Texas; and Sarah A., wife of J. F. 
Tajlor, an agriculturist of Harrison county. 
The mother of these children, who was a 
devoted Methodist, died July 9, 1851. 

For a number of years Mr. Windsor re- 
mained a resident of Harrison county and 
then removed to Nacogdoches county, 
where the death of his wife occurred. He 
then returned to Harrison county, where in 
December, 1852, he was again married, his 
second union being with Miss Mary Cowan, 
a daughter of A. and Willie Ann Cowan, 
both of whom departed this life in Texas. 
Two children graced this union: Elizabeth, 
who married William W. H. Ragan, and 
yet lives in Harrison county; and Willie A., 
wife of H. H. Oney, of Eastland county, 
Texas. The mother was an earnest Chris- 
tian lady and died January 30, 1884, in the 
full faith of a blessed Redeemer. On the 
1 2th of March, 1S85, Mr. Windsor was 
united in marriage with Mrs. Heath, widow 
of Burl Heath, who served in the Mexican 
war. She was first married in Texas, and 
by the death of Mr. Heath was left with 
one child, — Josie, — now the wife of Mr. 
Meal, a merchant of Gorman, Texas. Mrs. 
Windsor is the daughter of Jacob Seay, 
who came to Texas in 1855, locating in 
Brown county, but is now living in New 
Mexico with a son, who is in the live-stock 
business. 

In 1879 Mr. \\'indsor came to Coman- 
che county, where he purchased three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of school land, which 
was covered with a heavy growth of timber, 
but has since divided the amount with his 
son, and one hundred and ten acres of his 
one hundred and sixty-acre tract is under 
cultivation. A comfortable dwelling and 
good outbuildings stand upon the place. 



also a fine orchard, a windmill, and many 
of the modern conveniences. The farm is 
pleasantly located just two miles northwest 
of De Leon. Mr. Windsor has always 
supported the Democratic party, and for 
twelve years served as justice of the peace. 
He is a sincere and conscientious Chris- 
tian, for many j'ears has been a member of 
the Methodist church, in which he has 
served as class-leader and steward, and 
always attends the district conventions. 
His family have copied the worthy example 
set for them, and are all church members. 



>Y*ONATHAN GENTRY, a representa- 
m tive farmer and stock-raiser of Erath 
A 1 county, is a native of Tennessee, 
born in McNairy county on the 12th 
of November, 1S29, his parents being Cain 
and Martha (Philpot) Gentry. The Gentry 
family was founded on American soil in 
colonial days. The father of our subject 
was born in Georgia and died in Arkansas 
when his son Jonathan was a lad of nine 
summers. The family, in 1831, emigrated 
with their children to Missouri, and thence 
five years later to Arkansas. The mother 
removed to Grayson county, Texas, in the 
fall of 1865, where she died in 1876. 

The gentleman whose name introduces 
this biographical mention remained at home 
until twenty-two years of age, and then 
started out in life for himself. In 1852 he 
chose a companion and helpmeet on life's 
journey, Miss Catherine Ford becoming his 
wife. The lady is a native of Tennessee 
and a daughter of Henry and Nancy (Saw- 
yer) Ford. The young couple began their 
domestic life in Arkansas, where they re- 
sided until 1855, when they came to Texas, 
locating first in Grayson county. For a 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



459 



time Mr. Gentry rented land, and when his 
labors had brought to him a sufficient capi- 
tal he purchased a farm upon which he 
lived for twenty years. In 1875 he came 
to Erath county, and by purchase became 
owner of one hundred and ninety- five acres 
of wild land, which he at once began to 
clear and improve. The transformation of 
an unimproved prairie into rich and fertile 
fields is no easy task, but involves much 
arduous labor, and a highly cultivated tract 
certainly indicates the energy and thrift of 
the owner. Mr. Gentry has now placed 
sixty acres of his farm under improvement, 
raising various crops adapted to this climate, 
and thus acquiring a good return for his 
labor. Prosperity has attended his efforts 
and enabled him to extend the boundary of 
his farm until it now embraces four hundred 
and fifty acres of valuable land. He is a 
man of good business ability, systematic and 
energetic, and possessing that indispensable 
quality to success, — industry. 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Gentry has 
been blessed with eight children, six of 
whom are yet living, while two died in 
childhood. Those who still survive are: 
Henry, who wedded Mary J. Norman; Cain, 
who married Malinda Lauder; William; 
John, who wedded Ora Henderson, of East- 
land county; Hannah, wife of A. L. Camp; 
and James P. The parents are members of 
the Missionary Baptist church, and are peo- 
ple whose many excellencies of character 
command the respect of all with whom they 
come in contact. In politics Mr. Gentry is 
a stalwart Democrat, unswerving in support 
of the principles of the party. During the 
civil war he entered the Confederate service, 
becoming a member of Company A, Hard- 
man's regiment, in 1862. He served with 
the western army and participated in the 



battle of Reed's Grove, also the attack on 
Fort Smith, and continued at the front 
until the close of the war. He was ever 
brave, and in the thickest of the fight he 
might be found as a zealous defender of the 
cause under whose banner he had enlisted. 



BRANCIS MARION CONLEY.— 
As an enterprising and wide-awake 
business man of Iredell, and one 
who, through his own efforts, has 
established himself among the prominent 
and well-to-do men of the place, we take 
pleasure in giving a brief biography of the 
gentleman whose name stands at the head 
of this sketch. He is the senior member of 
the firm of Conley & Son, general merchants, 
who carry a large and complete stock 
of dry goods, clothing, boots, shoes, gro- 
ceries, hardware and queensware. They 
own one of the best business houses in the 
town, which is a two-story brick, thirty by 
eighty feet, situated at the corner of Main 
street opposite the depot. 

Mr. Conley first opened his eyes to the 
light in Buncombe county. North Carolina, 
June 24, 1833, and is a son of R. B. and 
Susan (Kincaid) Conley, the former of a 
prominent Irish family and the latter of 
Scotch extraction. The paternal grand- 
father, who gallantly aided the colonies in 
their struggle for independence, was a plant- 
er, and in religious belief was a Presbyte- 
rian, to which faith his son also adhered. 
The father, who was a native of South Car- 
olina, removed with his family to Buncombe 
county. North Carolina, and later to Union 
county, Georgia, in 1S38, and was the first 
white settler on Conley's creek. Both par- 
ents died there, — the father in 1865, at the 
age of seventy-two years, and the mother in 



460 



HIS TOR r OB TEXAS. 



1 876. In their family were eleven children, 
six sons and fi%'e daughters, of whom the 
following are still living: F. M., of this 
sketch; S. M., of Union county, Georgia; 
J. K., of the same county; Mary E. ; Martha 
L. ; Eliza Jane and Emily A. 

Mr. Conley, whose name introduces this 
record, was reared in Georgia, where he ob- 
tained a fair education, and in 1861 joined 
the Confederate service, becoming a mem- 
ber of the Sixth Georgia Cavalry under Col- 
onel John R. Hart and Captain J. C. Fain. 
He was quartermaster for a time in the Fif- 
teenth Battery, and for gallant service on 
the field of battle was promoted to the rank 
of first lieutenant. 

In 1873 Mr. Conley came to Bosque 
county, Texas, where the following year he 
purchased one hundred and thirty-eight 
acres of land, and has since added to this 
until he now has a valuable farm of six 
hundred acres, which is well improved, be- 
ing all under fence and supplied with sub- 
stantial farm buildings. Previous to coming 
to Texas he had engaged in school-teaching 
in Georgia, and followed that occupation 
for a time after his arrival here. 

On the 1 2th of January, i860, Mr. Con- 
ley was united in marriage with Miss Eliza 
Parks, a most estimable lady and a daugh- 
ter of John Parks. Nine children have been 
born of this union, namely: Modena P., 
wife of Joseph Dotson, of Erath county, 
Texas; E. J., who is in business with his 
father; Martha A., at home; Alice L., wife 
of James Cavness, of Erath county; Mary 
E., wife of B. F. Newton, of Bosque coun- 
ty; William W., of the same county; Geor- 
gia T., wife of William Myers, also of 
Bosque county; Rob M., and James W. 

In his political affiliations, Mr. Conley is 
a Democrat, and while a resident of Geor- 



gia served as tax assessor of Union county. 
In 1872 he was made a Mason in Allegany 
Lodge, No. 114, A. F. &. A. M., of Blairs- 
ville, Georgia, and in 1873 affiliated with 
Iredell Lodge, No. 405, and for six years 
served as worshipful master. During the 
days of the grange he was an active and 
leading member of that organization. He 
is a man of the strictest integrity, fair and 
honorable in all his dealings and takes an 
active interest in all educational, religious 
and temperance work. He is a sincere and 
earnest Christian, a member of the Baptist 
church, as is also his wife, and has the re- 
spect and confidence of all who know him. 



>^OHN M. BRUINGTON is one of the 
m most prominent and highly esteemed 
/» 1 agriculturists of Erath county. In 
this age of urban development and 
prosperity, few men of his strength of char- 
acter and practical business qualifications 
are content to lead what might be called a 
pastoral or agricultural life; and certainly 
few men who had the natural trend of senti- 
ment and love for mother nature that would 
lead them to shun the more glittering op- 
portunities for material advancement in a 
business or speculative city life, have had in 
their make-up so blended the rather unique 
qualities required to harmonize the nine- 
teenth-century spirit of advancement and 
adaptation with the quiet life of a husband- 
man. Mr. Bruington, however, is a man of 
most excellent business and executive abil- 
ity, imbued with the spirit of progress, and 
this he applies to his labors as an agricult- 
urist, leaving the touch of improvement 
upon everything with which he is closely 
brought in contact. 

A native of Breckenridge county. Ken- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



461 



tucky, Mr. Bruington was born on the 4th 
of April, 1834, a son of Thomas and Jane 
(McGlothlan) Bruington, who also were na- 
tives of Kentucky. The father belonged to 
an old Maryland family of English origin, 
and the mother's people removed from the 
Old Dominion to Kentucky. When our 
subject was a child of only three weeks the 
parents removed with their family to Illi- 
nois, locating three miles west of where the 
city of Galesburg, Knox county, now stands, 
and there spent their remaining days. They 
had six sons and three daughters, and of 
this number eight grew to mature years, 
while five yet survive. The mother de- 
parted this life in 1849, and Mr. Bruington 
afterward married a Mrs. Goff, by whom he 
had two sons, one of whom is still living. 
His death occurred in 1882, when he had 
attained the advanced age of seventy-five 
years. 

The usual experiences of farmer boys 
fell to the lot of our subject, who was reared 
on the old homestead and early became 
familiar with the work of field and meadow. 
The first event of great importance in his 
life was his marriage to Miss Margaret 
Davidson, which occurred on the 9th of 
November, 1854. The lady was a native 
of Illinois, and a daughter of Elijah and 
Elizabeth Davidson. By this union were 
born two children: Stephen Douglas, who 
is now residing in Stephenville, Texas, and 
Nellie, wife of Emery Clelland, of Davis 
county, Iowa. The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1862, and several years later 
Mr. Bruington was again married, Miss Bell 
Perry becoming his wife in February, 1870. 
She was born in New York, a daughter of 
JohnW. and Marion (Hubbard) Perry, the 
former a native of Canada and the latter of 
the Empire state. 



The day following their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Bruington started for Texas, where 
they arrived ten days later, completing their 
journey to Waco with a team. The follow- 
ing spring they_ came to Erath county and 
Mr. Bruington established a livery stable in 
Stephenville, which he successfully conduc- 
ted until 1883. His barn was well equipped 
with good horses and vehicles of various 
kinds and his known reliability in all busi- 
ness transactions and his earnest endeavor 
to please his patrons soon brought to him a 
good business. In this way he accumula- 
ted a good competence which in 1883 he 
invested in land, becoming the owner of his 
present desirable and valuable farm of six 
hundred acres, of which only ninety acres 
was then under cultivation. He has added 
to the improved tract until now one hun- 
dred and ninety acres have been transformed 
into rich and fertile fields, and his well de- 
veloped farm is one of the best in the entire 
county. Careful attention to business, reso- 
lute purpose and straightforward dealing 
have been the factors in his well merited 
success. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bruington have eleven 
children, but of these four have been called 
to the home beyond this life. In order of 
birth they are as follows: John T. ; E. C. ; 
Lillie, who died at the age of fourteen years; 
Jennie, who died in infancy; Mary, who 
died when ten months old; Newton C. ; 
George; Bessie, who died at the age of four- 
teen months; Charlie who died at the age of 
four years; Grace and Edna. 

The parents are faithful members of the 
Christian church. Mr. Bruington is con- 
nected with the Stephenville lodge. No. 166, 
I. O. O. F., and in politics he is an advo- 
cate of Democratic principles. Public-spir- 
ited and progressive, he takes a deep interest 



462 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 



in all that pertains to the welfare of the 
communit}', and in the discharge of his 
duties both public and private, he has mani- 
fested a loyalty to the right that commands 
the sincerest respect. 



m. 



ILLIAM JASPER MEFFERD. 
— Among those honored pioneers 
who blazed a path for future cav- 
alcades to follow, who bravely 
turned their faces from the advantages and 
opportunities afforded in the older settled 
states to cast their fortunes with the west- 
ern frontier, in all its wildness and primi- 
tive modes of life; who endured the hard- 
ship of a wider and freer country and who 
made out of the very obstacles which they 
were forced to meet and which to a weaker 
class of men would have proved stumbling 
blocks, the stepping-stones to success, none 
of these are more justly entitled to credit 
for untiring perseverance and steady prog- 
ress than the gentleman whose name heads 
this sketch. 

Mr. MefPerd was born in Muhlenberg 
county, Kentucky, October 31, 1842, a son 
of William E. and Lucy (Arendell) Mefferd, 
the former a native of Virginia and of Ger- 
man lineage, while the latter was born in 
Virginia, of English parentage. Both fam- 
ilies were early identified with the develop- 
ment of Kentucky, being numbered among 
its honored pioneers. Jacob Mefferd, the 
great-grandfather of our subject, went to 
the state when Daniel Boone was making 
his explorations. In 1848 William E. Mef- 
ferd came with his family to Texas and 
took up his residence in Navarro county, 
where the city of Corsicana now stands. At 
that time, however, the city was a "thing 
of the future," and Mr. Mefferd became one 



of the pioneers of the region, who aided in 
opening up to civilization that part of the 
state. He had made the journey to Texas 
with teams, reaching his destination after 
nine weeks of travel. He made his home 
in Navarro county for seven months and 
then removed to Anderson county, where 
he resided for seven years, when, in the 
fall of 1855, he came to Erath county, 
taking up his residence on the site of Ste- 
phenville. He arrived in this place on the 
3d of July and soon returned for his family, 
who took up their abode on the home he 
had located on the ist of September. The 
father purchased a tract of wild land and at 
once began the arduous task of opening up 
a new farm. His property comprised two 
hundred and fifty-six acres, for which he 
paid the regular government price of one 
dollar and a quarter per acre. To its culti- 
vation and improvement he devoted his 
energies throughout his remaining days, and 
at length his life labors were ended by death 
in 1875, when he had reached the age of 
fifty-six years. His wife survived him for a 
decade and was sixty-three years old when 
called to the eternal home. They were both 
members of the Primitive Baptist church 
and were people of the highest respectabil- 
ity, well meriting the high regard in which 
they were held by all. In politics Mr. Mef- 
ferd was a Democrat. 

The subject of this sketch is the second 
child and eldest son in a family of twelve 
children, ten of whom reached years of 
maturity. His boyhood days were spent on 
his father's farm, and in 1859 he entered 
the state service to aid in quelling the Indian 
troubles. This well fitted him for his future 
service in the army of the south. He had 
been engaged in this border warfare for two 
years when the civil war was inaugurated, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and he joined the Confederate troops. His 
service was again on the frontier, where his 
duties were often more arduous and required 
no less valor than that displayed in regular 
warfare, for it involved a knowledge of the 
tactics of the treacherous savage and a skill 
in meeting the wily antagonist that is not 
demanded when foe meets foe openly and in 
the regular methods of war. Mr. Mefferd 
continued with the army until the close of 
hostilities, when, in the spring of 1865, he 
was mustered out, at Galveston, Texas. 
He then returned home and resumed farming. 

On the 19th of September, 1866, Mr. 
Mefferd was united in marriage to Miss 
Leana Graves, a native of Alabama and a 
daughter of William and Caroline (Cowder) 
Graves, who became a resident of Hunt 
county, Texas, in 1857, and of Erath county 
in 1859. In the latter county Mrs. Mefford 
was reared and among her many friends she 
is known as a most estimable lady, having 
the warm regard of all. Seven children 
were born to our subject and his wife, but 
they have lost two in infancy, — William, 
the second child, and Margaret, the fifth. 
The others are: Lucy C. , now the wife of 
William Lockhart, of this county ; Tennessee, 
wife of John Lockhart; John Milford, Mar- 
tin Luther and Jasper Franklin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mefferd began their do- 
mestic life upon a rented farm, and in 1870 
he purchased his present home, becoming 
owner of one hundred and twenty acres of 
wild land, to which he has added from time 
to time until he now has four hundred and 
forty acres, of which a quarter section is 
under a high state of cultivation. He has 
probably cleared more land than any other 
one man in the county, and has been most 
prominent in promoting the agricultural in- 
terests, upon which the prosperity and sta- 



bility of a county so largely depends. He 
now raises various crops, and in his under- 
takings is meeting with good success, for he 
is energetic and enterprising, qualities which 
always bring their sure reward if guided by 
sound judgment. Mr. Mefferd is familiar 
with pioneer life in all its experiences. He 
comes of a race of sturdy, courageous fron- 
tiersmen who are not afraid to meet the 
hardship and danger of life in the west. 
He has undergone the trials that come to 
those who establish homes on the borders 
of civilization, but has unflinchingly met all 
difficulties, and his perseverance and unfal- 
tering purpose have at length triumphed 
over these. To-day he is enjoying the fruits 
of his former toil, and the later arrivals in 
the county also share in the benefits of his 
work in opening up this region to settlement. 
Mr. Mefferd and his wife are members of 
the Missionary Baptist church, socially he is 
connected with the Grange, and politically 
with the Democratic party. 



K^/^\ ANIEL BOONE LAINE, a farmer 
I I and stock-raiser of Erath county, 
/^^^ whose home is pleasantly located 
seven miles northwest of Stephen- 
ville, has been identified with the interests of 
this county since the 3d of October, 1874. 
His connection with frontier regions em- 
braces the entire period of his life. His an- 
cestors were sturdy pioneers in different 
sections of the country, and he has lived in 
but slightly developed regions in California 
and the Lone Star state. His father, Wil- 
lis B. Laine, was a follower of Nimrod, 
taking great delight in the chase, which he 
also largely utilized as a source of livelihood. 
His father was a noted bear hunter, and 
when his children were yet small removed 



4(>1 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



to Arkansas, where in the wilds he had ex- 
cellent opportunity to pursue his favorite 
sport. Subsequently, however, he returned 
to Missouri. Willis B. Laine was a native 
of Tennessee, but spent the greater part of 
his life in Missouri, where he died about 
1846. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Mildred B. Cave, was a native of 
Kentucky. After the death of her first hus- 
band she became the wife of the Rev. 
Thomas Thompson; and in 1849 the family, 
consisting of the minister, his wife and the 
two sons of her first marriage, — Thomas 
Henry and Daniel Boone, — crossed the 
plains to California. It was a long and ar- 
duous journey, but was at length completed 
in safety and the mother continued to re- 
side in the Golden state until called to the 
home beyond the grave. The brother of 
our subject, Thomas Henry Laine, became 
a very prominent and influential citizen of 
San Jose, California, attaining the position 
of an eminent jurist, and died in 1891. 

Mr. Laine, whose name introduces this 
sketch, accompanied the family to the Pa- 
cific coast and entered Brick College, where 
he acquired a good education. Remaining 
in the west until 1858, he returned then to 
his native state, — Missouri, — his birth hav- 
ing occurred in Barry county, of that state, 
April 21, 1836. He now turned his atten- 
tion to agricultural pursuits, which he fol- 
lowed until after the commencement of the 
civil war. In the meantime he was married, 
having, on the 9th of January, 1861, led to 
the marriage altar Miss Delilah A. Turner, a 
native of Howard county, Missouri, and a 
daughter of James and Elizabeth (Rupe) 
Turner, who were among the pioneer set- 
tlers of Missouri. Her grandfather Rupe 
ran the first ferry across the Missouri river 
at Booneville, Missouri, locating there at a 



time when the settlers were obliged to live 
in forts in order to secure protection against 
the Indians. 

In the fall of 1862 Mr. Laine left his 
young wife and their pleasant home, for he 
felt that his duty lay elsewhere; and fidelity 
to whatever he believes to be right is one of 
his most marked characteristics. He en- 
tered the Confederate service, becoming a 
member of Captain Hugh's company, which 
was attached to Colonel Clark's regiment of 
General Frost's brigade, thus becoming a 
part of the First Missouri Volunteer In- 
fantry. With his command he went to 
Arkansas and participated in the battles of 
Prairie Grove, Gaines Landing, Catfish 
Landing and \'icksburg, serving until the 
fall of 1864, when he returned to his home. 

Not long afterward Mr. Laine removed 
to Adams county, Illinois, where he fol- 
lowed farming for a year and a half, then 
again became a resident of Monroe county, 
Missouri, where he resided until 1874. That 
year witnessed his arrival in Texas, where 
he arrived after a five-weeks journey by 
wagon. Here he purchased four hundred 
acres of wild land, and the work of improv- 
ing a farm was at once begun. It is an 
arduous task to develop new land, but the 
work has been unremittinglj' prosecuted, and 
as a result two hundred and seventy acres 
are now under fence and the waving fields 
of grain indicate to the passer by that the 
owner is a man of thrift and enterprise. 

Mr. Laine and his wife are members of 
the Christian church and are most estimable 
people, taking a commendable interest in 
everything that pertains to the welfare of 
the community and its upbuilding. Polit- 
ically our subject affiliates with the Demo- 
cratic party and socially with the Masonic 
fraternity, being a charter member of Barton 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



465 



Creek Lodge, No. 567, A. F. & A. M., in 
which he has held the office of secretary for 
eighteen months, and has also held other 
offices therein. He is truly a self-made man, 
having overcome the difficulties in his path 
by determined energy and perseverence and 
worked his way upward to a position of 
affluence. 



^T^OHN HYMEN JOHNSON, a farmer 
J and stock- raiser of Erath county, is 
« 1 a representative of one of the hon- 
ored pioneer families of central 
Texas, and for more than a third of a cen- 
tury he has been numbered among the pro- 
gressive citizens of the community, manifest- 
ing an active interest in all that pretains to 
the welfare and advancement of his adopted 
county. 

Mr. Johnson was born in Franklin county, 
Alabama, on the 29th of October, 1838, be- 
ing a son of Rev. James M. and Nancy 
(Johnson) Johnson. The former was born 
in McCracken county, Kentucky, November 
21, 1817, and was a son of Rev. Samuel 
Johnson, one of the earliest settlers of Ken- 
tucky. The father of our subject was mar- 
ried in 1837 to Miss Nancy Johnson, of 
Kentucky, and to them were born four 
children, three of whom are now living, 
namely: John H., James Van Buren and 
William M. Samuel. The fourth son was 
killed by the cars and left a family to mourn 
his loss. The mother of our subject de- 
parted this life on the 19th of July, 1868, 
and on the 3d of December following. Rev. 
Johnson wedded Miss Mary J. Poe. Their 
family included three sons and one daughter, 
and the sons and the mother are yet living. 
The Rev. James M. Johnson was long a 
faithful laborer in the Master's vineyard. 



He was converted in his youth and joined 
the Methodist Episcopal church. After his 
marriage he located in Alabama and about 
1846 was licensed to preach. In 1848 he 
came to Texas, locating nine miles east of 
Marshall, where he remained two years. In 
1849 he joined the Texas conference and 
traveled on the Mount Pleasant circuit in 
1850-51, and on the Sulphur Springs cir- 
cuit in 1852-3. In 1854 he obtained a 
supernumerary relation in order to improve 
a farm and thus established a good home 
for his family, securing and operating land 
on Big Creek in Hopkins county. 

After about four years Mr. Johnson sold 
his farm in that county and returned to the 
work of the ministry. He crossed the Brazos 
river in i860 and took up his residence in 
Stephenville, Erath county, while from 1861 
to 1863 he labored in the Stephenville and 
Comanche mission. He was then appointed 
presiding elder for the Lampasas district, of 
which he had charge from 1861 until 1867, 
when the boundaries of the circuit were 
changed, but he remained in charge of one 
portion for a year longer. In 1869 he was 
engaged in service on the Grandview circuit, 
and in 1870--1 on the Stephenville circuit, 
was supernumerary in 1872, and in 1873 
was superannuated, which relation he re- 
tained in the Northwestern Texas Conference 
until his death. He died at his home near 
Oak Dale, Erath county, February 18, 1891, 
but the influence and memory of his life re- 
main as a blessed benediction to all who 
knew him. He was an indefatigable worker 
in the service of the Master, considering no 
sacrifice too great or labor too arduous 
which would advance the cause of Christian- 
ity among men. In the early days of his 
itinerant work west of the Brazos river it 
was necessary for him to carry a six-shooter 



4C6 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



in order to defend himself from the scalping 
knife of savage Indians, and thus armed 
with the habiliments of literal and spiritual 
warfare he traveled over the western country, 
upholding the banner of the cross. In the 
conference he was named " Center Shot, " 
from the fact that, though he spoke seldom, 
his remarks were always to the point. 

Mr. Johnson was one of thirty-eight 
traveling preachers who composed the or- 
ganization of the Northwest Texas Confer- 
ence, which reached a membership of one 
hundred and seventy-six traveling preachers 
in full connection and twenty-five on trial, 
with three hundred and eighty-eight local 
preachers and a membership of forty-four 
thousand six hundred and twenty-three. 
Rev. Johnson was ordained deacon by 
Bishop James O. Andrew in 1853 and was 
ordained elder in i860 by the same bishop. 
In writing of him a friend said: "He was 
clothed with all the authority of the church 
and performed all the functions of the 
church. His premises were always well 
taken, his scriptural quotations well ar- 
ranged, his arguments invulnerable, his logic 
invincible and his descriptions wonderfully 
lucid and clear, and while in his working 
manhood he had a full round voice, of easy 
control. There was melody in his songs 
and power in his eloquence and oratory. 
Sinners were converted under his preaching, 
penitents brought back to the fold and the 
church strengthened and edified. He 
preached his last sermon only eleven days 
before he died, taking as his text, 'Ye are 
all the children of light, and the children of 
the day; we are not of the night, nor of 
darkness.' Such was his own life. God 
bless Uncle Jimmie; he is done with evil 
forever and his glorified spirit is gone to join 
the company of his sainted companions and 



children in their anthems of praise to Him 
who hath loved them and cleansed them 
from their sins in His own blood." 

We now take up the personal history of 
the gentleman whose name introduces this 
review, and who, like his father, has the 
respect and confidence of all who know 
him. He has indeed been an important fac- 
tor in the development of this region and it 
is to such men that the Lone Star state 
owes her stability and her proud position 
among the sister states of this great union. 
The educational privileges which John H. 
Johnson received in his youth were very 
meager, and after attaining his majority he 
attended school for ten months, and through 
reading and observation in later years he 
has become a well informed man. He 
came with his parents to Texas in 1848, and 
remained under the parental roof until 
twenty-three years of age, assisting in the 
work of the old home farm. He arrived in 
Erath county on the 4th of July, i860, and 
here, in connection with agricultural pursuits, 
engaged in teaching school for one term in 
the Hargus neighborhood. 

After the breaking out of the civil war 
Mr. Johnson entered the Confederate serv- 
ice, enlisting on the 17th of February, 
1862, as a member of Company D, Fifteenth 
Texas Cavalry. The troops went to Little 
Rock, Arkansas, and joined Churchill's divi- 
sion. Mr. Johnson participated in the en- 
gagement at Pike's Bluff, and while the 
army was in winter quarters was taken ill, 
but recovered in time to bear his part in 
the battle of Arkansas Post, where his com- 
mand was captured. Fortunately, however, 
he succeeded in making his escape and be- 
came a member of Company D, Seventeenth 
Dismounted Cavalry, of which he was made 
first sergeant. He was wounded in the bat- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



467 



tie of Mansfield and some idea of the rain of 
shot and shell may be gained from the fact 
that his blanket was pierced in fourteen 
places by one ball! He was in the battle of 
Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou and served 
until the close of the war, when he was 
discharged by his captain. 

After his return home Mr. Johnson 
taught three sessions of school, of five 
months each, on the Duffau. During this 
time he was married, the wedding being cel- 
ebrated on the 19th of December, 1865, 
when Miss Araminta Mitchel became his 
wife. The lady is a native of Calhoun 
county, Arkansas, and is a daughter of Nel- 
son and Nancy (Pond) Mitchel, the former 
a native of England and the latter of Vir- 
ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the par- 
ents of nine living children: James H.; 
William Nelson; Nancy B.,wife of M. A. 
Hilton; Charles W. , Martha Josephine, 
Cora, Andrew Jackson, Roy and Nathan. 

After his marriage Mr. Johnson resided 
for two years in Duffau, and on the 31st of 
July, 1868, located on his present farm, 
where with his father and two brothers he 
purchased nine hundred acres of land, of 
which only si.xty acres were under cultiva- 
tion. They bought nine hundred and 
twenty-three acres, for twelve hundred dol- 
lars, and to-day our subject is the owner of 
two hundred and fifteen acres of valuable 
and desirable land, of which one hundred 
and fifty acres has been placed under the 
plow and now yields to him a handsome 
•return. He is energetic and enterprising, 
and his indomitable perseverance and well 
directed efforts have given him rank among 
the substantial residents of the county. 

Mr. Johnson and his wife are most esti- 
mable people, having the warm regard of 
many friends, and in the Methodist Episco- 



pal church, south, they hold their member- 
ship. In its work our subject takes an 
active part, has served in the varit)us church 
offices and for three years has been the 
efficient superintendent of the Sunday 
school. For several years he was a mem- 
ber of the Farmers' Alliance, and in his 
political views he is a Populist. 



at 



ILLIAM G. HIGGINBOTHAM, 

of Bosque county, Texas, is the 
name of a well-known agricult- 
urist, who receives his mail at 
Morgan. He was born in Jackson county, 
Alabama, September 30, 1832, and, was a 
son of John G. Higginbotham, born in 
Tazewell county, Virginia, October 26, 1 800, 
and a grandson of Robert Higginbotham, 
born in Ireland. This man was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war, and is well spoken 
of in the records of Virginia. He married 
Nancy Blankenship, who also was of Irish 
extraction, though reared in Virginia. They 
are both buried in Alabama. 

John G. Higginbotham was ten years 
old when his parents left Virginia for their 
new southern home, and he grew to man- 
hood in Madison county, Alabama, where 
he was married, Hester Ann Griffin becom- 
ing his wife. She was a woman of a good 
family, of South Carolina extraction, being 
a daughter of Joseph and Lucinda (Lucas) 
Griffin, both natives of South Carolina and 
residents of Edgefield district, that state. 
When John G. Higginbotham was married, 
he and his wife removed to Jackson county, 
Alabama, and in 1850 located in Fayette 
county, where he made his home to the day 
of his death, September 15, 1894. He was 
a Democrat in his politics, a Baptist in 



463 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



his religion, and all his life an honest farmer. 
His wife, the mother of our subject, died 
July 19, 1877. Shewasformerly a Method- 
ist, but subsequently became a Baptist, 
and was universally regarded as a good 
Christian woman. They were the parents 
of nine children, of whom four are now 
living: Mary F. (Browning), William G., 
the subject of this sketch, James W. (a 
soldier in the Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cav- 
alry), and Sarah C. (Savage). Robert and 
Ellen are dead. John was killed during 
the war, and was a member of the same 
regiment with his brother James. Jasper 
N. and Charles M. are also dead. 

William G. Higginbotham, the subject 
of this writing, was reared in Alabama, 
among the circumstances of life that usu- 
ally attend an Alabama farmer. He was 
trained to useful habits, and principles 
of honor were implanted in his heart 
with his earliest instruction. He was edu- 
cated in the common school, and by expe- 
rience and reading may fairly be judged an 
educated man. When eighteen years of 
age he went to Mississippi, where he was at 
the outbreak of the civil war. He enlisted 
in the Twenty-fourth Mississippi Battalion, 
and was on special conscription service for 
a time. After the conclusion of the war he 
resided in Mississippi until 1874, when he 
came to Dallas, Texas. He was in Na- 
varro county for two years, and then for 
the same period of time in Coryell county, 
and in Taylor county for a few months, and 
came into Bosque county, in October, 1879, 
settling near Meridian. In the fall of 1883 
our subject took possession of the farm 
mentioned above, on which he has since 
made his home. Here he has four hundred 
acres of land, one hundred and fifty of 
which are in cultivation. It is a valuable 



farm, with rich soil fitted for corn and cot- 
ton, streams of living water, good farm 
house and fine outbuildings. 

Mr. Higginbotham was married in 1851 
to Celia S. Browning, born in Jackson 
county, Alabama, December 18, 1832. She 
was a daughter of Major Joshua Browning, 
who was an officer in the war of 1812 and 
a veteran of the battle of New Orleans. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Higginbotham have been born 
fourteen children, of whom nine are now 
living, — six sons and three daughters: Em- 
met B., of Bosque county; Joseph G., of 
Oklahoma; William G., Jr., also of Bosque 
county; Jefferson Davis, John T. and Reu- 
ben S. are at home; Mollie J. Keating is a 
widow, and at home; Sarah V. Orr is a 
resident of Tom Green county; Esther I. 
Burgan is a resident of Bosque county; 
James W. was killed by a mill explosion at 
the age of twenty-five; Charles F. died at 
fifteen; and three children passed away in 
infancy. The great loss that has come into 
the life of our subject was the death of his 
beloved wife, who entered into rest Decem- 
ber 15, 1895, at the age of sixty-three. 
They had been married forty-four years, 
and she had proved always a loving and 
cheerful helpmeet, and went to her heavenly 
home in the full expectation of a glad re- 
union where tears are wiped away from all 
faces and sorrow is unknown. 

Our subject was a strong Democrat for 
many years, but lately having come to feel 
that the welfare of the country required 
other measures than those advocated by his- 
life-long associates, he has parted from them 
and casts his political activities with what 
is known as the Populist movement. He is 
a deacon in the Missionary Baptist church, 
a firm believer in the gospel, and a zealous 
and active worker in the cause of his Mas- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ter. He is also much interested in temper- 
ance work, and is well known as an ardent 
prohibitionist. 



,>^ H. WHITWORTH is a resident 
1 ^ of Kopperl, Bosque county, Texas, 
M where he is well and widely known 

as a popular and enterprising citi- 
zen. He was born in Gwinnett county, 
Georgia; August 1 1, 1851, and was a son of 
R. A. Whitworth, also born in Georgia. 
His father, Richard Whitworth, was a na- 
tive of South Carolina, and of English de- 
scent. R. A. Whitworth was raised in 
Georgia and was brought up on a farm, 
receiving a fair education for the times. He 
married Miss Sarah Moore, of good family 
associations, who was born in Lincoln 
county. North Carolina. They had seven 
children, of whom Annette was the oldest, 
and the subject of this sketch coming sec- 
ond. Isaac died at the age of thirty-seven. 
The others were Cassander, Hines, Pinck- 
ney and Florence. He was a gallant Con- 
federate soldier, serving in a Georgia regi- 
ment of infantry, and died from the effects 
of a wound received in battle. The mother 
of our subject died in Gwinnett county, 
Georgia, in 1868, in her fortieth year. 

Our subject, P. H. Whitworth, was the 
second and oldest child, and on him fell 
much care and duty toward the children in 
the help of his widowed mother in caring 
for her little family, but he never flinched. 
As a son he was worthy of his father, the 
brave soldier, who had died on the field of 
honor. As might be imagined, Mr. Whit- 
worth, of this sketch, had but few oppor- 
tunities for school attendance and instruc- 
tion, but he made the most of what he had 
in later life by strict attention to business 



and close observation of all its forms. He 
came to Texas, locating first in Bosque 
county and later in Hill county, but he has 
made his home most of the time since 1884 
as noted above. He bought his present 
farm of three hundred and fifty acres in 
1894. This is a very desirable tract of 
choice rich black soil,' regarded as unusually 
fine for corn and cotton. Eighty acres are 
now in cultivation. It is well watered by 
Plowman's creek, has good buildings and 
outbuildings, and is considered one of the 
best farms of the county. 

Mr. Whitworth, the theme of this writ- 
ing, was married December 27, 1877, in 
Hill county, Texas, to Miss Frances Cleve- 
land, a woman of intelligence and fine feel- 
ing. She was born in Mississippi, where 
she was raised and educated. She was a 
daughter of James M. and Emily (Alexan- 
der) Cleveland, her father dj'ing before her 
marriage and her mother dying at the home 
of our subject in September, 1895. O'^'' 
subject has six children: Toulous E., Moss, 
Florence, Clarence, Pearl, and Ruby, the 
babe. 

Mr. Whitworth is a strong and ardent 
Democrat and has labored faithfully for the 
interests of his party in every campaign. 
He is a Mason of good standing in Lodge 
No. 292, at Kopperl. He is now at the 
prime of his life, intelligent, frank, genial, 
jovial and popular. 



^"^RIFFITH C. BARRY, Sr., a long- 
■ G\ time resident of Kopperl, Bosque 
\^_^ county, Texas, holds an honorable 
position in the records of pioneer 
Texas. He is widely respected both for his 
business abilities and his personal charac- 



470 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ter. He is a native of Washington, D. C, 
having been born under the shadows of the 
national capitoi April 14, 1826. 

Our subject is of Irish origin, his father, 
J. D. Barry, having come to this country 
in the closing years of the last century and 
settled in the new capital almost before it 
had been reclaimed from the wilderness. 
Here he was married to Miss Julia Coombe, 
a daughter of Griffith C. Coombe, well 
known among the early settlers of the cap- 
ital city, and here he continued to make his 
home until the day of his death. He was 
a successful business man, and in middle 
life retired to a farm near the city. He 
was the father of ten children, seven sons 
and three daughters, all but one of whom 
lived to attain maturity. Their names were 
David, Robert, James, Ed., Mary, Anna, 
Griffith C., Daniel, Eliza and John, who 
died in infancy. His fourth son, Ed., was 
a captain in the Confederate service, and 
was widely known on account of his brav- 
ery and the daring way in which he pene- 
trated Washington in search of information. 
The father of this interesting family died in 
December, 1849, at the age of seventy- 
four, and his wife in December, 1872, at 
the age of seventy. He was a Catholic in 
his religion and a Whig in his politics, 
while she was a member of the Episcopal 
church. They were able to give their chil- 
dren good educational opportunities. 

Mr. Barry, our subject, was raised in 
the federal district, well educated in the 
public schools, and especially trained in 
sentiments of honesty and industry, which 
have indeed proved a good foundation on 
which to build for future success, and for 
which he never ceases to be grateful to his 
parents. In the year 1849 he left home 
and went to New York. Here he remained 



but for a few months, and in 1850, follow- 
ing the tide of emigration, came west, lo- 
cating for two years at Palmyra, Marion 
county, Missouri. A great flood of settle- 
ment was flowing west to California, bear- 
ing on its crest the brave and daring, and 
our subject, being a man of this character, 
mounted the crest. So he started over- 
land for California with a mule team, leav- 
ing Palmyra April 21, 1852, and on August 
7 of the same year was in the land of gold. 
While in Salt Lake they traded off their 
wagons, and our subject rode over one 
thousand miles horseback, without a saddle! 
In his party there were but three, and they 
were unarmed; but they had no trouble. 
Our subject spent one year in Tuolumne 
county engaged in placer mining, and was 
then two years in the San Jose valley, 
mostly on a ranch. By this time our young 
adventurer felt that he had enough of the 
golden west and turned his face back to 
Missouri, returning by way of the water 
and the isthmus. He again located in Ma- 
rion county, Missouri, where he made his 
home until 1858. This year our subject 
came to Texas with his family, traveling 
with a wagon across the country and camp- 
ing out on the way. He was attracted by 
the fine appearance of Bosque county, and 
determined to locate here, a determination 
which he has never regretted. He pur- 
chased two hundred acres and built a log 
picket house of the dimensions of 15x15, 
converting a canoe into a meat house, — 
narrow quarters but a hospitable, generous 
home, where saint and sinner were alike 
welcome. In 1875 he erected a concrete 
house, 30x49, and has added four hundred 
acres to his original purchase. This farm 
of six hundred acres, well watered by Ray- 
mond creek, with much rich valley land 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



471 



and good hill land, he has made one of the 
best in the county. 

Mr. Barry was married March 27, 1851, 
at Palmyra, Missouri, to Miss Mary, daugh- 
ter of William Claybrook, of a Kentucky 
family, in which state the bride was born. 
They have had six children, of whom four 
are now living: David, the oldest, is a resi- 
dent of this state; Lillie is the wife of Ed. 
McICissick, of Fowler, Texas; Griffith C, 
Jr., is located in Hill county, Texas; and 
Edmund, the youngest, is on the old farm. 
Two children, Harry, aged nine, and Vic- 
tor, aged four, died in these years of their 
lives. Mrs. Barry, herself, died in the 
month of December, 1883, at the age of 
fifty-four. She was a good wife and 
mother and a devoted member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 

Mr. Barry remarried after six years, 
leading to the altar Mrs. M. L., widow of 
B. B. Walker. She was raised and edu- 
cated at Judson Institute, Alabama, and 
had been a popular and successful teacher 
before her marriage. She came to Texas 
with her husband in 1873, and lived at 
Fort Worth, where Mr. Walker died. She 
is a lady of culture and refinement, and is 
prominent in the Eastern Star and in other 
orders. 

Our subject is a Democrat, and has 
greatly helped to shape the development of 
his county. He is a member of the Baptist 
church. 



'Jrj'OHN C. TANDY, president of the 
■ First National Bank of Morgan, en- 
(•T joys the distinction of being the 
youngest bank president in the state 
of Texas. The institution with which he is 
connected is one of the leading, solid and I 



popular banks of Bosque county. It has a 
capital of fifty thousand dollars, and with 
the able assistance of Cashier R. E. Doyal, 
oursubject has built it up into sudden and sat- 
isfying success. Both these gentlemen are 
capable and successful business men, and 
whatever enterprise they associate them- 
selves with is bound to go. They begun 
business as a private banking company in 
August, 1895, a'ld were much aided by the 
fact that they had already become well 
known to the people in the county. Mr. 
Tandy has had some seven years' experience 
as a banker, and. is widely known as a thor- 
oughly reliable and capable business man. 
His natural, fixed trait is that of honesty, 
and by his fair and candid business methods 
he retains all his customers who seek his 
service from any cause. The people of 
Bosque county are justly proud of this finan- 
cial institution and of the two young men 
who are putting both brains and character 
into its management. 

Mr. Tandy wasborn at Granbury, Hood 
county, this state, February 16, 1871, and 
is a son of J. A. Tandy, a prominent and 
well-known citizen of that county, and there 
he was raised and educated. He belongs 
to the new Texas, and with much devotion 
to the progressive spirit of the present time 
retains the hospitality and open-heartedness 
of the old order. He has made a striking 
success of farm and stock interests as well 
as in banking. In this he has only followed 
in the footsteps of his father, who is one of 
the most successful farmers and stockmen of 
the county. His father was born in Lavaca 
county, Texas, forty-six years ago, and has 
been raised and educated in this state. His 
father, William Tandy, the grandfather of 
our subject, was a Kentuckian by birth and 
came to Texas in 1845. The mother of our 



472 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



subject was before her marriage Rebecca 
Stribling, was a native of South Carolina 
and a member of one of the historic families 
of that state. She died in December, 1873, 
leaving two children, our subject, and a 
brother, Sloan, who is a farmer in Hood 
county. 

Mr. Tandy, our subject, was raised to 
manhood in Hood county, where he received 
a very good education at the College of Gran- 
bury, graduating in 1889. In 1890 he was 
engaged in the stock business. Later he 
went into the First National Bank at Gran- 
bury as assistant cashier, and made a most 
efficient and popular officer. Here he re- 
mained until 1895, when he resigned and 
came to Morgan to engage in banking for 
himself. 

In 1895, in the month of July, Mr. 
Tandy led to the altar, and plighted nuptial 
vows with, Miss Josie Kerr, a lady of edu- 
cation and of good family. She is a daugh- 
ter of H. J. Kerr, a leading citizen of Gran- 
bury. Our subject has made one of the 
handsomest homes in Morgan for his wife, 
which has become quite a social center. 

He is a Democrat, and adds to his 
laurels as a young banker the fact of being 
the youngest mayor in Texas. He is also 
an active secret-society man, being a mem- 
ber of the order of Odd Fellows, as well as 
a Pythian Knight, Castle No. 232. 



*y-» AZARUS EMANUEL HOLDER, 
I r who resides at the Holder home- 
I jl stead, one of the finest farms in 
the county of Bosque, — his post- 
office address being Morgan, — is a worthy 
son of an honored sire and a representative 
of one of the respected families of the coun- 



ty. To a succinct review of his life would 
we now invite attention. 

Mr. L. E. Holder is a native of the 
Bayou state, born January 28, 1859, and 
spent the first nineteen years of his life in 
that state, receiving his education there. 
His father, James Holder, late of Bosque 
county, was for a number of years one of 
the leading citizens of the county. James 
Holder was born in Alabama in 18 16, son 
of Willis Holder, who was a native of South 
Carolina and of English descent. Willis 
Holder's wife was of German origin. 
In Alabama James grew up and married, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Rebec- 
ca Dickson, a native of Louisiana and a 
daughter of Spyas W. and Lydia Dickson, 
both also natives of the Creole state. After 
their marriage they spent a number of years 
in Mississippi. In 1880 they left that state 
and came to Texas, locating in Bosque coun- 
ty nine miles from Morgan, where he pur- 
chased a large tract of land, 1,632 acres in 
extent, in the improvement of which he 
spent unstintingly both labor and means. 
He erected two dwelling-houses and barns, 
put down an artesian well, and ere long had 
600 acres under plow, and continued the 
work of improvement as long as he lived. 
At the time of his death, in 1892, his farm 
was regarded as one of the largest and best 
in this portion of the county. His death 
and his wife's occurred only a few days 
apart, hers being January 5, 1892, and his 
on the 1 2th of the same month. They were 
the best of people and were loved and hon- 
ored by all who had the pleasure of their 
acquaintance. For many years he was a 
class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south, worked earnestly and zealous- 
ly for the cause of Christ, and through his 
influence not a few were brought into nearer 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



473 



and sweeter relation with the Redeemer. 
Fraternally, he was a Mason and politically 
a Democrat. During the civil war he was 
a member of a Mississippi regiment, was de- 
tailed to feed the destitute war widows of 
his own county, and as such rendered most 
appreciative service. To him and his wife 
were given a large family of children, ten in 
all, two of whom are deceased: Andrew 
J., a teacher in Mississippi, died in that 
state at the age of twenty-four years; and 
Jane. Those living are as follows: G.W. B., 
John F., Willis W., James B., L. E., S. J., 
Mira L. , Giliis and S. W., all occupying 
honorable and respected positions in life. 

L. E. Holder, the immediate subject of 
this biography, came to Bosque county, 
Texas, at the age of nineteen years; a year 
later went to Crockett county, this state, 
and spent one year on Devil's river; re- 
turned to Bosque county, where he remained 
until 1887, when he went to Mexico on a 
mining expedition, being absent a year. 
Since then he has resided here continuously. 
He purchased one hundred and thirty acres 
of land adjoining the homestead farm, thus 
increasing its extent to one thousand seven 
hundred and sixty-two acres, and in his 
extensive operations is meeting with that 
success which honest, earnest effort ever 
merits. 

Mr. Holder has a most estimable wife 
and interesting family. He was married at 
the age of twenty-two to Miss Lou Kimbell, 
a daughter of J. A. and E. K. (Cleveland) 
Ivimbell. Her father w-as killed in the late 
war. Mr. and Mrs. Holder are blessed 
with children, named as follows: Lee, 
Lonny, Maud, Floyd, William, Roger Q. 
and Eugene. They lost one child by 
death, — Mary, their eighth born. 

Like his father before him, Mr. Holder 



is an enthusiastic worker in the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south, of which he has 
for some years been a member. He is now 
a steward in the church, and at his own 
home conducts a Sabbath-school. His po- 
litical views are those of the Populists. 
That such a man as he is is popular with 
his neighbors and fellow citizens is a fore- 
gone conclusion. 



»T^OHN P. JORDAN.— During the years 
a which immediately followed the civil 
/• J war, emigration, which had some 
time beforebeen turned toward Texas, 
renewed its march in this direction, and 
among the families which at that time sought 
homes in this broad commonwealth were 
the Jordans, of which family the subject of 
this sketch, John P. Jordan, is a representa- 
tive. It was in 1867 that they landed here, 
their settlement being in Bosque county, 
where he has ever since maintained his resi- 
dence and been identified with agricultural 
interests, 

John P. Jordan was born in Alabama 
November 24. 1846, and was reared as 
other farmer boys, his educational advan- 
tages being limited to the common schools 
of the neighborhood in which he lived. 
His parents were Elijah and Frances (Fagan) 
Jordan. Elijah Jordan vvas a native of North 
Carolina, lived in Alabama some years, 
went from there to Arkansas, and in 1867, 
as stated above, came to Bosque county, 
Texas. He had served all through the late 
war. On coming to this county he bought 
a tract of land, but before he succeeded in 
opening up a farm he was summoned to his 
last home, his death occurring in 1S68. 
His good wife survived him until 1883. 
Like her worthy husband, she possessed 



474 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



many noble traits of character, adapted 
herself to pioneer life, and was a blessing to 
her family; and above all, she was a true 
Christian woman, the church of her choice 
and of which she was an honored member 
being the Methodist Episcopal. Their family 
consisted of eight children, one of which 
died in infancy, the others being as follows: 
John; Sally, wife of West Borders; Augustus, 
a prominent farmer of this county; Andrew, 
also a farmer of this county; Georgia, wife 
of N. Sliger; Josephene, wife of F. Garrett; 
and Susan, wife of B. Barrett. 

John P. Jordan remained with his parents 
until at the age of eighteen he left the pa- 
rental home to enlist in the Confederate 
service. He was detailed in Government 
service and stationed at Marshall, Texas, 
where he was assigned work in manufactur- 
ing war supplies for the Confederacy, and 
was thus occupied ten months. The war 
over, he returned home and remained with 
his parents in Arkansas until their removal 
to this state two years later, he accompany- 
ing them hither and continuing a member of 
the home circle until his marriage, that 
event being consummated in 1870. In 1874 
he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
of the land upon which he has since lived, 
at once began improving and cultivating it, 
and from time to time added to his original 
holdings. Now his landed estate comprises 
nine hundred acres, two hundred and fifty 
of which are under cultivation, the whole 
tract well fenced, and the numerous and 
substantial improvements upon the same at 
once stamping the owner as a man of enter- 
prise and one fully abreast with the times. 
A windmill supplies the power by which 
water is pumped for all farm purposes. 
While he is not extensively engaged in the 
stock business, Mr. Jordan raises enough 



stock for the support of his broad acres. He 
has a pleasant home and a large and inter- 
esting family. 

Mr. Jordan was first married in 1870, to 
Miss Susan McCurry, a native of Bosque 
county, Texas, daughter of Captain Colum- 
bus McCurry, late of this county. Captain 
McCurry earned his title in the late war. He 
was one of the early farmers of Bosque 
county and was for a number of years one 
of its most respected citizens. Mrs. Susan 
Jordan departed this life April 19, 1884, 
leaving the following children, all of whom 
are at home: Homer, Addison, Sally, 
Cumy, Thomas and Andrew. In 1886 he 
wedded ior his second wife Miss Betty Bur- 
dett, a native of Smith county, Texas, born 
September 3,1868, daughter of B. Burdett. 
Her father came from Alabama, his native 
state, to Texas in 1866 and settled in Smith 
county, whence he subsequently removed to 
Bosque county, where he still lives, engaged 
in farming. He served all through the civil 
war. The Burdett family is composed of 
twelve children, their names in order of 
birth being Martina, Wesley, Emma, Benja- 
min, Joseph, Betty, Nina, John, Lina, Al- 
bert, Ella and George. By his second 
marriage Mr. Jordan has four children, — 
Nora, Charles, Laudie and Alvin. 

Politically, Mr. Jordan has always afifili- 
ated with the Democratic party, and while 
he has ever taken an enthusiastic interest in 
local affairs he has never in any sense sought 
official honors. Religiously, he is a Baptist. 
His first wife was a member of this church, 
as also is his present companion and her 
parents, both the Burdetts and the Jordans 
being leading members of the church. 

Reverting to Mr. Jordan's early life in 
the Lone Star state, we may add that there 
were plenty of Indians through this part of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



475 



the country at the time he settled here; and 
while many of the frontier settlers had more 
or less trouble from their raids and thieving, 
the Jordans maintained friendly relations 
with the red men and never suffered any loss 
whatever from their depredations. It was 
some years before there were any gins in 
this community, and Mr. Jordan had his 
first ginning done at Brazos, and later, 
when a gin was built at Meridian, his cotton 
was the first to be ginned there; and his first 
bale brought him $ioo. This gin was oper- 
ated by horse power. 

Meridian is Mr. Jordan's post-office ad- 
dress. 



eDWARD FRANCIS.— Among the 
many prominent and well known 
farmers of Bosque county none are 
more worthy of recognition in a 
work of this character than is the subject of 
this sketch, Edward Francis. He was born 
in Montgomery county, Alabama, January 
6, 1837, his parents being John and Hester 
(West) Francis, the former a native of 
Massachusetts who came south to Alabama 
when a young man and was married there. 
John and Hester Francis were the parents 
of four children, namely: John, who died 
while serving in the late war; Edward, 
whose name forms the heading of this 
sketch; Alexander deceased; and Benjamin, 
also deceased. The father died in Louisi- 
ana, at the age of thirty years, and the 
mother survived him until 1866, when she 
died, in Texas. 

Edward Francis is now the only living 
representative of the family. He dates his 
arrival in Texas in 1847, and that year made 
settlement in Jasper county, where he con- 
tinued to reside with his mother until their 



removal in 1851 to a place seven miles west 
of Houston, at which point he lived eight 
years. At the close of the civil war he came 
to his present location in Bosque county 
and purchased a tract of wild land, upon 
which he settled and where he has continued 
his abiding place ever since, its location be- 
ing two miles west of Meridian. Here he 
has from time to time made substantial and 
valued improvements, including a commo- 
dious stone residence, good fences, wind 
pump, and numerous modern conveniences, 
and here he and his family own in one tract 
about seven hundred acres, fine prairie and 
valley land. Eighty acres of this tract are 
under plow and the rest is utilized for stock 
purposes. 

Mr. Francis has been twice married. 
His first wife, ncc Eliza Hardwick, he wed- 
ded in this county in 1862, she being the 
daughter of a prominent early settler here. 
Their happy union resulted in the birth of 
three children, — Joseph D., Harvey and 
Hatty, wife of a Mr. Gandy. Death entered 
their home in 1868 and called the young 
wife and mother away, and late in that 
same year Mr. Francis married Miss Lucy 
Billingsby, a native of Arkansas, who still 
presides over his home. They have been 
blessed in the birth of five children, — Elsie, 
Clay, Henry, Isaac and Addie. 

Politically, Mr. Francis has never wa- 
vered in his support of the Democratic par- 
ty and its principles, but he has never in 
any sense been an aspirant for official hon- 
ors, preferring to devote his time and atten- 
tion to his own private affairs. During the 
war he gave his service to the Confederacy, 
enlisting in May, 1862, as a member of the 
Thirty-first Texas Cavalry, and remaining 
in the ranks until the conflict was over. He 
has long been a prominent worker in the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Methodist Episcopal church, south, has for 
twenty years served as steward of the 
church, and from his early identity with it 
has been one of its most liberal supporters. 



ai 



M. HOLLOWAY is one of the 
most i^enial and wholesouled men 
of Bosque county, where he is 
engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
and the greater part of his property has been 
accumulated by his own thrift and industry. 
His tastes have always inclined him to agri- 
cultural pursuits, and the stock-raising indus- 
try has found in him one of its most able 
representatives. 

Mr. Holloway was born in Bosque 
county, on the 4th of November, 1857, and 
belongs to a well known and prominent fam- 
ily who were pioneers of Texas. Willis A. 
Holloway, his father, who was for years a 
leading citizen of the county, is now en- 
gaged in cattle-raising in Indian Territory. 
His birth occurred in Mississippi, and he js 
the son of Simpson Holloway, one of the 
early settlers of Texas, who served as a sol- 
dier in the Me.xican war and died in the 
Osage Territory in 1893, at the age of 
eighty-seven years. For fifteen years pre- 
vious to his death he had been blind. He 
was also a stockman in his younger years. 

When a boy the father of our subject 
came to the Lone Star state, and upon the 
frontier grew to manhood. He was married 
in Bosque county to Miss Mary E. Robbins, 
who died when our subject was only ten 
years old, leaving five children, namely: 
S. H., who is engaged in farming in Mid- 
land, Texas; Burl, a stockman of the same 
place; Simpson, of Brown county, Texas; 
Lottie, wife of Jesse Chandler, of Pecos 
county; and W. M., of this review. 



In his native county the last named 
spent the days of his boyhood and youth, 
attending the common schools and obtain- 
ing a practical experience in the business 
which he now follows. In 1881 he went to 
the Staked Plains, where he engaged in the 
stock business until 1893, when he went to 
Indian Territory. Near Cedar Vale, Kan- 
sas, he dealt in stock until the fall of 1895, 
when he sold out and returned to Bosque 
county. He now owns a fine farm of three 
hundred and thirteen acres, one hundred and 
forty of which is under a high state of culti- 
vation. Upon the place is a good dwelling, 
neat and tastefully furnished, a flowing well 
of pure water, and the entire farm indicates 
to the passerbj' that it is under the supervis- 
ion of a careful and painstaking owner. 

In May, 1878, Mr. Holloway led to the 
marriage altar Miss Mary E. Siddall, a lady 
of intelligence and refinement, who was 
born in Mississippi and belonged to a good 
family. At the age of nine years she was 
brought to Texas, where she was reared and 
educated. Her father, A. S. T. Siddall, 
died in Bosque county, and her mother, who 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth McGee, 
passed away in December, 1892. In their 
[ family were four children, — Addie McLean, 
[ John S., William P. and Mary E. The 
union of our subject and his wife has been 
blessed with the birth of two children, — 
Mary Grace and Young. 

In his political views, Mr. Holloway is 
an ardent Democrat, and religiously is a 
member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
He is now in the prime of life, and is quite 
strong, both mentally and physically. In 
disposition he is frank and jovial, which 
makes him popular in society, and in busi- 
ness circles he also stands high, as his integ- 
rity and honor are above question. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



iHOMAS COBBS, Clifton, Texas, 
one of Bosque county's most ex- 
tensive farmers, is a native of the 
state of Missouri. He was born 
near Hannibal, in that state, December i, 
1838, being the sixth out of a family of 
twelve children born to John A. and Ellen 
(Cleaver) Cobbs. The father was a native 
of Virginia, and was a pioneer in Missouri 
as far back as 1824. The Cobbs family 
belong to the order of American aristocracy, 
having a -history on this continent that 
reaches far back beyond the American Revo- 
lution. Thomas Cobbs, the paternal grand- 
father of our subject, was a patriotic soldier 
in that memorable struggle, and bore an 
honored part in the effort to found the re- 
public of liberty on these western shores. 
The mother of our subject was a Kentuckian 
by birth, descending from one of the early 
and influential families of the Blue Grass 
state. The family removed to Texas in 
1853, locating near what is now Waco, 
where the father of our subject passed away 
in 1876; and the mother died in 1882. 

Mr. Cobbs, the theme of this writing, 
spent his boyhood in McLennan county, 
where he received a very substantial educa- 
tion in private schools. Here he grew to 
manhood, and was thoroughly trained in 
farm life. When the great civil war broke 
out he early entered the struggle and enlisted 
in the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, in which he 
served throughout the entire war. 

Our subject appeared in Bosque county 
in 1878, and now resides five miles north of 
Clifton, on an elegant farm of four hundred 
and ninety-five acres. He has two hundred 
and seventy acres under cultivation, and 
a beautiful peach orchard of over three 
acres. He was united in marriage, in Mc- 
Lennan county, January i, 1868, with Miss 



Maude Rodgers, a native of Texas. They 
have two adopted children, Ima and Joseph 
T. Steele, children of a sister. 



eS. NEW.— The agricultural indus- 
try of Bosque county is well repre- 
sented by this enterprising farmer 
and early settler, E. S. New, who 
has his abiding place on his farm not far 
distant from the town of Iredell, his post- 
office. 

Mr. New is a native of Gallatin county, 
Kentucky, and was born April 19, 1830, 
son of James B. and Frances (Spencer) 
New, both natives of that state. William 
New, the grandfather of our subject, was 
born in Rhode Island, at an early day 
moved West and made settlement in Ken- 
tucky, where he reared his family, passed 
his life and died. The Spencers were Vir- 
ginia people who likewise sought a home in 
Kentucky at an early day. Their family 
was represented in the Seminole war .in 
Florida. James B. New was by trade a 
saddler, which he followed in his younger 
days, later settling down to the quiet of 
farm life. Also for some time he served as 
postmaster of his town. He was a man 
interested in all the public affairs of his 
place, but never sought official honors; 
politically he gave his support to the Demo- 
cratic party, and in his religion was a zeal- 
ous Baptist, active and enthusiastic in 
church work. He died in Kentucky in 
1 85 1. His good wife survived hmi many 
years and died in November, 1895, at the 
ripe old age of ninety-four. She, too, was 
a consistent Baptist, and her long and use- 
ful life was adorned with many Christian 
graces. They were the parents of seven 
children: E. S., whose name graces this 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



article; Frank S., a resident of Texas since 
1S57 and a veteran of theConfederate army, 
who is now a saddler of San Saba, Texas; 
William H., who came to Texas in 1857 
and served through the late war, and is now 
a resident of the Indian Nation; Nancy is 
the wife of J. T. Edmonds of Kentucky; 
Susan, wife of F. G. Acre, a farmer of 
Llano county, Texas, came to this state in 
1858; Betty, wife of William Rainbolt, 
came to this state in 1857, and now lives in 
the Indian Nation ; and Mary, wife of John 
T. Scott, resides in San Saba countj', Texas. 
E. S. New attended the common schools 
near his home and spent his youthful days 
not unlike other Kentucky farmer boys. In 
1853 he married and settled in the town of 
Mayfield, that state, where he ran a harness 
and saddle shop, and at the same time kept 
the post-office, remaining there until 1857. 
That year he emigrated to Texas, first lo- 
cating at Waxahachie, where he worked at 
his trade one year, after which he turned 
his attention to the stock business. Like 
most men of his age in this country, Mr. 
New has a war record. He enlisted in the 
first year of the war in Buflord's Nineteenth 
Texas Cavalry, Parson's brigade, and ren- 
dered service in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Texas, also making one raid up into Mis- 
souri, and in all his army life, which ex- 
tended until the close of the war, he was 
never wounded nor captured. At the time 
of the surrender he was near Houston, Texas, 
and from there returned to his home in Ellis 
county, gathered up his stock, and that same 
year, 1865, moved to Bosque county, locat- 
ing near Morgan, where he bought a tract 
of land and opened up a farm. At that 
point he conducted farming and stock-rais- 
ing until 1894, when he sold out and came 
to his present location near Iredell. Here 



he has three hundred and two acres'of well- 
improved land, one hundred and ten acres 
under cultivation. He has a comfortable 
residence, modern wind pump, fine orchard, 
etc., and is pleasantly situated for conven- 
iently and successfully carrying on farming 
and stock-raising. 

Mr. New was married in Kentucky in 
1853, as already stated. Mrs. New was 
formerly Miss Mary Peterson. She is a 
native of Kentucky and a daughter of a 
Kentucky farmer, William Peterson, who 
died in that state and is the only repre- 
sentative of the family that came to Texas. 
Mr. and Mrs. New have been blessed in the 
birth of twelve children, all of whom are 
yet living, their names in order of birth be- 
ing as follows: Edward, a farmer of Bosque 
county; Emma, wife of William Lafon, a 
farmer; Mrs. Mary E. Gilpen; Mrs. Fanny 
McGeehee; Mrs. Laura W. Wylie; Will- 
iam, who married Miss Nelly Plumly; Frank, 
who married Abby Warmack; Anna, who 
married D. M. Gar}', a school-teacher; Rob- 
ert, a farmer, who married Cory Warmack; 
and Ada, James and Jay G., all at their pa- 
rental home. 

Mr. New has always been firmly arrayed 
in the support of the Democratic party and 
its principles, and has taken an intelligent 
and commendable interest in public affairs, 
but has never had any official aspirations, 
the demands of his own private interests re- 
quiring all his time and attention. Mrs. New 
is a member of the Baptist church. 



B. TUDOR. — Among there pre- 
sentative farmers and stock-raisers 
of Erath county none are more de- 
serving of honorable mention in 
this volume than the gentleman whose name 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



479 



introduces this review. His residence here 
covers a decade, and though many have 
longer resided in this locaHty none have 
evinced higher purpose or more worthy and 
commendable attributes; and it is therefore 
with pleasure that we present to our readers 
the record of his career. 

Mr. Tudor has always been identified 
with the interests of the south. He was 
born in Tippah county, Mississippi, on the 
2d of July, 1 84 1, a son of Jesse G. and 
Eliza (Cutbirth) Tudor. The father was a 
native of Barren county, Kentucky, and of 
English descent, the grandfather, Kinzie 
Tudor, having been born in England, whence 
he emigrated to America, locating in Ken- 
tucky. In the days when all produce was 
shipped to New Orleans on flatboats for 
market he was one day, in 181 1, taking his 
corn to the Crescent City in that way and 
was drowned. He left a family of four 
sons and four daughters. In early life 
Jesse G. Tudor removed to Mississippi, 
where he followed farming. He married 
Miss Cutbirth, a native of Murray county, 
Tennessee, and a daughter of Daniel Boone 
Cutbirth, who was born in Kentucky and 
was of Irish descent. The wedding of Mr. 
and Mrs. Tudor was celebrated in Hardin 
county, Tennessee, after which they removed 
to Mississippi, where the husband followed 
farming throughout his remaining days. A 
tragedy occurred which brought great gloom 
upon the household on the ist of January, 
1863, when the father was robbed and shot 
in his own house by a body of troops pre- 
tending to be federal soldiers, but were in~ 
reality a part of the lawless band that always 
accompanies warfare for the purpose of 
securing all they can through plundering. 
Mrs. Tudor, at the age of eighty-two years, 
is now living with our subject and still re- 



tains her mental faculties in a remarkable 
degree. She has long been a member of 
the Baptist church and is a most estimable 
lady. 

The subject of this review is one of a 
family of thirteen children, ten of whom 
reached adult life, while nine are still living. 
He spent his boyhood days in a manner 
similar to all farmer lads of the time and 
locality, and resided with his parents until 
after the opening of the civil war, when he 
entered the Confederate army in defense of 
the principles with which he had been 
familiar from his earliest boyhood. In 
August, 1 86 1, he became a member of 
Company G, Third Mississippi Volunteer 
Infantry, and afterward served with the 
Twenty-third Regiment of the same state. 
He participated in the battles of Big Black 
and Fort Donelson, and in the latter was 
taken prisoner. For seven months he was 
incarcerated at Camp Douglas, in Chicago, 
Illinois, for three months at Camp Morton, 
in Indianapolis, and later was transferred to 
Fort Delaware, where he was held as a 
prisoner of war until the cessation of hos- 
tilities. 

On his return to Mississippi Mr. Tudor 
secured a position in a steam sawmill, where 
he worked nearly three years, then turned 
his attention to farming, which he followed 
in his native county until 1886, when he 
came to Texas. The capital that he had 
acquired as the result of his own labor and 
economy he now invested in land, becoming 
owner of one hundred and sixty acres, of 
which thirty acres was under partial culti- 
vation. He now owns a tract of two hun- 
dred acres, and the eighty acres that has 
been transformed into arable fields yields to 
him a golden tribute for the care and labor 
bestowed upon it. The neat and thrifty ap- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



pearance of the place indicates his careful 
supervision, and the owner is justly regarded 
as one of the leading agriculturists of the 
locality. His pleasant home, which adorns 
the place, was erected in 1893. 

Mr. Tudor was married in May, 1867, 
to Mrs. S. H. Morton, a native of Tippah 
county, Mississippi, and a daughter of Yancy 
and Eliza (Jones) Keith, of Maury county, 
Tennessee, who was an early settler of 
Mississippi. Twelve children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Tudor, ten of whom yet sur- 
vive, as follows: William F., a successful 
teacher of Erath county; Henry Hank, a 
farmer of the same locality; Charles C, 
Thomas B. (deceased); Kelsey K. ; Alfred 
H. ; Condred ("Governor" Ross); Mary; 
Martha (deceased); Annie; Daisy and Jessie. 
Mrs. Tudor is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. In his political aiBlia- 
tions Mr. Tudor is a Democrat and is a man 
who in all the relations of life is true and 
faithful to the trust reposed in him,- — a 
man whom to know is to respect. 



,y^ C. BALDWIN. — The past two 
I \ decades constitute the period of 
\ \ most rapid growth and develop- 
ment in Erath county, and the 
most careless observer cannot fail to note 
that the influence most potent in shaping 
and controlling the affairs of any particular 
community are wielded by men who have 
busied themselves with the practical affairs 
of life. Mr. Baldwin has attained a position 
of prominence and influence in the county 
and is one of the most progressive and val- 
ued citizens of Stephenville and Erath coun- 
ty. A specific type of the self-made man, 
he has attained a signal success intheafiairs 



of life, has devoted himself assiduously to 
the work which has come to his hand, and 
his every act has been characterized by that 
integrity and honor which never fail to call 
forth the respect and confidence of men. 
The career of such a one cannot fail to 
prove of great interest, setting forth, as it 
does, the results that may be attained 
through indefatigable industry and unfalter- 
ing perseverance, when guided by sound 
judgment. 

Mr. Baldwin was born in the province 
of Quebec, Canada, December 4, 1841, a 
son of Levi and Lidia A. (Converse) Bald- 
win, both of whom were natives of the same 
province and of Puritan ancestry. The 
father was a miller by occupation. 

The subject of this review spent his 
childhood days in attendance on the public 
schools of the neighborhood, and completed 
his course at Bates College, in Lewiston, 
Maine, where he was graduated with hon- 
ors in the class of 1863. Being now well 
equipped for the more difficult life-lessons, 
which come to each one on leaving his alma 
mater, he entered upon his business career 
as a manufacturer of reapers and mowers. 
He followed that pursuit in his native prov- 
ince for fifteen j'ears, meeting with excellent 
success in the undertaking. On the expira- 
tion of that period he came to Texas, and 
has since been an important factor in pro- 
moting the commercial interests of the cen- 
tral section of the state. He located in 
Jefferson, and his excellent knowledge of 
mechanics secured him the position of super- 
intendent of the Kelly Iron Works, which 
he conducted for one year. He afterward 
spent one year in Fort Worth, and then 
came to Stephenville, a frontier town. 
With its development he has since been 
actively identified, and to no man in the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



481 



place is greater credit due for the growth 
and prosperity of the county-seat. 

Mr. Baldwin here erected a cotton gin 
and flouring mill, which he operated under 
the firm name of Baldwin & Beach, this 
being the second mill built in Erath county. 
In connection with his other enterprises our 
subject also had a large warehouse filled 
with grain; but, owing to a cloud-burst 
which brought ruin upon this entire section, 
his mills and warehouse, with their contents, 
were swept away, entailing a loss of about 
ten thousand dollars! This would have dis- 
couraged most men, but with undaunted 
.courage Mr. Baldwin erected a new mill at 
Alexander, Erath county, which he operated 
successfully for two years, and at the same 
time conducted a hardware and agricultural 
implement business in Stephenville, having 
the largest trade in this line in this section 
of the country. In all his undertakings he 
has met with marked success and accumu- 
lated a handsome property. For several 
years past he has devoted the greater part of 
his time and attention to cotton-ginning, 
and his gin is now the most extensive and 
best appointed of all in this part of Texas, 
being supplied with all modern appliances, 
including an electric dynamo, which in addi- 
tion furnishes light for his own residences 
and several other buildings in the city. In 
the spring of 1896 he with others organized 
the Baldwin Gin & Electric Light Com- 
pany, who now furnish light for the city. 
Mr. Baldwin was one of the organizers and 
the first vice-president of the First National 
Bank of Stephenville, and has been con- 
nected with every enterprise of importance 
that has had for its object the welfare of 
the community or would in any way enhance 
the public welfare. 

The cause of education finds in Mr. 



Baldwin a stanch ally, and he is an active 
worker in the interests of the schools and 
churches. Another cause that claims his 
untiring allegiance is the temperance cause. 
Whatever is calculated to advance the 
morality of the community and uplift his 
fellow men has a deep hold on his sympathy 
and never seeks his financial aid in vain. 
He is a man of ripe scholarship and broad 
general information, of liberal views and 
charitable impulses, and his honorable, 
straightforward career is unmarred by sus- 
picion of wrong. 

Mr. Baldwin spends his happiest hours 
in his home, surrounded by family and 
friends. He was married in 1862 to Miss 
Ellen S. Wright, of Barton Landing, Ver- 
mont, a daughter of Alexander and Mary 
(Stewart) Wright, the latter a cousin of the 
late A. T. Stewart, the merchant prince of 
New York. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. 
Baldwin died in infancy. 



>^OSEPH BROWN GORDON.— The 
k task of writing the biographies of 
A 1 the living representative men of any 
^^ community is an exceedingly difficult 
one because of the prevailing modesty of 
the successful business man, who almost in- 
variably manifests a certain repugnance to 
anything that partakes of the nature of pub- 
lic notoriety or prominence and thus dis- 
courages even friendly attempts to uncover 
the secret of his success. Genuine success 
is not likely to be the result of mere chance 
or fortune, but is something to be labored 
for and sought out with consecutive effort. 
Ours is a utilitarian age, and the life of 
every successful man bears its lesson, and 
as told in contemporary narration perhaps 



182 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



is productive of the greatest good. Thus 
there is a due measure of satisfaction in 
presenting even a brief resume of the life 
and accomplishments of such a man. 

The subject of this review is t:nown to 
be one of the most eminent and able physi- 
cians in central Te.xas and to-day is success- 
fully engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion in Paluxy and Hood county, where he 
has resided since i8Si. He was born in 
Pickens county, Georgia, on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1857, and is a son of William H. 
and Sarah C. (Morrison) Gordon, who were 
also natives of Georgia. The father died 
when the Doctor was only about seven 
years of age and the mother afterward mar- 
ried A. W. Huffman. She had two chil- 
dren by the first union, ^Joseph B. and 
W. A., — the latter a resident of Erath coun- 
ty, and by her second marriage there is one 
son, Frank W., also of Erath county. Mrs. 
Huffman died January 19, 1870, in the faith 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which 
she was a consistent member. Mr. Gor- 
don was a merchant and a successful business 
man. 

The boyhood of Dr. Gordon was spent 
on a farm. After his mother's death he 
went to live with his maternal grandfather, 
with whom he continued to make his home 
until he had attained his majority. He 
aided in the work of the farm and acquired 
his literary education largely in the public 
schools of the neighborhood. Agriculture, 
however, was not the pursuit that he wished 
to make a life work, nor was it that for 
which nature evidently intended him. After 
he had arrived at years of maturity he 
took up the study of medicine under the 
direction of Dr. A. H. Stearns, of Jasper, 
Pickens county, Georgia, with whom he 
remained two years. He attended his first 



two courses of lectures at the Augusta 
Medical College and was graduated in the 
spring of 1881, when he came directly to 
the Lone Star state, locating in Bluff Dale, 
where he soon built up a very large and 
lucrative practice. He is a student, con- 
stantly seeking advancement; and in order 
to still further perfect himself in his chosen 
calling, in 1890 he took a course of lectures 
in the Southern Medical College, at Atlanta. 
He continued his residence in Bluff Dale 
until 1890, when he came to his present 
location. He now has one of the most 
extensive practices in this section of the 
state and his large business has brought to 
him a handsome competence. Of marked 
personality and with an indomitable spirit 
he has steadily risen to the proud position 
which he to-day occupies in the medical 
fraternity of Texas, and has the respect -of 
the public and the confidence of the medical 
fraternity in a marked degree. 

The Doctor was married on the 31st of 
December, 1887, to Miss Loretta Smith, a 
native of McMinn county, Tennessee, and a 
daughterof Milas and Louisa (Armstrong) 
Smith, who removed with their family to 
Texas when Mrs. Gordon was a child of 
three years, locating in Titus county. Six 
years later they went to Fannin county and 
in i88icameto Hood county. The Doctor 
and Mrs. Gordon are the parents of three 
children, two yet living, — Thomas and Nina. 
Florence Edith died when a year old. 

Our subject is a member of Bluff Dale 
Lodge, No. 396, I. O. O. F. , and his 
political support is given the Democracy. 
His wife belongs to the Baptist church. 
Both are most highly esteemed citizens, and 
their genuine worth and many estimable 
qualities have won them the high regard of 
all with whom they have come in contact. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



483 



5>^^ S. DAVIS.— The lives that furnish 
J ■ the best examples to be followed 
Jl y by those who wish to attain suc- 
cess are not the lives of the men 
who are most prominent in military, political 
or professional circles. It is not possible for 
all to be statesmen and warriors, but America 
offers boundless opportunities in the lines 
of business for all who will enter and by 
earnest effort press forward. Prosperity 
thus comes to them, and it is this class who 
form the real bulwark of defense for the 
country. The gentleman whose name in- 
troduces this review belongs to this class. 
Though his life is not marked by events 
of thrilling interest, it contains many valua- 
ale lessons which may be profitably fol- 
lowed. 

Mr. Davis was born in Grainger county, 
Tennessee, July 12, 1842. The place of 
his birth, however, is now in Union county, 
owing to a division which has been made in 
the former. His father, William Davis, 
was a native of Virginia, born of Welsh 
ancestry. He married Rebecca Capps, who 
died in January, 1849, while his death oc- 
curred in Tennessee in 1879, at the age of 
sixty-one years. 

Our subject was reared on the old home 
farm and remained with his father until the 
south and north had become engaged in 
civil war, when he entered the Confederate 
service, being at the time eighteen years 
of age. He enlisted on the 20th of June, 
1 861, becoming a member of Company D, 
of Colonel Ashby's cavalry regiment, and 
was mustered into the Confederate service 
at Knoxville. He participated in the battle 
of Wild Cat, in Kentucky, Fishing Creek 
and Richmond, and was afterward with 
Wheeler's cavalry forces at Chickamauga, 
where he was taken prisoner. He was sent 



to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana, 
where he was held until the close of hostili- 
ties, when on the 12th of June, 1865, he 
was released. 

When the war was ended Mr. Davis re- 
turned to Tennessee and after a tour through 
Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois he 
went to Missouri. In that state, in January, 
1870, was celebrated his marriage, the lady 
of his choice being Miss Malinda McBee, 
who was also a native of Grainger county, 
Tennessee, whence she was taken to Mis- 
souri at the age of two years by her parents, 
Silas and Rebecca (Beler) McBee. The 
wedding of the young couple took place in 
Newton, and by their union two children 
were born; but the elder died in infancy. 
The other is a daughter, named Ada, who 
married Huston Brooks. One child was 
born to them, whose name is N. S. Davis 
and is living with his adopted parents. 

For several years Mr. Davis carried on 
farming in Missouri and in 1876 came to 
Texas, having since made his home in Hood 
county. Here he pre-empted one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, which proved to be 
an old survey and he therefore purchased it. 
He also bought an additional quarter section 
and now has about one hundred acres trans- 
formed into rich and productive fields. He 
has also for soriie years engaged in stock- 
dealing, and his honorable dealing in all 
business transactions has gained him the 
confidence of the public; while his energy, 
guided by sound judgment, has brought to 
him a comfortable competence. He is now 
the owner of one of the finest farms of 
Hood county, its rich fields and many ex- 
cellent improvements, all indicating the 
careful supervision of the owner. 

In 1 888 Mr. Davis was elected on the 
Democratic ticket as county commissioner 



4sl 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and served in that position for two years, 
during which time he introduced the resolu- 
tion to erect the courthouse at Granbury. 
He has served as deputy assessor and at this 
writing is holding the office of deputy sheriff. 
In politics he is an uncompromising sup- 
porter of the Cleveland Democracy. So- 
cially he is a member of Paluxy Lodge. No. 
393. F. & A. M.. and both he and his wife 
adhere to the faith of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian church, of which they are worthy 
members. 



"^Y'OHN HARVEY, of Meridian, is a 
^ dealer in musical instruments of all 
(% J kinds, books, school supplies, station- 
ery, newspapers, magazines, cigars, 
tobacco, confectionery, and in fact is keeping 
a general variety store. He is well known 
throughout Bosque county, where he has 
resided for more than a quarter of a century, 
and for many years has been prominently 
identified with the business circles of Merid- 
ian as one of the substantial merchants and 
also as postmaster until of late years. Mr. 
Harvey is one of those whole-souled, unas- 
suming gentlemen whom it is a pleasure to 
meet and converse with. He is a well read 
man, thoroughly posted on the historical 
and current events of this progressive age 
and always keeps abreast with the times in 
ever}- particular. 

Mr. Har\ey is a native of the Keystone 
state, his birth occurring in the Quaker 
City. December 13. 1835, where he spent 
the days of his boyhood and youth. His 
father, William Har\ey. was bom in Scot- 
land, about 17S6. He came to the United 
States when nineteen years old, and while 
working as a sailor on a ship that traded 



between Philadelphia and the West Indies 
was pressed into the English Navy. This, 
however, not being in keeping with his de- 
sires, and the opportunity soon presenting 
itself he deserted his ship and located per- 
manently in America. During the war of 
1S12 he ser\'ed in the United States Navy, 
where he remained for five years, being on 
board the old Constitution, and was twice 
wounded in engagements during that mem- 
orable struggle. After the close of the war 
he located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
where his death occurred in January. 1846. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of 
Mary Harvey, was a native of England, and 
and a niece of Sir John Harvey, of the 
English navy. She survived her husband 
until iSSS. when she too passed away. 

In the famih" of eight children our sub- 
ject was the third in order of birth. His 
parents being poor, he was compelled to 
earn his own living at an early age, begin- 
ning when only ten years old. His oppor- 
tunities for securing an education were 
therefore quite meager, although during his 
school dajs he laid the foundation for an 
education, and in after years through his 
own exertions became a cultured and well 
informed man. 

Like many other boys who are thrown 
upon their own resources at an early age, 
Mr. Harvey has followed many callings. At 
one time during the building of the coal 
wharfs at Delaware City, Delaware, he 
became chief cook and steward for a mess 
of thirteen men, who were employed at that 
work, and had to carry the water for cook- 
ing purposes a mile and a half! He was 
successful as a cook, even relishing his own 
cooking! Three months later he returned 
to his native city, where he was employed 
as a messenger boy in a telegraph office for 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



485 



some eight months, and also served as an 
errand boy. He was next bound out to a 
farmer, becoming a practical and well 
posted tiller of the soil in just two days' 
time, and, as sailors say, " slipped the cable 
and drifted off." 

Mr. Harvey was then apprenticed to the 
trade of painter, at Delaware City, although 
he had no ambition to become a wielder of 
the brush, and remained about si.x months at 
that work. He left that job for a life on 
the canal, but a few months of this con- 
vinced him that canal-boating was a slow 
way of getting through the world, and he 
graduated in that line. He next selected 
the blacksmith's trade, in which he became 
an expert, and after completing his appren- 
ticeship he followed the trade for a few 
months in the east and then took Horace 
Greeley's advice and came west. St. 
Louis, Missouri, was the scene of his oper- 
ations for a short time, and from there he 
went to Madison, Indiana, where he 
sojourned for two years. 

Mr. Harvey then emigrated to Texas, 
via New Orleans and Indianola, and thence 
to San Antonio, where he arrived in 1858. 
Remaining in that vicinity some three years, 
he then located permanently in Bosque 
county, where he followed his trade for one 
year. He joined the Confederate arm}' and 
served through the war in Company B, 
Thirty-first Texas Cavalry, and though he 
participated in a number of important en- 
gagements was never injured. When hos- 
tilities had ceased he returned to Meridian, 
where he opened a shop and followed black- 
smithing for several years before embarking 
in his present business. During these years 
he has traveled about considerably, making 
trips to California and the northwest, but 
has always looked upon Meridian as his 



home, where his financial interests are 
located. 

In Anderson county, Texas, on the 13th 
of December, i860, was consummated the 
marriage of Mr. Harvey and Miss Minerva 
Florney, who died February 10, 1863, and 
by this union there was one child that is 
now deceased. Our subject was again 
married, June 8, 1S65, his second union 
beingwithMissMary J. Foulger, whose death 
occurred June 2, 1882. They became the 
parents of two children, one still living. 
The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. 
Harvey was previously Mrs. Rebecca I. 
Little, widow of Dr. H. L. Little, who was 
among the early settlers of Texas. 

Socially, Mr. Harvey is connected with 
the Masonic fraternitj', and has taken the 
Royal Arch degrees in that order. Politi- 
cally he casts his vote in support of the Re- 
publican party, and was appointed post- 
master of Meridian in 1879, which office he 
held until 1885, and again from 1889 until 
1893. He has twice acceptably filled the 
position of justice of the peace between the 
years 1880 and 1889, and has always taken 
an active interest in public matters, giving 
his earnest support to everything for the 
benefit of his county and state. 



HOMAS C. WYLIE, whose long 
identification with the interests of 
Erath county well entitles him to 
representation in this volume, is 
numbered among the pioneers of 1858. 
Long before railroads were thought of in 
this part of the country, long before the 
south and east had turned the tide of emi- 
gration in this direction, he came to Texas, 
one of the band of courageous, hardy pio- 
neers whose resolute spirit enabled them to 



48G 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



cope with the dangers and difficulties of 
frontier life and thus found homes, where a 
man of ordinary force of character could not 
have succeeded. 

Mr. Wylie was born in Tishomingo, now 
Alcorn, county, Mississippi, on the 25th of 
June, 1840, a son of Samuel and Maria 
(McNeil) Wylie. The father was a native 
of North Carolina, but was reared in South 
Carolina, where he was married, the lady 
of his choice being a native of the latter 
state and a daughter of John McNeil. A 
few jears after his marriage he moved to 
Mississippi, where he carried on a planta- 
tion. In 1856 he came to Texas, locating 
in Anderson county, .where he died in 1859, 
at the age of si.xty-seven years. His 
wife died in Mississippi, in 1845, when 
abo\it thirty-five years of age. They were 
the parents of nine children, eight of whom 
reached mature years. There were seven 
sons, six of whom are yet living. The 
members of the family were Martha David- 
son, deceased; William H., of Runnels 
county; John M., of Erath county, now de- 
ceased; James J., of Aberline, Tabor county; 
R. R., who resides in Runnels county; 
Thomas S., of this review; Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who died in 1870; Henry C. , of Run- 
nels county; and Mary Isabell, who was the 
wife of S. D. Harden and died in this 
county. The father was a member of the 
Masonic fraternity and for several years 
served as magistrate, most capably discharg- 
ing his duties. 

Our subject spent his childhood days in 
Mississippi, until sixteen years of age, when 
he came to Anderson county, Texas, where 
he remained two years and then came with 
his six brothers to Erath county. He set- 
tled in the northern part of the county and 
engaged in the stock business, the brothers 



working together for ten years. During the 
time he had many skirmishes with the In- 
dians. On one occasion, in company with 
Captain Garland, he had command in Palo 
Pinto county and at daylight they killed 
fifteen Indians. The settlers lost many 
horses and large numbers of stock through 
the depredations of the redskins, and were 
in constant danger, for the treachery of the 
race is beyond calculation. 

In the fall of 1861 Mr. Wylie joined the 
Confederate army, becoming a member of 
Captain Price's company of the Thirty-sec- 
ond Cavalry. He saw service in the west- 
ern army and was in the battle of Bunneck 
Bay, where with a band of one hundred and 
fifty men the Confederates succeeded in cap- 
turing one thousand and five hundred men. 
Our subject served until the close of the war 
and ever manifested the loyalty and bravery 
that mark the true soldier everywhere. 

Returning to Texas he engaged in farm- 
ing and stock-raising and in 1867 he also 
opened a general store at what was known as 
the town of Wylieville. He was also post- 
master of that place. For seven years he 
carried on his store, and his careful manage- 
ment and honorable dealing secured him a 
good trade. He has prospered in his other 
work and his landed possessions now aggre- 
gate two thousand and two hundred acres, 
of which four hundred acres are under 
a high state of cultivation and yields to 
the owner a golden tribute in return for the 
care and labor he bestows upon them. His 
life is that of the typical self-made man, 
who without capital other than the ability^ 
with which nature has endowed him starts 
out for himself and by the force of his char- 
acter, his unfaltering industry, his persever- 
ance and good management, works his way 
steadily upward to a position of affluence. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



487 



Such a career is certainly well worthy of all 
commendation. 

Mr. Wylie was married July 21, 1889, 
to Dolly E. H. Bryan, a native of Louisiana 
and a daughter of Terrill and Harriett (Al- 
britton) Bryan, her parents being from 
South Carolina and Georgia. On removing 
to Texas they located in Eastland county, 
whence they came to Erath county in 1875. 
To our subject and his wife have been born 
three children, — Thomas Milton, Grover 
Cleveland and Laura Isabelle. 

Politically Mr. Wylie is a stalwart Dem- 
ocrat, and socially he is connected with the 
Masonic fraternity. 



*y-» EE YOUNG. —We now turn to one 
I r who has gained for himself an hon- 
^ ^ orable position in connection with 
the activities of the world. Not a 
pretentious or exalted life has been his, but 
one that has been true to itself and its pos- 
sibilities. 

Mr. Young has been a resident of Erath 
county since 1878, and is a native of Texas, 
his birth having occurred in Brazoria county 
on the 9th of March, 1853. He is the eld- 
est son of Overton and Ann E. (Compton) 
Young, the former, a native of Georgia and 
a son of John Young, who was born in Vir- 
ginia and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
The mother of our subject was a daughter 
of Alexander Compton, a native of Louis- 
iana, of English lineage. During the war 
for the independence of Texas, in 1835, he 
came with Hall's colony to this state, locat- 
ing in Brazoria county, where he resided 
until his death, which occurred at the age of 
seventy-four years. His wife was Mary 
Calvit, a native of Louisiana. 

The father of our subject came to Texas 



in 1848, and in Brazoria county wedded 
Mrs. A. E. Manadue. The childhood and 
youth of their eldest son was spent on the 
homestead and his early education was ac- 
quired in the common schools. He after- 
ward attended a private school and com- 
pleted his literary training in the Texas Mili- 
tary Institute, at Austin, Texas. Having 
determined to make the practice of law his 
life work he began its study in the office of 
Judge Thomas G. Masterson, of Brazoria, 
in 1875. A year later he became a student 
in the law office of Flournoy & Scott, of 
Galveston, where he remained until Decem- 
ber, 1878. He was admitted to the bar in 
January, 1876, in the old town of Brazoria, 
before Judge A. P. McCormick. 

In December, 1878, Mr. Young came to 
Stephenville, and the following year entered 
into partnership with Judge William Ken- 
nedy, under the firm name of Kennedy & 
Young. At that time Erath county was on 
the frontier and contained only about five 
thousand inhabitants. Only a short time 
had passed before Mr. Young had succeeded 
in building up a good practice. The part- 
nership with Judge Kennedy continued until 
the summer of 1882, when the Judge re- 
moved to Colorado City and our subject en- 
tered into business associations with Judge 
H. H. Neill, now the judge of the court of 
civil appeals, with whom he remained until 
December, 1885, when Mr. Neill removed 
to El Paso, Texas, and Mr. Young was 
alone in business until the spring of 1890. 
At that time the firm of Young & Martin 
was formed, his partner being M. F. Martin, 
who practiced with him until 1894, when 
the firm dissolved their business relation and 
Mr. Young joined Senator L. N. Frank and 
his brother, A. P. Young, in the present firm 
of Frank & Young, attorneys at law. His 



488 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



careful preparation of cases and indefatig- 
able industry have won him prosperity and 
an honored name among his professional 
brethren. His specialty is real-estate law 
and the handling of property cases, he en- 
tirely eschewing the criminal practice. 

Mr. Young was united in marriage, in 
May, 1884, to Miss Bamah Crow, a native 
of Texas and daughter of Dr. M. S. Crow, 
of Stephenville. Their home is blessed 
with two children, — Cecil and Ina. The 
parents have a large circle of friends to whom 
their hospitable doors are ever open, and to 
whom a warm-hearted welcome is assured. 



BREDERICK SCHLEGEL 
is a prominent farmer residing two 
miles north of Clifton, Bosque 
county, Te.xas. He is a native of 
German)', and is a fine representative of 
that German contingent that has long been 
pouring into Te.xas with its strength of char- 
acter, moral purpose, and domestic virtue 
which have been of vast value in the con- 
version of the wilderness into a civilized 
nation. 

He is a native of Germany, where he was 
born January 23, 1847, Christian and Con- 
cordia (Lang) Schlegel being his parents. 
He remained in his native country until he 
had passed the age of forty, when he de- 
termined to seek a new home in the far 
west, where he felt a larger liberty and 
greater opportunity, for a free manhood 
would give him an old age of peace, honor 
and happiness. He came to America in 
1888, locating in Coryell county, Te.xas, 
where he resided for some five years. His 
present holding consists in all of one hun- 
dred and seventy- five acres, ninety acres of 1 
which is under cultivation. One acre is ' 



devoted to a promising peach orchard, and 
the balance is used as pasture land. 

Mr. Schlegel has learned early the lesson 
that all western farmers should master, but 
which many refuse to learn, and that is, 
successful farming demands the very best 
blood in all the stock. So his farm is 
stock-graded, and his cattle attest the judg- 
ment of a cultivated and trained farmer, 
demanding the best as none too good. All 
his surroundings indicate thrift, industry, and 
sturdy German honesty. He is doing well, 
and is highly regarded by his neighbors. 

Before he left Germany, our subject 
found his matrimonial destiny, and there, 
April 14, 1872, he plighted faith with Miss 
Amelia Hause, to live together as husband 
and wife. 'Three children have blessed this 
union, who still live, — Herman, Annie, and 
Minnie. Four of their children are at rest 
beneath the wild flowers of Texas, and 
their glad spirits are waiting in the sweet 
beyond for father and mother. The family 
are all members of the Lutheran church, 
where they are highly regarded. 



aASPER A. PAULSON, a lumber 
dealer of Clifton, Bosque county, 
carries a large and well selected 
stock of builder's material, rough 
and dressed lumber, laths, shingles, mold- 
ing and mill stuff generally, also builder's 
hardware, paints, oils, etc. His yard was 
first established about 1878, and was man- 
aged by our subject for other parties until 
six years ago, when he purchased the stock 
then owned by George W. Kidd. He is an ex- 
pert in the lumber business, having had many 
years experience in that line of trade. His 
extensive knowledge of the business and his 
large acquaintance throughout this and sur- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



rounding counties makes him very popular 
and his trade extends far beyond the county 
limits. 

Mr. Paulson was born in Norway, March 
20, 1 84 1 , and is the eldest of the four children 
of Paul and Olena (Holverson) Paulson, who 
also were natives of Norway. The father 
came to America and located in California 
in the days of '49, where he engaged in 
mining for a number of years. His wife and 
family joined him in the new world about 
1856, and they became residents of Bosque 
county, Texas, where the father engaged in 
agricultural pursuits until his death, which 
occurred in 1870. The mother, who long 
survived him, passed away in 1891. 

The year 1858 witnessed the arrival of 
our subject in the United States, and he at 
once located in Bosque county, where he 
has since resided. On the breaking out of 
the civil war he enlisted and served for four 
years in the Confederate army. After his 
return to Texas he engaged in farming for a 
time, and later was employed for three years 
at the lumber business at Waco, after which 
he came to his present location. 

In November, 1893, in Bosque county, 
Mr. Paulson led to the marriage altar Miss 
Augusta Holverson, a native of Texas. 
They are both good, sincere Christian people, 
consistent members of the Lutheran church, 
and the hospitality of their home is always 
extended to their numerous friends, who 
have been attracted to them by their genial- 
ity and kindness. 

At the present writing, Mr. Paulson is 
one of the board of aldermen and also city 
treasurer. He may be properly classed 
among the self-made men of the county, 
who by the exercise of their own industry 
and perseverance have not only gained for 
themselves a home and competence, but 



have materially assisted in the progress and 
development of the country around them. 
He owns city business and also residence 
property, including the stone building in 
which the Farmers & Merchants' Bank is 
located and five tenement houses. His out- 
side property consists of a three-hundred- 
and-twenty-acre farm, situated seven miles 
southeast of Clifton, one hundred and fifty 
acres of this tract being under cultivation, 
and the balance, which is used for grazing 
purposes, is under fence. He conducts his 
own farm, although he resides in the city, 
and upon the place produces quantities of 
fruit, — peaches and plums; but the former 
predominates. 



EON. JOSEPH K. HELTON was 
born during the presidency of 
James Monroe, the fourth successor 
to Washington, and has lived 
through the terms of the last twenty presi- 
dents. He stands to-day an eminent lawyer, 
'jurist and statesman at the ripe old age of 
seventy-eight years, having passed his three- 
score years and ten, one of the few surviv- 
ing links of our earlier with our present 
state's history, and enjoys the honor, esteem 
and confidence of his fellow countrymen. 

The birth of Judge Helton occurred in 
White county, Tennessee, on the 12th of 
August, 18 17, and he was the elder of two 
children by the second marriage of Edward 
Helton, his mother before marriage bearing 
the name of Elizabeth Knowles. Both 
parents were natives of Virginia and mem- 
bers of prominent old colonial families. Our 
subject was reared to farm life, and received 
his early education in the state of his nativ- 
ity, where he resided until nineteen years of 
age, at that time going to Cofteeville, Mis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



sissippi, which continued to be his home for 
eight years. 

In 1842 the Judge emigrated to Texas, 
locating near Marshall, where he engaged in 
farming until 1853, when he came to what 
was then McLennan county, but is now 
Bosque county. To agricultural pursuits he 
here turned his attention, but was also en- 
gaged in reading law until 1857, at which 
time he was admitted to the bar. He was 
elected chief justice of Bosque county in 
1 86 1, but was removed from office five years 
later owing to his political views. Later he 
was appointed county judge and was again 
removed in 1867. In that year he was dis- 
franchised, and on being restored to citizen- 
ship in 1873 was elected presiding justice of 
the county. For two years he also served 
as a member of the state legislature, and 
continued to hold the judgeship up to 1880, 
since which time he has been actively en- 
gaged in professional practice. As a side 
issue the Judge is also engaged in farming 
and stock-raising, owning a fine farm of two 
hundred and forty acres located two and a 
half miles west of Meridian. He also has 
some city property, including a comfortable 
residence. 

On the 25th of July, 1839, at Cof^ee- 
ville, Mississippi, Judge Helton was joined in 
marriage with Miss Lucinda Mabray, a na- 
tive of Alabama, who died January 2, iSSo. 
To them were born eight children, six now 
living, namely: James E. ; Jasper N. ; Cyn- 
thia E. , now Mrs. McSpadden, of Bosque 
county; John K. ; and Isabella J., and Joseph 
M., at home. David M. died while serving 
in the Confederate army in the fall of 1863, 
and Ann J. died in April, 1872, at the age 
of fourteen years. 

Politically. Judge Helton was first an old- 
line Whig, but since that party went out of 



existence he has been prominently and act- 
ively identified in the ranks of the Democ- 
racy, and to-day is a stanch supporter of the 
Cleveland administration. Socially he af- 
filiates with the Masonic fraternity, and has 
passed all the official chairs of the blue 
lodge. He is a consistent member of the 
Baptist church, and has been for many years 
deacon in the same. In the practice of his 
profession he has been eminently successful, 
winning a foremost place in the bar of 
Bosque county, and as a judge his rulings 
were always wise and impartial. 



QARTIN J. OSWALD.— Among 
the leading and representative 
agriculturists of Bosque county, 
stalwart and sturdy tillers of the 
soil, there is none who stands a more promi- 
nent figure than the gentleman of whom this 
notice is written. His residence stands 
about two miles north of Clifton, and is 
known far and wide for the open hospitality 
and geniality of its inmates. 

Mr. Oswald is a native of Ohio, his 
birth occurring on the nth of February, 
1853, and is a son of George H. and Eliza- 
beth (Myers) Oswald, who were both born 
in Germany. On crossing the briny deep to 
the United States in 1845, they located in 
Ohio, where they remained until 1863, when 
with their family they removed to Madison, 
Indiana. Two years later, however, they 
w-ent to Kentucky, and in 1870 became resi- 
dents of Texas. 

The subject of this sketch was the fourth 
born in a family of eleven children, and has 
always followed farming as a means of live- 
lihood. His present fine farm consists of 
two hundred acres, ninety acres of this 
being under cultivation, and upon the place 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



491 



is a one-acre orchard of peach and plum 
trees. The farm is well stocked and pro- 
vided with all the necessary farm imple- 
ments, and shows the progressive and enter- 
prising spirit of the owner. 

On the 17th of September, 1872, was 
performed a wedding ceremony which united 
the destinies of Mr. Oswald and Miss Annie 
Archibald, a native of Texas and a daugh- 
ter of Thomas W. Archibald, who came to 
this state as early as 1846, and during the 
Indian raids rendered much valuable service 
to the families of the early settlers. His 
death occurred June 25, 1892. Mr. and 
Mrs. Oswald have five children living, 
namely: Katie Elizabeth, Samuel, Joseph, 
Lucretia and Robert, and they also lost a 
son and daughter. They are members in 
good standing of the Methodist church, and 
receive the highest meed of praise for their 
industry, integrity and pleasant, genial man- 
ners. Mr. Oswald takes an active interest 
in educational matters, and is a member of 
the school board. 



iHOMAS JACKSON ARENDELL, 
deceased, was numbered among 
the sturdy men who came to Texas 
to reclaim the virgin soil of the 
Lone Star state from the dominion of savage 
hordes and make it a habitable region, — the 
home of a law-abiding, prosperous people 
who have established one of the foremost 
states in the union. He possessed in a 
large degree the qualities so essential in the 
successful frontiersman, who must meet all 
kinds of dangers and difficulties in his at- 
tempts to make a pleasant abode for himself 
and family. Of a hardy nature and brave 
to a fault, Mr. Arendell was eminently fitted 
for the role which he played in the theater 



of dramatic action that formed the history 
and characterized the lives of the pioneers 
of Texas. 

Our subject was a native of Kentucky, 
born in 1 8 19. In his native state his boy- 
hood days were passed. He was married 
there, to Polly Williams, and a short time 
afterward started with his wife for Texas, 
and effected a settlement in Anderson county, 
being among the first to penetrate the wilds 
of that region. There he resided until 1854, 
which was the year of his arrival in Erath 
county. He located temporarily on the 
present site of Stephenville, building the 
first house in the town, on a lot given him 
by John M. Stephen, the founder of the 
county seat. After a brief residence there 
he bought land near by and made his home 
thereon for several years. His next home 
was on Green's creek, near Alexander, Erath 
county, where he bought land and carried 
on agricultural pursuits for seven years. On 
the expiration of that period he removed to 
the Bosque river and later purchased a farm 
near Seldon, where his son Thomas now 
lives, this place becoming his permanent 
earthly home. 

During the Indian troubles Mr. Arendell 
gallantly served in defense of the lives and 
property of the frontier settlers, and in every 
position in which he was placed he showed 
the bravery and spirit which is always a 
characteristic of the true soldier. He was 
fearless in times of danger, when it came to 
protecting his fellow men, and never stopped 
to count the cost to himself if he might 
serve others. In his labors he was indus- 
trious and energetic, and his life-work was 
crowned with success, as he accumulated a 
large and valuable property. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arendell became the par- 
ents of twelve children, but only three are 



492 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



now living, — John, who valiantly served in 
the late war, Daniel and Thomas. Six of 
the nine deceased children reached years of 
maturity: Samuel and Calvin, who were 
both in service in the late war, Lucinda, 
Nancy Jane, Alfred and David. During the 
civil war Mr. Arendell and his two sons, 
David and Thomas, did service on the 
Texas frontier, and the family is noted for 
its loyalty to the principles in which they 
believe. The father, who was honored and 
respected by all who knew him, died in 
1885, at the age of sixty-six years, and was 
buried on the old homestead. His wife de- 
parted this life in 1865, at the age of forty- 
eight, and was buried near Stephenville. 

Thomas Arendell, who is a worthy rep- 
resentative of this prominent pioneer family, 
was born in Kentucky, in 1846, and during 
his early childhood accompanied his parents 
to Texas; consequently he has been a wit- 
ness of the development of this great state 
through the most important period in its 
history. His early education was limited to 
the meager privileges afforded by the prim- 
itive schools of that day, but through his 
own efforts he has become a man of broad 
general information. His has been a pros- 
perous life. His farm now comprises seven 
hundred and ninety acres of land, of which 
two hundred acres is under a high state of 
cultivation. His buildings are commodious 
and comfortable, and his well improved 
place indicates the taste and enterprise of 
the owner, who is accounted one of the lead- 
ing farmers of Erath county. 

Mr. Arendell was married in 1875 to 
Miss Cleone California Voter, and they now 
have an interesting family of five children, — 
Debby L. , Amanda Lee, John E., Samuel 
M., and Ginnie B. The family is widely 
and favorably knosvn in this locality, and 



Mr. Arendell and his estimable wife have 
many friends. In politics he is an unswerv- 
ing adherent of the Democratic party, which 
he has supported since attaining his majority. 



>Y*A^1ES MONROE WELLS.— Indus- 
H try in useful pursuits, truly and vig- 
A 1 orously applied, never fails of suc- 
cess: it carries a man onward and 
upward, brings out his individual character, 
and powerfully stimulates the action of oth- 
ers. The greatest results in life are usually 
attained by simple means and the exercise 
of the ordinary qualities of common sense 
and perseverance. The every-day life, with 
its cares, necessities and duties, affords 
ample opportunity for acquiring experience 
of the best kind, and its well-beaten paths 
provide the true worker with abundant 
scope for effort and room for self-improve- 
ment, and ultimate advancement to posi- 
tions of high trust and responsibility. 

It is now our purpose to take briefly 
under review the life history of James M. 
Wells, whose career, unmarked by events 
of thrilling interest, yet contains many ex- 
amples worthy of emulation, for it is the 
career of one who has ever made the most 
of his opportunities, and by an upright, 
honorable life has gained the high esteem of 
all who know him. 

Mr. Wells was born in Murray county, 
in middle Tennessee, on the 26th of April, 
1832, and is a son of Thomas and Mary 
(Davis) Wells. The father was a native of 
Virginia, and a son of David Wells, who 
also was born in the Old Dominion and 
became one of the pioneer settlers of Ten- 
nessee. The latter was a daughter of John 
Davis, and a native of North Carolina, 
whence the family removed to the Big Bend 



HISTORY OF TEXAS, 



493 



state in the early days of its history. The 
father of our subject was killed in a cyclone 
on the 7th of May, 1832, when his son was 
only eleven days old. The latter was one 
of three children, and is now the only sur- 
vivor of the family. He was tenderly and 
carefully reared by his mother, and when 
he had attained a sufficient age he provided 
for her support and furnished her with a com- 
fortable home, thus repaying her for what 
she had done for him in early childhood. 
They were never separated except for twen- 
ty-one days until the mother's death, which 
occurred at the advanced age of eighty-two 
years. 

On the 1 6th of September, 1852, Mr. 
Wells was united in marriage to Miss Louisa 
Bowlen, a native of Giles county, Tennes- 
see, and a daughter of Yearley and Lucy 
(Saunders) Bowlen, the former a native of 
Virginia and the latter of North Carolina. 
They were among the pioneers of Giles 
county, Tennessee, and thither our subject 
went when a young man of eighteen years. 
He followed farming until his emigration to 
Texas, in 1874, at which time he became a 
resident of Eastland county. He lived there 
only a year, however, and in 1875 came to 
Erath county, where he purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of unimproved land on 
the South Bosque. Here he built a cabin 
and with characteristic energy began the 
work of clearing and developing a farm. 
Alter two years he bought six hundred and 
forty acres of wild land where his present 
home is located, and to-day he owns more 
than seven hundred acres, with one hundred 
and fifty acres under a high state of cultiva- 
tion and yielding to the owner a good re- 
turn for the care and labor he bestows upon 
it. For several years he has also extensive- 
ly engaged in stock-raising and has found I 



this a profitable source of income. Energy, 
enterprise and perseverance have been the 
important factors in his success and have 
given him a place among the substantial 
citizens of Erath county. 

Mr. Wells gives his political support to 
the Democracy, but has neither time nor 
inclination for public office preferring to de- 
vote all his energy to his business pursuits. 
In his social relations he is a Mason, belong- 
ing to Burlin Lodge. He was also a mem- 
ber of the Grange while in Tennessee, and 
he and his wife hold membership in the 
Missionary Baptist church. 

The family of this worthy couple num- 
bers ten children, as follows: Lucy, the 
widow of Joseph Allen, of Erath county; 
Adelia, who died at the age of three years; 
Andrew Jackson, of Erath county; John W. , 
who also lives in the same locality; Mary P., 
wife of Elijah Carneal; Alice, wife of Rev. 
John Wallace, a Methodist minister of Erath 
county; Thomas J., a physician of Gaines- 
ville, Texas; Sarah E., wife of James Sim- 
ers; Felix W., who makes his home in Erath 
county; and Lelia, wife of Rev. J. H. Ellis, 
a Baptist minister. 



BREDERICK MOSS CLEVE- 
LAND. — Among the sturdy, en- 
ergetic and successful farmers of 
Hood county who thoroughly un- 
derstand the vocation which they follow, 
and are consequently enabled to carry on 
their calling with profit to themselves, is 
the subject of this sketch, a native of South 
Carolina, born in Pickens county, August 
13, 1830. He is descended from good old 
Revolutionary stock. His parents, Osborn 
and Jane (Moss) Cleveland, were also born 
in Pickens county. 



494 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Our subject was reared to manhood upon 
his father's farm, early becoming famihar 
with the duties that fall to the lot of the 
agriculturist, and obtaining his education in 
subscription schools of the neighborhood. 
He remained at home until twenty-five 
years of age, when, in March, 1856, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Nancy Marie 
Isbell, and they began their domestic life 
upon a farm which he continued to operate 
until the breaking out of the late civil war. 

In 1862 Mr. Cleveland enlisted in Com- 
pany K, Twenty-second South Carolina 
Volunteer Infantry, and served until hostil- 
ities had ceased, participating in a number of 
important engagements. At the battle of 
Petersburg, where twenty-three of his com- 
pany were killed, he was injured and ren- 
dered unconscious for many hours, from 
the effects of which injury he has never ful- 
ly recovered. 

On returning to his home in South Caro- 
lina, Mr. Cleveland resumed farming and 
remained there until 1870, when he came 
to Texas, locating in Hood county. The 
first year he lived on the Paluxy and the 
following year he planted a crop on Ruck- 
er's creek, but since the loth of January, 
1873, he has made his home upon his pres- 
ent farm. At that time it comprised only 
eighty acres, but as his financial resources 
have increased he has extended its bounda- 
ries until they now contain four hundred 
acres, one hundred of which have been 
placed under a high state of cultivation, and 
he now rents his land. 

By his first marriage Mr. Cleveland had 
six children, but one died in early child- 
hood; and Mamie, who grew to womanhood 
and married Mr. Green, and died in 1889. 
Those living are Warren Wilson, a farmer 
of Hood county; John F., a merchant of 



Acton; Samuel, who has been in the mining 
states for several years, and Wade Hamp- 
ton, at home. The mother of these chil- 
dren was called to her final rest in 1883. 
On the 1st of January, 1895, Mr. Cleve- 
land was again married, his second union 
being with Mrs. Gregory. 

Our subject is now retired from active 
business, having accumulated a sufficiency 
of this world's goods to enable him to pass 
his remaining years in ease, surrounded 
with the comforts of life, and enjoying the 
respect and confidence of his fellow men in 
the highest degree. He is a true-hearted 
man, an earnest believer in the doctrines of 
Christianity, and a member of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church, while his wife is a 
faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south. 



^VOHN SULLIVAN.— Emigration, as 
J it has swept along from the first set- 
A 1 tlements on the Atlantic to the broad 
prairies of the west and on to the 
Pacific coast, has had no more important 
factor than is found in the Irishman. His 
honesty, his earnest industry, and his jovial 
nature and ready wit have made him wel- 
come wherever he has sought a home, and 
he fills a large niche in this great American 
commonwealth. In the subject of this 
sketch, John Sullivan, a contractor and 
builder of Comanche, Texas, is found a gen- 
tleman of Irish parentage, and one in whom 
is seen strongly marked many of the sterling 
characteristics which distinguish the race 
from which he sprang. 

Mr. Sullivan was born in Buffalo, New 
York, June 24, 1S46. His father, Michael 
Sullivan, was a native of county Cork, Ire- 
land, who in 1 84 1 left the Emerald Isle and 



HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 



495 



crossed the Atlantic to Canada, from there 
coming over" into the States and making 
settlement at Buffalo, New York. He was 
a laboring man, poor but honest and indus- 
trious, and in this land of the free he was 
enabled to procure for his family the neces- 
saries and many of the comforts of life. On 
his emigration to America he was accom- 
panied by his wife and children. She, too, 
was a native of county Cork, and possessed 
many of those estimable qualities which are 
found combined in the devoted wife and 
loving mother. John was the fourth born 
in their family of six children. When he 
was a small boy the family moved to Massa- 
chusetts, where he was reared. 

At the age of nine years the subject of 
our sketch was put to work attending a mule 
spinner in a large cotton factory in Massa- 
chusetts, where he was employed for sev- 
eral years, thus from an early age earning 
his own support. He was in this factory 
and was fifteen years old at the time the 
civil war broke out. But, notwithstanding 
his youth, he was large, strong and robust, 
and when he tendered his services to the 
Union was accepted and became a member 
of Company D, Fifth New York Cavalry, 
a regiment noted for its robust-looking men 
and their bravery and daring acts. His 
service extended from his enlistment, Sep- 
tember 5, 1861, to July 19, 1865, when he 
was honorably discharged, and throughout 
his four years of army life, while he was a 
participant in numerous skirmishes and 
hotly-contested engagements, he fortunately 
escaped both capture and wounds. Among 
the actions in which he took part were those 
of Antietam, the Wilderness and Gettys- 
burg. At the last named engagement he 
was under command of General Custer. 
He was under General Wilson in the Wil- 



derness campaign, and he also served under 
General Kilpatrick. 

At the close of the war we find young 
Sullivan not yet out of his 'teens, a veteran 
and a victor, and with an experience that 
made him appear much older than he was. 
Returning to Massachusetts, he resumed 
work in the cotton factory and remained 
there two years. In 1867, seized with a 
spirit of emigration, he made his way west- 
ward to Kansas, and there secured employ- 
ment as a teamster, driving government 
teams and freighting over the plains. In 
this way he was occupied for two years. 
Next he turned his attention to learning a 
trade, that of stonemason and bricklayer, 
which he thoroughly mastered, and also for 
a time he worked in a mill at Emporia, 
Kansas. Still later we find him engaged as 
a cattle driver in Colorado. In 1875 he 
came to Texas and settled on a farm in 
Comanche county, near the town of Co- 
manche, where he still lives, here having 
sixty-five acres of land, twenty-five of which 
are under cultivation, two acres being util- 
ized for orchard purposes. And here he 
has a comfortable residence, and he and his 
family are pleasantly situated. For a num- 
ber of years he has carried on contracting 
and building, doing all kinds of stone and 
brick work, and in this, as in whatever else 
he has undertaken, his efTorts have been 
attended with success. 

Since coming to Texas Mr. Sullivan has 
in many ways been identified with the in- 
terests of the community in which he has 
lived. He has served as constable, deputy 
sheriff, jailer and city marshal in Comanche, 
and in all these responsible positions he has 
acquitted himself creditably. He is a mem- 
ber of the McKinley Club of this place, is 
one of its most active workers, and is hon- 



496 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ored with the position of vice president in 
the same. Also he is a member of the G. 
A. R., having membership in the Dublin 
Post, No. 55, in which he has served offi- 
ciall}-. 

Mr. Sullivan was married June 22, 1878, 
to Miss Catharine A. McAfee, a native of 
St. Louis, Missouri, a refined and cultured 
lady and a member of a highly respected 
family. Their happy union has been blessed 
in the birth of si.x children, five of whom 
are living, namely: Michael B., George, 
Walter, Mortimer and Kate Inez. Their 
daughter Margaret died at the age of three 
years. 



>j*OHN ASBURY POE, whose pleasant 
m rural home and fine farm is located 
A 1 seven miles southeast of Granbury, 
Hood county, Texas, is a gentleman 
whose high standing in the community en- 
titles him to a place in this biographical 
record. He was born in Alabama, August 
19, 1840, eldest son, and second in order of 
birth, in the family of William and Elizabeth 
(Stuart) Poe, who are referred to elsewhere 
in this work in the sketch of William C. Poe, 
a brother of John A. 

John A. Poe accompanied his parents to 
Texas in 1848, spent two years at their first 
point of settlement in Rusk county, seven 
years in Wood county, and from the latter 
place removed to San Saba county. While 
they were en route to San Saba county the 
father died. The rest of the family contin- 
ued the journey and located there as they 
had intended, John A. at that time being 
seventeen years of age. His early advan- 
tages for obtaining an education were indeed 
meager, owing to the fact that his boyhood 
was passed in thinly settled communities, 



all his schooling covering only a few months. 
Through his own efforts, however, in later 
life he has broadened his knowledge, ac- 
complishing this by home reading and by 
close observation and contact with the 
world. He remained at home until 1862, 
when he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Texas 
Cavalry for service in the Confederate army. 
He remained with the Confederate ranks 
until the close of the war and was with 
Johnston's command when that general sur- 
rendered, in April, 1S65. During this serv- 
ice he was wounded five times, twice in the 
engagement at New Hope Church. He took 
part in all the battles of his command, re- 
maining constantly with it, with the excep- 
tion of about one hundred days when he 
was laid up in hospital on account of his 
wounds. 

Accepting with the best grace possible 
the results of the war, young Poe left the 
ranks and shortly after returned to his home 
in San Saba county, Texas, arriving here in 
November, 1865, and resuming the stock 
business in which the family were engaged. 
In the spring of 1867 they disposed of their 
interests there on account of the hostility 
the Indians had exhibited for some time, 
and came to Hood county. Here the sub- 
ject of our sketch farmed from 1867 until 
1873. In 1873 he went to Alabama and 
turned his attention to work at the carpen- 
ter's trade, at which when a boy he had 
worked some under his father's instructions. 
He remained in Alabama seventeen years, 
twelve of which he spent in work at his 
trade, the other five being given to agricult- 
ural pursuits. Then in 1S91 he returned to 
Texas. For two years he farmed rented 
land here and at the end of that time pur- 
chased his present property, three hundred 
acres, situated seven miles southeast of the 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



497 



town of Granbury, where he has since re- 
sided and carried on farming and stock- 
raising. 

In whatever community it has been his 
lot to abide, Mr. Poe has always shown 
himself interested in its welfare and willing 
to do his part toward promoting the public 
good. X^Vhile in Alabama he was a justice 
of the peace for nearly eight years, and four 
years was tax assessor of Cherokee county. 
Politically, he harmonizes with the Demo- 
cratic party, and at this writing is chairman 
of the Democratic county convention. Be- 
ing deprived of educational advantages in 
his youth and having to educate himself, he 
is and has been for some time deeply inter- 
ested in having good schools in his commun- 
ity. Mr. Poe maintains a fraternal relation 
with the Masonic order. He was made a 
Mason in Acton Lodge in 1869; while in 
Alabama was a member of Lozzathcie 
Lodge, No. 97, in which he filled most of the 
chairs; and now has a membership in Gran- 
bury Lodge, No. 392, A. F. & A. M. 

May 17, 1865, was consummated Mr. 
Poe's marriage to Miss Sarah M. Stewart, 
a native of Cherokee county, Alabama, and 
of Irish descent. They have si.\ children 
living, viz. : Allie, Davis, Gertrude, Octava, 
Robert and Thomas. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Poe are members of the Methodist church, 
south. 



^9^1* L. ELAM is now living retired at his 
m pleasant home in Cresson, — after an 
A 1 industrious and well spent life, now 
enjoying the fruits of his former 
labors. A native of McNairy county, Ten- 
nessee, he was born February 20, 1826, a 
son of Andrew and Polly (Laughlin) Elam, 



who were farming people of middle Tennes- 
see. On the old family homestead our sub- 
ject was reared to manhood, aiding in the 
labors of the fields and becoming familiar 
with all the duties that fall to the lot of the 
agriculturist. 

Mr. Elam spent the days of his boyhood 
and youth with his parents and continued at 
their home until his marriage, which was 
celebrated on the 24th of December, 1844, 
Miss Mary Jane Williams, also a native 
of Tennessee, becoming his wife. For a 
year after his marriage our subject worked 
on his father's farm and then purchased a 
tract of land, which he continued to culti- 
vate until his removal to the Lone Star 
state. This occurred in 1855. He made the 
journey with a mule team and wagon and 
after a month of travel took up his abode in 
Fannin county, where he resided for a year. 
He was a resident of Johnson county until 
1889, and then moved to Hood county. In 
1856 it was, however, a part of Johnson 
county. He pre-empted a tract of land on 
Staten branch, which he cleared and im- 
proved, making it a highly cultivated tract. 
He carried on farming and stock-raising un- 
til 1889, and became the owner of three 
hundred and fifty-four acres. His business 
was well conducted, and his enterprise, 
energy, good management and perseverance 
brought to him a handsome competence, 
which now enables him to lay aside the 
heavier cares of his earlier manhood and 
rest in the enjoyment of the fruits of his 
former toil. 

Mr. Elam's labors were interrupted by 
his service on the frontier during the civil 
war, but with the exception of that period 
he continued his work without cessation un- 
til 1889, when he removed to Cresson, 
I where he has since lived retired. It is the 



4:s 



HIS TOR r or TEXAS 



fitting cro\va of a well spent life and his 
success is justly merited. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elam have one child. 
Mahala Jane, now the wife of Jefferson 
Merrifield, of Stephens count}-. Texas. Mrs. 
Elam is a consistent member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal chnxch and an estimable 
lady whose many excellent qualities have 
gained her a laige circle of friends. Mr. 
Elam belongs to the Masonic fraternity. 
ba>-ing been made a Mason in Acton. Texas, 
in 1S69. These worthy people have trav- 
eled life's journey leather as man and wife 
for fifty-one years, their mutual love and 
confidence increasing as the \-ears have 
passed by. bringing with them the joys and 
sorrows, the adversity and prosperity, which 
checker the lives of all. In a pleasant home 
in Creson they are now spending their da}^ 
among many friends who have for them the 
hisrhest esteem. 



HNDREW MILLER, a weU known 
and highly respected agriculturist, 
whose fine farm hes partly within 
Comanche and partly within Ham- 
ilton counties, was bom on the 1 1 th of 
September, 1827, in Monroe county. West 
Virginia, and is a son of James and Ann 
(Mills) Miller. He remained in his native 
countj- until Februar}. 1S53. when he 
became a pioneer of Bell count}-. Texas. 
At the end of three years he sold the farm 
which he had purchased there, and in Octo- 
ber, 1S56, located in Comanche count}' on 
one hundred and sixty acres which he bad 
pre-empted. He later lived in different 
parts of the county, but at the time of the 
breaking out of the civil war removed to his 
pr^ent place, which comprises four hundred 
and forty acres. He began dealing in stock 



there, and now with his son has about four- 
teen hundred head of sheep. During the 
war he served in a ranger company, engaged 
in scouting dut}- for ten da}-s at a time. 

In 1 86 1. Mr. Miller married Miss Han- 
nah Mai^raret Shockley. and to them were 
bom seven children: Cjmthia Aim, who first 
wedded S. F. Tiebout, and after his death 
H. P. Kellogg, now U\-ing at Franklin, 
Robertson county. Texas; Martha Isabella, 
wife of W. W. Lrach. of Hamilton; James 
Robert, who married Minnie Stein; Alice 
Jane, wife of Thomas Niblack. who is h\-ing 
upon the farm with our subject: and Mc- 
E>onald. Margaret and Hemy- Franklin, all 
at home. 

Mr. Miller is a member of the Presb}"te- 
rian church, and politically is a Democrat. 
He is a resident of Comanche count}-, but 
his farm lies lai^y in Hamilton county, 
and his interests call him more frequently to 
Hamilton than to Comanche. As will be 
seen by the above he is one of the old set- 
tlers of Texas, and during the early days 
fearlessly took part in the Indian warfare 
along the frontier. He is one of the leading 
farmers of central Texas, and an upright, 
honorable citizen. 



(r>^ A. 



WOOD, of Hood county, is a 
litive son of Georgia, his birth 
ha\-ing occurred in Hall county on 
the nth of August. 1S42. In 
colonial days the Wood family was es- 
tablished in South Carolina, and there the 
father of our subject, Lorenzo Dow Wood, 
was bom and reared. He became a farmer 
and followed that pursuit throughout his 
entire life. When he had arrived at years 
of maturity he married Miss Louisa Ray 
McCleskey, a native of Geoi^a. Our sub- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



499 



ject was their third son and seventh child. 
When he was a lad of ten years his parents 
removed from Georgia to Alabama, locating 
in what was then Marshall county, but is now 
Etowah county. 

Upon a farm in that locality T. A. Wood 
lived and labored in his early days, remain- 
ing with his parents until the spring of 
1 86 1, when he felt that duty called him for 
service in the southern army and he was not 
slow to respond to that call. Accordingly 
he joined theTwenty-eighth Regiment of Ala- 
bama volunteers, and was assigned to Cap- 
tainTerpin's company. His service called him 
to Corinth, Mississippi, where he remained 
for about seven months, when he returned 
home on a furlough. During his visit he 
succeeded in organizing a cavalry company, 
was chosen lieutenant and was transferred 
from the infantry to the cavalry service and 
attached to the Fourth Alabama Cavalry. 
He participated in the battle of Murfrees- 
boro and was then on detached duty as a 
conscript officer and under General Pillow at 
Huntsville, Alabama, until the close of the 
war. 

Returning to the pursuits of civil life Mr. 
Wood carried on farming in Etowah county 
until 1 87 1, — the year of his arrival in Texas, 
at which time he purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres of wild timber land. This 
he has cleared and improved, making it a 
very productive tract; and as his financial 
resources have increased he has added to his 
property until his landed possessions now 
aggregate five hundred acres. His principal 
crops are cotton, corn and potatoes. In 
addition he is also engaged in stock-raising 
to some extent, making a specialty of the 
breeding of Clydesdale horses. He is a 
self-made man who has accumulated a com- 
fortable property through his own labors. 



Socially he is connected with Paluxy 
Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., and in polit- 
ical views he is independent. 

During the war Mr. Wood was united in 
marriage with Miss Mary Emma Bayne, a 
native of Virginia, but living in Blount 
county, Alabama, at the time of her mar- 
riage. Her parents were James and Eliza- 
beth (Moore) Bayne. Three children were 
born of this union: Willie, wife of L. A. 
Tidwell, of Hood county; Robert Irving, 
who died on the eighteenth anniversary of 
his birth; and James Austin, of Hood county. 
The mother was called to the home beyond 
in 1 874, and for his second wife Mr. Wood 
chose Miss Sarah Ann Burton, a native of 
Illinois. During her girlhood days she 
came with her parents to Erath county, and 
by their death was soon left an orphan. 
Four children grace this marriage, — Jessie 
Lora, Conda Cleveland, Joel Tralor and 
Thomas Sylvester. The parents are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south. 



>^AMES LOVE HOWELL.— For over 
■ two decades a resident of Erath 
A I county, Texas, and more than half 
that time identified with the mercan- 
tile establishment in Dublin of which he is 
the head, James Love Howell is entitled to 
special consideration on these pages, and to 
his life history the biographer now directs 
attention. 

Mr. Howell is of Alabama birth, and 
first saw the light of day in Randolph (now 
Cleburne) county, October 5, 1843, his 
parents being Evan Sparks and Narcissa 
Virginia (Kennedy) Howell. Tracing his 
ancestry along the agnatic line back through 
Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Vir- 



500 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ginia and across the Atlantic, we find that 
in Wales many generations ago the Howells 
lived and flourished. It was in Wales that 
John Howell, the great-great-grandfather of 
our subject, was born. On emigrating to 
this country he made settlement on the 
James river in Virginia, and there reared his 
family. One of his sons, Great-grandfather 
Howell, moved from the Old Dominion to 
North Carolina, and in that state Eli Howell, 
the grandfather of James L. , was born. 
Eli Howell moved to Georgia and thence to 
Alabama. He and his wife, whose maiden 
name was Miss Nancy Love, were the par- 
ents of the following named children: Love, 
Polly, Sally, Caroline, Jonah, Pickens, 
Nancy, Eleanor, Jane, Columbus and Evan 
Sparks. Evan Sparks Howell and his wife 
had children as follows: James Love, 
Nancy Eleanor, Mariam Jane, Virginia 
Emeline, Rhoda Ann, Serena, Wadsworth 
Clardy, Eli Kennedy, Archibald Artemas 
and William Grogin. 

At the time the civil war was inaugurated 
we find the Howell family living quietly at 
their home in Alabama, — the father in the 
prime of life and the eldest child, our sub- 
ject, on the verge of young manhood. To 
the call to arms both responded and entered 
the Confederate ranks. At the battle of 
Big Black, Mississippi, in 1863, the father 
received a fatal ball, he being about forty- 
six years of age at the time he was killed. 
The mother lived to the age of sixty-seven 
years, her death occurring in November, 
1890. 

It was July 19, 1 86 1, that James L. 
Howell enlisted, and as a member of Com- 
pany D, Thirteenth Alabama Infantry, that 
he went to the front. Among the engage- 
ments in which he participated were York- 
town, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, seven 



days around Richmond, South Mountain, 
Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and 
the Wilderness. On the third day of the 
battle of Gettysburg he received a wound, 
the ball passing across his spine and into his 
hip, and in the battle of the Wilderness, 
May 6, 1864, he was taken prisoner by the 
Union forces and sent to Point Lookout, 
Maryland, and later to Elmira, New York, 
where he remained until the close of the 
war, returning home July 4, 1865. He had 
gone out as a private and he returned with 
the rank of sergeant. 

At the close of the war Mr. Howell en- 
gaged in farming at his old home, and was 
thus occupied there until the fall of 1872. 
On the tenth of December that year he left 
his native state and came to Texas, first set- 
tling on the Brazos river in McLennan county 
and farming there one year. Next he came 
to Erath county. On Green's creek in this 
county he purchased one hundred acres of 
land, settled on it, and continued in agricul- 
tural pursuits until the fall of 1882, when he 
moved into Dublin. About that time he 
was elected justice of the peace. This office 
he filled two years, and at the same time 
was in the employ of F. C. Oldham. Then 
returning to the farm, he maintained his 
residence on it eight years longer, after 
which he again moved to Dublin, coming 
this time to take a position as salesman for 
the Dublin Co-operative Association of Pat- 
rons of Husbandry. This association had 
been organized in October, 1883, to do a 
general mercantile business, and with J. P. 
Herndon as its first president. In January, 
1887, Mr. Howell was elected president of 
the company, has since retained the office, 
and has full charge of the business, which, 
under his efficient directions, is in a flourish- 
ing condition. At the same time Mr. How- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



501 



ell personally superintends his farming oper- 
ations. He now has land to the amount of 
two hundred and six acres. 

January 13, 1867, was consummated his 
marriage to Miss Matilda Jane Leverett, 
daughter of Abram and Emily (Dozier) 
Leverett, who was born March 3, 1845. 
Their children are: Orpha lantha, who was 
born July 5, 1868, and who is now the wife 
of Cornelius S. Watson, a farmer of this 
county, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wat- 
son being Mattie, Matilda, Hugh, John (de- 
ceased) and Lena; Evan Sparks, born De- 
cember 5, 1 87 1, married Miss Flora Tolar, 
and is engaged in farming in this county, 
their family comprising four children, — Her- 
schel, Winnie Davis, Annie, and an infant 
son; and Abram Gideon, born December 26, 
1873, is also a farmer of this county, and 
he and his wife, ncc Callie Carr, have one 
child, George Love. 

Mr. Howell has always been firmly ar- 
rayed in the support of the Democratic 
party and its principles, and has been an 
active worker in the local organization of 
the same. He served as county commis- 
sioner four years, and, as above stated, was 
for two years a justice of the peace. In 
1866 he united with the Baptist church, and 
during the thirty years that have intervened 
has lived a consistent Christian life. His 
business success has been achieved through 
his own well-directed efforts and careful 
management, and is therefore justly merited. 



m. 



'ILLIAM ROBERSON YOUNG, 

for several years a resident of 
Dublin, Texas, and well known 
here as a prosperous merchant, 
was born in Barber county, Alabama, De- 



cember 20, 1 85 1, a son of James Bunberry 
and Cynthia (Sutton) Young. 

James B. Young was of North Carolina 
birth, removed from that state to Alabama 
when a youth of eighteen, and there married 
and passed the rest of his days, dying in the 
prime of life at the age of forty-five. His 
children by his first wife are as follows: 
Sarah Maria, Frances Ellen, Daniel Con- 
stantine, Mary Rebecca, James Hardy, 
William Roberson and Henry Washington. 
For his second wife he wedded Emily James, 
who bore him one daughter, Alice. All are 
deceased except James H., Frances E. and 
our subject. 

William R. Young was deprived of a 
mother's loving care at the tender age of 
four years, and he was only nine years of 
age at the time his father died. Thus early 
left an orphan, he was reared by his grand- 
mother Sutton, with whom he lived until 
her death, in 1869. He continued to reside 
in Alabama until the fall of 1872, engaged 
in farming his own and rented land, and 
from there came to Texas. The following 
year he spent in San Augustine county, then 
returned to Alabama, where he remained 
until the fall of 1876, and at that time he 
came again to the Lone Star state. For 
one year he farmed in Nolan county. In 
the winter of 1877 he came to Erath county 
and located on the divide between the 
waters of Green and Alarm creeks, where 
he purchased of Hattie James two hundred 
acres of land. Here he made his home for 
seven years. Later he disposed of this 
tract, and February i, 1885, came to Dub- 
lin, where he has since maintained his resi- 
dence. He still has an interest in farming 
lands, he and his brother James H. owning 
a ranch of four hundred acres. 

Mr. Young was one of the organizers of 



502 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the Dublin Mercantile Company, and while 
still on the farm served one year as a di- 
rector of the same. On his removal to 
town he became general manager of the 
store, which position he now occupies, and 
where he has gained a wide acquaintance 
and made friends without number. 

Mr. Young is Democratic in his political 
affiliations, maintains a membership in the 
Dublin Masonic Lodge, and worships at the 
Baptist church, of which denomination he 
has been a member for the past twenty- 
three years. 



IHOMAS JEFFERSON HUB- 
BERT, M. D., who is successfully 
engaged in the practice of medi- 
cine in Hico, Texas, and is ac- 
counted one of the most able physicians in 
this section of the state, comes of a family 
of English origin, that was early founded in 
America. His grandfather, Matthew Hub- 
bert, a native of Virginia, removed to Ten- 
nessee and thence to Missouri. His chil- 
dren were Anderson, Jehu, William, Mat- 
thew, Mrs. Polly McCary, Mrs. Betsey 
Fergus, Mrs. Jane Rowden and Mrs. Dur- 
ham. William Hubbert, the Doctor's fa- 
ther, was born in Tennessee and at the age 
of twenty years went to Missouri, where he 
was married five years later to Nancy Ann 
Lee, daughter of Miller Lee, who removed 
from the Big Bend state to Missouri and 
reared a family of thirteen children. Mr. 
Hubbert was a farmer and a cabinet-maker, 
and was elected county and circuit clerk of 
Barry county, Missouri, filling the office for 
about twenty years or until after the begin- 
ning of the civil war. He enlisted in the 
Confederate service in 1862, serving as 



quartermaster under Joe Shelby until the 
close of the war, when he returned to Barry 
county and there engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits for five years. On the expiration of 
that period he removed to Berryville, Arkan- 
sas, where he conducted a hotel until his 
death, which occurred in 1895, when he 
had reached the age of seventy-three years. 
His wife died in 1880, at the age of forty 
years. Their children were as follows: 
George Washington, a prominent criminal 
lawyer of Neosho, Missouri; Thomas Jeffer- 
son; James Monroe, who for several years 
has been president of the Lebanon Presby- 
terian College of Lebanon, Tennessee, was 
in early life a student in that school, later 
was graduated from a school in New York 
city and subsequently continued his studies 
in London. He is a man of ripe scholar- 
ship and broad general information. Amy 
Ann, the sister of James Monroe, is the wife 
of John B. Gill, a merchant of Roswell, 
New Mexico. Darius Lafayette, the young- 
est of the family, is a lawyer by profession, 
but is now engaged in business as a railroad 
bridge inspector. 

Dr. Hubbert, of this review, was born 
in Barry county, Missouri, April 20, 1847. 
He began the study of medicine when nine- 
teen years of age under Dr. E. P. Hansard, 
of Pierce City, Missouri, and when he had 
become quite proficient in his work was 
taken into partnership by his preceptor. In 
1872 he removed to Elm Springs, Arkansas, 
where he engaged in the prosecution of his 
chosen profession until, wishing to further 
perfect himself in his work, he entered the 
St. Louis Medical College, where he obtained 
his degree in 1877. After his graduation 
he returned to Missouri, spending a year in 
his native state, and then again went to Elm 
Springs. His residence in Texas dates from 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



503 



September, 1884, when he went to Iredell, 
establishing an office which he maintained 
for five years, also carrying on a drug store 
at that point. In February, 1889, he came 
to Hico, where he has since made his home. 
He has built up a large and lucrative prac- 
tice, his ability being attested by the excel- 
lent success which follows his labors. He 
is also a prosperous druggist of the city and 
in 1892 erected the stone building in which 
he is now doing business. He also built a 
comfortable residence which was destroyed 
by fire about three years and a half ago, 
and in 1895 he erected his present home, 
one of the finest in the entire county. 

The lady who bears the name of Mrs. 
Hubbert was in her maidenhood Miss Ella 
Lee, daughter of John and Sarah (Perkins) 
Lee. Their marriage has been blessed with 
five children, namely: Delia Octa, Annie 
Etta, William Ernest, Lillie, Minnie Lee 
and Balma Keziah. The son was born July 
14. 1874, and completed a five years' course 
in the Galveston State University Pharmacy 
by his graduation with the class of 1895. 
He is now his father's assistant in the store. 

The Doctor has been a member of the 
Masonic fraternity for twenty years, having 
been initiated into its mysteries in Berry- 
ville Lodge, F. & A. M., in Arkansas. He 
also belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge of 
Cassell, Missouri, and is a charter member 
of Hico Lodge, No. 141, K. P. In his 
political affiliations he is a Democrat, warmly 
advocating the principles of his party, and is 
well informed on the issues of the day. 
He has for twenty years been a member of 
the Baptist church and his aid and co-opera- 
tion are ever with those enterprises or move- 
ments which tend to uplift humanity and 
promote the welfare of his resident com- 
munity. 



f^^ EORGE FRANKLIN BROCK, a 
■ G\ farmer of Hood county, was born 
\^^^ in Mississippi, May 28, 1844, and 
is a son of John Hill and Eleanor 
(Lloyd) Brock, both natives of North Caro- 
lina. They were married in that state, and 
in 1843 removed to Mississippi, where they 
spent their remaining days. The father was 
a cooper and house carpenter by trade. He 
was three times married, our subject being 
a child of the second marriage. 

George F. Brock received but meager 
educational privileges, and early in life was 
thrown upon his own resources, so that 
whatever success he has achieved is due en- 
tirely to his own labors. He was one of 
the soldier boys of the late war, joining the 
army when only seventeen years of age. He 
enlisted on the 5th of September, 1861, for 
service in the Confederate ranks and was 
assigned to the Fifteenth Mississippi Infan- 
try, with which he remained until hostilities 
were over, participating in all the battles in 
which his company took part. On the 
close of the war he returned to his native 
state and in 1867 came to Texas. In March 
of that year he arrived in Galveston and for 
a short time worked on a farm in that region 
and was employed in other capacities, 
accepting any labor that offered if it would 
yield to him an honest living. In 1868 he 
went to Young county, where he was in the 
employ of different stockmen until 1870. 
In 1873 he began farming for himself in 
Ellis county, living on rented land until 
1874, when he purchased his present farm 
of one hundred and sixty acres, about ten 
miles south of Granbury. He moved upon 
this place in the autumn and immediately 
began its development. He has since car- 
ried on general farming and now has a well 
cultivated place, to the further improvement 



504 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of which he gives the greater part of his 
time and attention. 

On the 1 8th of March, 1875, Mr. Brock 
married Miss Sarah, daughter of James and 
Nancy (Howard) Rogers, both of whom are 
natives of Texas, as is Mrs. Brock, who 
was born in Erath county, in 1858. Her 
parents are now living in the Indian Terri- 
tory. They have reared a family of eight 
sons and three daughters, all of whom are 
living at this writing, Mrs. Brock being the 
eldest of the number. Our subject and his 
wife have seven living children and lost 
three in childhood. The living are Mary, 
George, John, Rosalie, Allen, Laura and 
Earl. In his political views Mr. Brock was 
formerly a Democrat, but now is independ- 
ent of any party associations. He and his 
wife are members of the Christian church, 
and their true worth and straightforward 
lives commend them to the confidence 
of all. 



•y— ^ ERBERT SPENCER DILLARD. 
|f\ — Prominent among the leading 
\ , r legal lights of the Bosque county 
bar stands this gentleman, and none 
perhaps are more worthy of honorable men- 
tion in this or any other work of the state 
than he whose name heads this sketch. He 
is at present a distinguished and capable 
attorney of Bosque county. Nature has 
endowed Mr. Dillard with some rare gifts, 
among them an intellectual ability of a high 
order, logical discrimination and compre- 
hension. He is a close reasoner and an 
impressive speaker. He has acquired for 
himself an enviable reputation at the bar, 
and his knowledge of the principles of law, 
his calm deliberations, his logical power and 



his analytical acumen have well fitted him 
for the position he now occupies. 

Mr. Dillard was born in Fayette county, 
Tennessee, on the 2d of August, 1861, and 
is a son of Henry M. Dillard, who is a 
native of Virginia and descended from one 
of the old and influential families of that 
state. The father removed from Tennessee 
to Alabama about 1865. He was in the 
Confederate service, being connected with 
the army of northern Virginia during the 
civil war. The mother of our subject, who 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth W. 
Lucas, was born in Mississippi, and her 
ancestors were early settlers of South Caro- 
lina. 

Our subject is the eldest in a family of 
five children, and acquired his education in 
the public schools of Alabama and Te.xas. 
Most of his boyhood days were passed in 
Alabama. On the removal of the family to 
Te.xas they located first near Cameron, in 
Milam county, where Mr. Dillard worked on 
a farm and began the battle of life on his 
own account at an early age. He later 
engaged in teaching school, meanwhile be- 
ginning the study of law, and as time passed 
received instruction under the guidance of 
S. H. Lumpkin, a prominent and able attor- 
ney of Meridian. He was duly admitted to 
practice in 1885, but for a time continued 
teaching. He was elected county attorney 
in 1888, and two years later was appointed 
local counselor and attorney for the Atchi- 
son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Com- 
pany in Bosque, a position which he still 
retains. 

In Bosque county, on the 15th of Octo- 
ber, 1889, occurred the marriage of Mr. 
Dillard and Miss Janie Johnson, a native of 
Missouri, and to them has been born one 
child, — Terry M. The parents are faithful 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



505 



members of the Methodist church. In his 
social relations Mr. Dillard is prominently 
identified with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, and has passed all the chairs 
in the subordinate lodge, while politically 
he is an active and progressive Democrat of 
the Jackson and Bryan school. 



at 



R. JOYCE has been a resident 
of Hood county only since Janu- 
ary, 1894, but his sterling worth 
has won him a place among the 
leading farmers and respected citizens of 
the community, and it is therefore with 
pleasure that we present the record of his 
life to our readers. 

A native of Louisiana, he was born in 
Franklin parish July 25, 1847, and is a son 
of William Henry and Eunice (Price) Joyce, 
both of whom were natives of Mississippi. 
His father was born in Hines county, that 
state, and was of Scotch-Irish descent, while 
the birth of his mother occurred near Jack- 
son. Her death occurred when her son was 
only two years old, and by the death of his 
father he was left an orphan at the age of 
twelve. He resided with his grandfather 
Price until the latter's death in i860, after 
which he made his home with his maternal 
great-uncle for two years. His youth was 
spent on a farm, and his educational priv- 
ileges were rather meager. During the 
progress of the civil war he served for si.x 
months in the state militia. 

Mr. Joyce dates his arrivalin Texas from 
1867, at which time he took up his residence 
in Tarrant county, purchasing a tract of wild 
land on Big Bear creek. He improved one 
hundred and sixty acres of that farm, and 
from time to time extended its boundaries 
by additional purchase until it comprised , 



four hundred and sixteen acres. He also 
bought a farm of three hundred and ninety- 
six acres, which he sold. He now owns 
two hundred and forty acres of land in that 
county, of which one hundred acres is under 
a high state of cultivation. He followed 
farming in Tarrant county until January, 
1894, when he came to Hood county, and 
here purchased two hundred acres of valua- 
ble land on the Paluxy creek, of which one 
hundred and fifteen acres has been trans- 
formed into rich and arable fields. He 
raises several different crops, and is also en- 
gaged in stock-raising, making a specialty 
of the breeding of high-grade horses. 

Mr. Joyce has been twice married. On 
the 14th of October, 1868, he wedded Miss 
Josephine Jeanette Witten, a native of Mis- 
souri and a daughter of C. H. and Jeanette 
Witten, who were early settlers of Texas. 
Five children graced this union: Eunice 
Jeanette, wife of William Rogers, of Fort 
Worth; John P., of Erath county; William 
Walter, George W. and M. M. The mother 
of these children died in 1883, and Mr. 
Joyce was again married October 14, 1885, 
his second union being with Miss F. S. 
Glenn, a native of Lamar county, Texas, a 
daughter of William and Nancy (Griffin) 
Glenn, the former of Kentucky, the latter of 
Arkansas. They became pioneer settlers of 
Texas. There are three children by the 
second marriage, — Pearl, Aubrey and Earl. 
Mr. Joyce is a member of the Christian 
church and his wife belongs to the Method- 
ist Episcopal church. In politics he is in- 
dependent, and has never sought or desired 
political preferment, desiring rather to give 
his entire attention to his business interests, 
in which he has met with signal success. 
Without capital or influential friends to aid 
him and dependent entirely upon his own 



500 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



resources, he has worked his way steadily 
upward from a humble position to one of 
affluence, and is to-day one of the substan- 
tial citizens of Hood county. 



>^OSEPH W. DABNEY, who devotes 
^ his energies to farming and stock- 
m 1 raising in Comanche county, is a na- 
tive of the Blue-grass state, his birth 
having occurred in Hopkinsville, December 
27, 1845. His father, Albert G. Dabney, 
was born in Virginia and went to Kentucky 
in 1827, the family joining him in that state 
two years later. He was among the promi- 
nent planters of the county in which he 
settled and an extensive slave-owner. He 
died of cholera during the epidemic which 
swept the country in 1855. His father, 
Cornelius Dabney, was also a Virginain by 
birth and was a patriot in the Revolution 
which brought to America her independence. 
The mother of our subject bore the maiden 
name of Elizabeth Scates, was a native of 
the Old Dominion and a sister of Hon. Wal- 
ter B. Scates, one of the supreme judges of 
the state of Illinois, also a sister of the Hon. 
\Vm. B. Scates, an old Texan soldier and 
signer of the Texan declaration of inde- 
pendence. Her death occurred in Ken- 
tucky in i860. The family numbered twelve 
children, six of whom are yet living, three 
brothers and three sisters. 

Joseph W. Dabney was the eleventh in 
order of birth in the family. His education 
was obtained in private schools, and his 
knowledge, supplemented by observation, 
experience and reading, has made him a 
well informed man. In 1864 he enlisted in 
the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry, and served 
with Forrest's command throughout the re- 



mainder of the war. When hostilities had 
ceased he removed to Virginia and was en- 
gaged in merchandising until 1880, when he 
came to Texas. He now resides eight miles 
southwest of the city of Comanche, in Cox 
Gap, where he has a valuable property, 
comprising five hundred and sixty acres of 
land, most all capable of cultivation. Of 
this a quarter section has been transformed 
into rich fields, and the crops raised thereon 
are equal to any in the county and indicate 
his careful supervision. He makes a spe- 
cialty of raising blooded stock and owns an 
interest in a fine imported stallion of the 
French Percheron breed. He also has a 
famous jack from Columbia county, Ten- 
nessee, and the stock upon his farm, being 
well kept and of excellent grades, show that 
the owner keeps up with all progressive- 
ness. His home is a neat and substantial 
residence surrounded by ornamental shrubs 
and flowering plants. He also has a peach 
orchard covering two acres. 

Mr. Dabney was united in marriage in 
Virginia, with Miss Lunie A. Bowles, the 
wedding being celebrated on the 25th of 
March, 1873. The lady died in 1S86. leav- 
ing seven children, namely: Joseph W., Jr., 
Augustus B., Bettie, Walter S,, Hugh G., 
Mary L. and Lunie A. Two children have 
also passed away: William C, who died at 
the age of thirteen years, and an infant 
daughter. Mr. Dabney and his family are 
members of the Christian church and take 
a deep interest in its work. The cause of 
education finds in him a warm friend and he 
gives an earnest support to all social, school 
and moral interests which are calculated to 
prove of public benefit. He is a man of 
genuine worth, esteemed in private life and 
trusted in business, for his career is ever 
honorable and straightforward. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



507 



@W. OAKES was born in Haber- 
sham county, Georgia, February 
14, 1848, and is a son of Davis and 
Mary (Hyce) Oakes. His father 
was a native of Virginia and a son of William 
Oakes, a Revolutionary soldier. His mother 
was born in North Carolina and was a 
daughter of George Hyce. David Oakes 
was a farmer by occupation and followed 
that pursuit as a means of livelihood for 
many years. He was killed at Vicksburg 
during the late war, and his wife, surviving 
him for many years, died in Alabama in 
1888. They were the parents of seven 
children, five of whom reached years of 
maturity, while two are still living: G. E., 
of this review, and Sarah, wife of John 
Hyde, of Acra, Texas. 

The gentleman whose name introduces 
this review was reared in the usual manner 
of farmer lads and resided with his mother 
until he had attained his majority, when he 
started out in life for himself. As a com- 
panion and helpmeet on life's journey he 
chose Miss Isabella Kelh', and their mar- 
riage was celebrated on the ist of Novem- 
ber, 1866. The lady was born in Pickens 
county, Georgia, and is a daughter of 
Andrew and Louisa (Pickett) Kelly. Their 
union has been blessed with twelve children: 
E. T., of Erath county; Florence L. , wife 
of J. N. Barron, of Erath county; Nora, 
wife of D. W. Turner, of Hood county; 
Hattie, wife of G. W. Harris, of Erath 
county; Dove, wife of A. Lowe, of the same 
county; Ivie May, Willie, George Emery, 
Lemmer, Don Coyl, Claudie and Curlie B., 
all yet at home. 

After his marriage Mr. Oakes followed 
farming in Georgia until 1873, when he 
sought a home in Texas, casting his lot with , 
the citizens of Erath county, where he has I 



since resided. He purchased two hundred 
acres of land that was still in its primitive 
condition and at once began the task of 
transforming it into cultivable fields. He 
now owns seven hundred acres, of which 
one hundred and forty acres is now highly 
cultivated. In connection with general 
farming Mr. Oakes has also engaged in stock- 
raising; and his capable business methods, 
his sound judgment and unflagging industry 
have brought him success. In politics he 
affiliates with the Prohibitionists, and relig- 
iously he and his wife are connected with 
the Baptist church. 



>Y» W. GUTHRIE, a farmer and stock- 
■j raiser of Erath county, was born in 
A 1 Lawrence county, Missouri, on the 
30th of October, 1844, a son of John 
and Polly (Patton) Guthrie. His father, a 
native of Virginia, was a son of James 
Guthrie, a representative of one of the old 
families of that state. At an earlj- day he 
emigrated to Missouri, becoming one of the 
pioneers of the southwestern section of the 
state. John Guthrie was reared on a fron- 
tier farm in Missouri and there married 
Polly Patton, a native of Tennessee, and a 
daughter of John Patton, who also was of 
an old Virginia family. Upon his marriage 
Mr. Guthrie began farming on his own ac- 
count and followed that pursuit throughout 
his remaining days. He was one of the 
prominent and highly esteemed citizens of 
the county in which he made his home, and 
for man}- years served as magistrate. He 
died in 1858, and his wife passed away five 
or six years previous. They were the par- 
ents of four children, two of whom are still 
living, namely: Sally, wife of D. L. Mur- 



508 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ray, of Phoenix, Arizona; and the subject of 
this notice. 

Mr. J. W. Guthrie was left an orphan 
at the age of eleven years and for a time 
lived with his paternal grandfather, after 
which he made his home with his uncle 
until he entered the Confederate service, in 
the fall of 1862, as a member of Company 
A, Thirteenth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry. 
He participated in the battle of Pea Ridge 
and remained with that command for six 
months, when he went to Kentucky and 
joined Morgan's command and remained 
with a regiment therein until the close of 
the war. He was captured in Kentucky by 
the Union forces and sent to Camp Douglas, 
in Chicago, Illinois. 

On the close of the war Mr. Guthrie 
went to Todd county, Kentucky, where he 
followed agricultural pursuits for four years 
and then returned to Missouri. From the 
latter state he came to Texas, in 1S70, and 
engaged in the live-stock business, taking a 
drove of cattle to Colorado, where he re- 
mained for eighteen months. He then 
returned to Erath county, where he pur- 
chased two hundred and seventy-five acres 
of wild land, which he improved and sold. 
He next bought a farm on which a few im- 
provements had been made, and for seven 
years resided there, when he effected the 
purchase of one hundred and sixty acres, all 
wild, not a furrow having been turned 
thereon. With characteristic energy he be- 
gan its development and now has sixty acres 
under cultivation, yielding to him a good 
return. 

In 1872 Mr. Guthrie was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Maggie Ray, a native of War- 
ren county, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
Archibald Ray. Four children have been 
born of this union: S. F., the wife of James 



Knight, John, Booker and Anna. Their 
mother is a member of the Christian church. 
In politics Mr. Guthrie is a Democrat and 
warmly advocates the principles of his party. 
His life, however, is largely given to his 
business interests, and it is to such industri- 
ous, energetic farmers that Erath county 
owes its prosperity and stability. 



aM. CARM.^N, who conducts a gen- 
eral mercantile store in Immer- 
mere, and is the efficient postmaster 
of the place, is a native of Jeffer- 
son county, Ohio, born on the 29th of June, 
1830, a son of John and Mary (Marshall) 
Carman, who were natives of Maryland. 
The Carmans were among the old colonial 
families that took root in American soil long 
prior to the Revolution. The father of our 
subject, removing to Jefferson county, Ohio, 
cleared a farm and continued its cultivation 
throughout his remaining days. His death 
occurred at the age of seventy-eight years 
and his wife survived him for about three 
years, also dying at the age of seventy- 
eight. They had ten children, all of whom 
reached years of maturity, but only our sub- 
ject is now living. 

C. M. Carman spent his boyhood days 
on the Ohio farm, assisting his father in the 
labors of the fields until he had attained his 
majority, when he started out to make his 
own way in the world. He was married in 
November, 1853, to Miss E. J. Carman, a 
native of Maryland and a daughter of Amos 
and Jane (Marshall) Carman. The young 
couple removed to Athens county, Ohio, 
where our subject purchased a farm of 
eighty acres in Waterloo township, and with 
characteristic energy began its development. 
He was very successful in his undertaking. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



509 



and as his financial resources increased he 
extended the boundaries of his farm by ad- 
ditional purchases of land until it comprised 
five hundred acres, one third of which was 
under cultivation. There he carried on ag- 
ricultural pursuits until 1878, when he re- 
moved to Dallas county, Texas, where he 
followed farming for seven years. Since 
1885 he has been a reisdent of Erath 
county. He located on school land and 
improved a farm, and in connection with 
the development of his land engaged in 
teaching school in the winter season. He 
greatly advanced the standard of the 
schools in this locality and has done much 
for the cause of education. He purchased 
his present home in 1892, becoming the 
owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres 
of land, on which little improvement had 
been. made. He has made a great trans- 
formation in the appearance of his place by 
the cultivation of the farm, and the well- 
tilled fields indicate his careful supervi- 
sion, — one hundred acres being under the 
plow. Stock-raising was formerly a profit- 
able department of his business. In Octo- 
ber, 1894, Mr. Carman was appointed by 
President Cleveland postmaster of Immer- 
mere and is now serving in that capacity. 
He also opened a stock of general mer- 
chandise and has a well appointed store, 
while the public accord to him a liberal 
patronage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Carman had seven chil- 
dren, but lost three in infancy. Those still 
living are Marshall W. , who makes his home 
in Athens county, Ohio; John A., who is in 
the employ of the Fort Worth & Rio Grande 
Railroad Company; and Maggie J., at home. 
One son, R. J., went to Montana, where 
he died at the age of thirty-six years. Mr. 
Carman and his wife are consistent members 



of the Christian church, taking an active 
part in its work, and the former has for 
some years served as elder. His political 
support is given the Republican party. He 
has the true spirit of progress and enterprise 
which characterizes thesection of the country 
where his minority was passed and became 
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of industry 
and perseverance. These qualities have en- 
abled him to win success, and taking advan- 
tage of the opportunities which are generally 
presented to mankind, he has worked his 
way steadily upward. All who know him 
have for him the highest esteem, and it is 
with pleasure that we present the record of 
his career to our readers. 



ISAAC DANLEY, one of the promi- 
nent farmers and early settlers of 
Erath county, Texas, and a gentle- 
man well worthy of biographical 
honors, dates his birth in Newton county, 
Missouri, January 27, 1835. 

Mr. Danley is a son of Andrew and 
Nancy ( Burket ) Danley. His parents were 
born, reared and married in Tennessee, and 
about 1828 moved from there to Missouri, 
where they continued to reside until 1844. 
Then seeking another frontier home, they 
came to Texas, first locating in Rusk county, 
moving from there to Wood county about 
1848, and thence to Grayson county. Mr. 
Danley was in Grayson county when the 
news of the California gold discovery spread 
like wild fire throughout the country. He 
was a veteran of the war of 18 12, had spent 
the most of his life on the frontier, and was 
a lover of adventure; and when the wonder- 
ful stories of the new El Dorado reached 
him he was not slow in deciding upon a trip 
to the gold fields of the far west. Accord- 



510 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ingly in 1856 he started for California, but 
fate was against him: he died on the plains 
before reaching his destination. Mr. Dan- 
ley was a blacksmith by trade, at which he 
worked in early life, later giving his atten- 
tion to farming. He left a wife and eight 
children, with only scant means of support, 
and right nobly did this pioneer wife and 
mother begin the struggle of life and pro- 
vide for her little ones and keep them to- 
gether. During the closing years of her life 
she was cared for kindly in the home of her 
son Isaac. In 1885, at the ripe old age of 
eighty-one years, she quietly passed to her 
home above. For many years she had been 
a devoted Christian and acceptable mem- 
ber of the Methodist church. She was the 
mother of sixteen children, and by a former 
marriage Mr. Danley had six other children. 
Five of the first family grew to maturity and 
all came to Texas except Patsy, who re- 
mained in Missouri. Their names were 
Nancy, John, Patsy, Betsy and Ira. Some 
of the second family died young. Andrew 
served through the late war and has since 
died; Mary, deceased, was the wife of A. 
Crocket; Eliza J. was the second wife of Mr. 
A. Crockett; Morena married Pleas Adams; 
James has been a resident of California 
since 1852; Isaac, the subject of this article; 
William, deceased; Catharine, wife of W. 
A. King; F. M., a farmer of Erath county; 
Hezekiah, a farmer; Alexander, a black- 
smith; George B., who was killed by the 
Indians in Arizona; and Malinda I. and her 
husband, F. M. Carpenter, are both de- 
ceased. Mrs. Carpenter left four little chil- 
dren, who have been taken into the home of 
our subject and are being brought up as his 
own. 

Isaac Danley was reared on the frontier 
and had no educational advantages what- 



ever. He has, however, picked up valua- 
ble information here and there and through 
his own efforts has acquired a practical edu- 
cation. After the death of his father he 
remained with his widowed mother and 
assisted her in the support of the family for 
some years. His business operations have 
been somewhat varied, owing to the times 
and circumstances. In early life, like most 
of the pioneers of this part of the country, 
he launched out in the live-stock business, 
and at first was very successful, but during 
the war period many of his cattle were 
stolen or driven away. At the close of the 
war he gathered up as much of his stock as 
he could find and sold out and quit the 
business. He had not a little experience 
with the Indians in those early days. In 
1858 he assisted Captain John Henry Brown 
in the removal of the Indians from Texas. 
During the war he was in the "ranging" 
service, had many a raid after the Indians 
and some exciting experiences, and for years 
belonged to a minute company, ready to be 
called out at any time as a protection against 
the Indians. While in the ranging service 
he picked up the trade of blacksmith, made 
himself useful in shoeing the horses of his 
company, and after the close of the war 
worked at that trade for some time. Next 
he began dealing in land, buying and selling, 
and has been more or less interested in real- 
estate deals ever since. In 1880 he married 
and settled down on land he owned and 
has since carried on farming and stock- 
raising, making the usual crops of this 
section and keeping only enough stock for 
the support of his farm. He now owns 
three hundred acres in his home place, 
sixty of which are under cultivation. 

Mr. Danley was married in 1880 to 
Mrs. Alionia Hopper, a widow with one 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



511 



son, Edward B. Harper. Mrs. Danley was 
born in Tennessee in 1855, daughter of 
Scarlot M. and Nancy (Long) Glasscock, 
natives of North Carolina. Her father, a 
carpenter by trade, died in the prime of 
life, in i860, leaving a widow and eight 
children, namely: Aldonza, Tennessee, 
Parlee, Jacob, Cordelia, Alionia, Callie and 
Alice. Their mother is still a resident of 
west Tennessee. Mrs. Danley is the only 
one of the family that came to Texas. She 
married Mr. Harper in Tennessee, moved to 
this state in 1876 and settled in Hood 
county, and later came to Erath county, 
where Mr. Harper died. She and Mr. Dan- 
ley have six children: Eppa, Callie, Adella, 
Vurna, Hester and Jacob, all at home. 

Both Mr. Danley and his wife are accept- 
able members of the Christian church. Fra- 
ternally he is a Mason and politically a 
Populist. Early in life he was Democratic 
in his political views, then he gave his sup- 
port to the Greenback party, and recently 
he has been a strong advocate of the Popu- 
list doctrine. 



"^ i* P. MARTIN. — Figuring prominently 
■ as one of the early settlers of Erath 
A J county, Texas, and occupying a fore- 
most place among its successful farm- 
ers, J. P. Martin is entitled to no small 
recognition in a biographical record of the 
representative men and women of his day 
and place. He has descended through both 
his paternal and maternal ancestry from 
German stock, and in his make-up are found 
many of the sterling traits of character 
which distinguish the German race, — indus- 
try, integrity, good judgment, and a frank, 
open manner. These elements combined 
in his personality are strongly marked and 



have contributed to his success, or, rather, 
have won him success. 

On a farm in Autauga county, Alabama,- 
February 22, 1832, J. P. Martin first saw 
the light of day, his parents being Lewis 
and Mary (Riser) Martin, both natives of 
South Carolina. Lewis Martin's father, 
Jacob Martin, came to America in co- 
lonial days, was a participant in ' the war 
of the Revolution, and after that war 
ended settled in South Carolina, where he 
resided for some years, and hence he re- 
moved to Alabama. He was by trade a 
blacksmith, but the greater part of his life 
was spent in agricultural pursuits. His fa- 
vorite pastime was hunting, in which he 
excelled, and for which he was noted far 
and near. Mr. Martin's grandfather on his 
mother's side was Bijah Riser. He was a 
native of Germany, and on coming to this 
country settled in South Carolina, where he 
became a prominent planter and slave- 
owner. Lewis Martin was reared in Ala- 
bama, in which state he was married and 
settled down to the life of a planter, being 
prospered in his operations and becoming 
the owner of a number of slaves. In the 
year i860 he removed to Texas and settled 
in Montgomery county, buying a farm and 
on it passing the closing years of his life. 
He died there in 1866. His advanced age 
barred him from service in the late war, but 
his family was well represented in the Con- 
federate army, his five sons donning the gray 
and marching to the front. Of his children 
we record that Mariah, widow of Thomas 
Moore, is a resident of Montgomery county, 
Mr. Moore having died while serving in the 
army; J. P., the next in order of birth, is 
the subject of this article; Emeline and her 
husband, a Mr. Mets, are deceased; William 
Crockett died in Fort Bend county, Texas. 



512 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



in 1895; Benjamin F., Montgomery county, 
Texas; Francis M. died at Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas, during the war; and Zachariah T. 
residing in Montgomery county. Two of the 
five sons lost their lives in the army and the 
other three escaped with only slight wounds. 

J. P. Martin passed his boyhood and 
youth on his father's plantation, remaining 
with his parents until reaching his majority, 
and when he started out in life on his own 
responsibility it was in a Louisiana sawmill. 
From milling he turned to rafting logs down 
the Washita river, was engaged in rafting 
for several years, until he came to Texas, in 
1859, and since coming to this state has 
been identified with farming interests. His 
first location in Texas was in Montgomery 
county. There he bought a tract of wild 
land remote from civilization, the nearest 
settlement on one side of him being eight 
miles distant and in another direction there 
being a stretch of thirty miles of uninhabited 
country. He was twenty-eight miles from 
Houston. The work of opening up his land 
to cultivation and making a home occupied 
his close attention, and the while he toiled 
on he endured many privations and hard- 
ships, meeting and overcoming every ob- 
stacle, however, with that good grace and 
steady nerve that have characterized his 
whole life. 

He lived in Montgomery county nine 
years, including his three years in the war; 
and at this point we would speak further of 
his war service. It was in 1863 that Mr. 
Martin enlisted, as a member of Company 
K, Elmo's infantry, and his service extended 
from that time until the close of the war. 
This command operated on the coast of 
Texas and Louisiana, from the mouth of the 
Brazos to New Orleans. Among the en- 
gagements in which he was a participant 



were Sabine Pass, the retaking of Galveston 
and Yellow Bayou, and he was also in a 
hotly contested battle with negroes. Dur- 
ing his three years' army life he was never 
captured by the enemy and he was only 
slightly wounded. At the time of General 
Lee's surrender Mr. Martin was with his 
command at Galveston; from there they 
went to Houston, where they were dis- 
banded, and he immediately returned home 
and resumed farming. 

In 1872, seeking a more desirable loca- 
tion and hoping to improve his temporal af- 
fairs, the subject of our sketch came to 
Erath county and purchased three hundred 
and twenty acres of raw land, on credit, 
and here he set about the work of improv- 
ing another farm. A few years later he sold 
a part of his land, including his house and a 
portion of the land he had brought under 
cultivation, and in the meantime he had 
bought three hundred and twenty acres 
where he now lives. Here he has continued 
his work of cultivation and improvement 
with the result that to-day he has one of the 
most desirable properties in the locality. 
He is conveniently near to Dublin and is 
most pleasantly situated. He now owns 
three hundred and sixty acres of land, one 
hundred and fifty of which are under culti- 
vation; has a comfortable residence, modern 
wind pump and other up-to-date improve- 
ments; and a feature not to be overlooked 
on his farm is his fine orchard. At the time 
Mr. Martin came to Erath county the red 
men had not ceased their raids through the 
country, but while many of his neighbors 
suffered the loss of their stock none of his 
were ever stolen. For some years he bought 
and sold cattle extensively, and it was in 
this way that he got his financial start. Of 
recent years, however, he has kept only 



HISTORr OF TEXAS. 



513 



enough stock for the support of his farm. 
A lover of fine horses, he has given no Httle 
attention to them, making a specialty of 
English draft horses, and at this writing he 
is the owner of the finest team in Erath 
county. 

Mr. Martin is a man of family. He was 
first married in 1S57 to Miss Louisa Metts, 
a native of Georgia, their marriage being 
consummated in Louisiana. She was one 
of a large family of children, her father be- 
ing Zachariah Metts, a native of Georgia 
who moved first to Louisiana and in 1859 
came to Texas, settling in Montgomery 
county. Mr. Metts died in Montgomery 
county. He was a member of the Baptist 
church and was a man who stood high in 
the estimation of all who knew him. Mrs. 
Louisa Martin died in 1864, leaving two 
children, viz.: Martha, who is now the 
wife of Russell Holliway and resides in Cal- 
lahan county, Texas; and Fanny, wife of 
Robert Mahan, a farmer. In March, 1866, 
Mr. Martin married Miss Indiana Cagel, 
who was born in Mississippi in 1845, daugh- 
ter of George W. Cagel, a native of In- 
diana, she being named in honor of his old 
home. Mr. Cagel moved south at an early 
day and for many years followed boating on 
the Mississippi river, later settling down on 
a farm and conducting its operations and 
also working at his trade of blacksmith. 
The latter part of his life was spent in Mont- 
gomery county, Texas, where he died about 
1885. He was the sire of eleven children, 
ten of whom reached adult years, namely: 
Mary J., John A., Lucinda, Alzada, In- 
diana, Almeda, William J., George A., 
James F. and Greenberry. Of this number 
three daughters and one son are still living, 
Mrs. Martin being the only one who came 
to Erath county. Mr. Martin and his pres- 



ent wife have had seven children, three of 
whom died young, the others being George 
A., wife of Joseph Kirkland; and Ida S., 
Mary R. .and Euberta B., at home. 

Politically, Mr. Martin was in early life 
a Whig, in 1856 he became a Democrat and 
ever since that date has remained true to 
this party and its principles; and while he 
has ever taken a commendable interest in 
public affairs he has never been an aspirant 
for office of any kind. He is a member of 
the Christian church. 



ai 



H. JORDAN is numbered among 
the worthy citizens of central 
Texas whose place of nativity is 
Alabama. He was born in Pike 
county, that state, on the 5th of May, 1848, 
a son of Elijah and Eveline (Coleman) Jor- 
dan. He was reared on his father's farm 
and when seventeen years of age left his 
home for a visit to Mississippi, where he re- 
mained for a year. His arrival in Texas 
dates from 1867, and since that time he has 
been a resident of the central portion of the 
Lone Star state. 

Mr. Jordan first located at Thorp Spring, 
Hood county, which was then on the very 
border of civilization. He was employed 
in the care of live stock for a time, and in 
1868 he raised his first crop, upon a rented 
farm. After carrying on agricultural pur- 
suits in Hood county for two years he came 
to Erath county and purchased one hundred 
and thirty-three acres of wild land, which 
was then heavily timbered, but undeterred 
by the arduous task that lay before him he 
began to clear the place and soon acre after 
acre was plowed and placed under cultiva- 
tion until now a tract of eighty acres has 
been transformed into richly improved fields 



514 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



that yield to him a handsome return for his 
labor. He has also extended the bounda- 
ries of his farm by additional purchases until 
his property now aggregates six huhdred and 
sixty- five acres. 

Mr. Jordan was married on the loth of 
March, 1870, to Miss L. C. Hightower, a 
native of Texas and a daughter of J. B. 
Hightower. Two children bless this union, 
J. B. and W. A., both of whom are still on 
the home farm, assisting their father in its 
cultivation. The elder son married Miss 
Lou Ashworth. The mother died in 1879 
and many warm friends mourned her loss. 

Mr. Jordan is a member of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church and takes a deep inter- 
est in everything pertaining to the moral, 
educational or social advancement of the 
community. He is connected with the Odd 
Fellows society and in his political views is 
a Democrat. 



BRANK H. SHERRILL, who is suc- 
cessfully engaged in farming in 
Comanche county, is a gentleman 
of sterling business qualities who 
has worked up to his present affluent posi- 
tion by the strictest application of his splen- 
did business abilities. He was for many 
years connected with the building interests 
of the county, and is now a representative 
of the agricultural interests, and in both has 
met with the desired success. 

Mr. Sherrill is a member of one of the 
old pioneer families of the state, and is 
numbered among the native sons of Texas, 
his birth having occurred in February, 1854, 
in Washington county, where his father, 
Hugh Sherrill, had settled at an early day. 
The latter was a native of North Carolina 
and married Cora Testard, who was born in 



Tennessee and came of a well-known old 
southern family of high repute. The mar- 
riage occurred in Brenham, Washington 
county, Texas, and during the civil war the 
father entered the army as a member of a 
regiment from the Lone Star state and died 
during the service. He left a widow and 
three children, and the former is now the 
wife of M. V. Fleming, a pioneer and busi- 
ness man of Comanche. The children are 
Frank H., of this review; James Dudley, of 
the First National Bank, of Comanche, and 
Alberta, wife of J. T. Green, of Comanche. 

Frank H. Sherrill was reared andacquired 
his education in the common schools of 
Washington county. He learned the car- 
penter's trade, becoming an expert in that 
line, and at the age of eighteen he came to 
Comanche, where he still followed his trade. 
He has erected and assisted in the building 
of many of the best business houses and 
residences of the county seat, and on vari- 
ous sides stand evidences of his skill and 
ability as a contractor and builder. In 
1892 he purchased his present farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres and has made this 
a very valuable tract, with one hundred and 
forty acres under cultivation. A substantial 
residence, well-kept fences, good barns and 
the other accessories of a model farm are 
here seen, and everything gives evidence of 
the thrift and enterprise of the owner. 

In Caryell county, Texas, in 1874, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Sherrill and 
Miss Sarah Gage, who was born in Bastrop 
county, Texas, a daughter of I. C. and 
Mary (Burleson) Gage, the former now 
deceased, while the latter is a resident of 
Comanche county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sherrill have a family of four sons and four 
daughters, namely: Hugh, Alfretta, Mar- 
tin, Bailey, Frank, Camille, Cora and Mary. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



515 



Our subject gives his political support to 
the men and measures of the silver Democ- 
racy and has served as deputy sheriff of the 
county. He is a member of the Odd Fel- 
lows society of Comanche, in which he has 
served as noble grand. He has been ener- 
getic and industrious, and working his way 
steadily upward he has overcome all the 
difficulties and obstacles which must be 
encountered in a business career, until now 
he has reached the goal of prosperity. 



m. 



ILLIAM D. SWITZER is suc- 
cessfully engaged in carrying on 
agricultural pursuits in Comanche 
county, and belongs to that class 
of thoroughgoing, substantial citizens to 
whom the welfare and advancement of the 
community is due. A native of South Caro- 
lina, he was born on the 6th of May, 1856, 
in Orangeburg county, and is a son of W. C. 
Switzer, one of the honored and respected 
citizens of Comanche county, who has re- 
sided here for twenty years. He married 
Jane C. Yeargin, who belongs to a promi- 
nent southern family and was born and 
reared in South Carolina. Her death oc- 
curred in Comanche county, in April, 1895. 
Of the twelve children born of their union, 
nine are still living, as follows: Rufus, Will- 
iam D., Lulu Clover, J. J., of the De Leon 
Press, David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
Yeargin. 

In taking up the personal history of 
William D. Switzer we present to our read- 
ers the life record of one who is widely and 
favorably known in Comanche county, and 
who has been prominently identified with 
the interests of western Texas through the 
period of its development, and is familiar 
with all the hardships and dangers incident 



to life on the plains. He was a child of 
ten years when the family took up their abode 
in Austin county, Texas, and with his parents 
he later removed to Milam county. The 
public schools afforded him his educational 
privileges and business experience has added 
largely to this training. For eight years he 
was a cowboy on the plains of Texas, Colo- 
rado and New Mexico, at the time when the 
Indians were numerous in the western dis- 
trict and had no regard for the rights of the 
white settlers. In 1884 he purchased his 
present farm, comprising one hundred and 
sixty acres, one half of which has been 
planted in crops and yields to him a good 
income in return for his labor. An orchard, 
residence and barn add to the value and im- 
provement of the farm, which is one of the 
best in the neighborhood. 

Mr. Switzer was married in 1887 to Miss 
Bettie, daughter of William A. Thompson, 
of Brown county, Texas. She died in 1888, 
and in 1893 he wedded Miss Alice Bennett, 
a native of Ellis county, who was reared 
and educated in Georgia and in Arkansas. 
Her parents, Jessie L. and Sallie (Burke) 
Bennett, were both natives of Tennessee, 
and their children were Walter and Alice. 
The father died, and the mother afterward 
married W. W. Justus, with whom she is 
now living in Comanche county. Mr. and 
Mrs. Switzer have two interesting children, 
— Horace S. and Flora Lee. 

Our subject is deeply interested in the 
cause of reform, of education and of tem- 
perance, and lends a hearty support to the 
advancement of these measures. He and 
his wife are consistent members of the 
Methodist church at Blanket, and he is a 
leader in the Sunday-school, being now the 
efficient teacher of the young people's Bible 
class. 



51G 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



x,/^ OBERT M. WAGNON is the 

I /^ owner of one of the fine farms of 
\ . P Comanche county and has made 
his home thereon since 1882. The 
place comprises three hundred and twenty 
acres of rich land, all of which is under 
fence, while one hundred and twenty acres 
is divided into fields of convenient size and 
planted with the crops best adapted to this 
climate. The harvests have brought to him 
a good return for his labor and he is recog- 
niijed as one of the substantial and progress- 
ive agriculturists of the community. His 
comfortable home is twenty-four by forty 
feet, and the broad porches add to its at- 
tractive appearance. There are also good 
barns, cattle sheds, well and tanks, and in 
fact all the improvements that are to be 
found upon a model farm. 

The owner of this desirable property 
came to Comanche county, in November, 
1870. He was born in Washington county, 
Arkansas, near the mouth of War Eagle 
river, August 4, 1848. His father. Perry 
Wagnon, was also a native of Arkansas, and 
a son of Beryl Wagnon, an early settler of 
that state, — but a native of Indiana and a 
descendant of Colonel George Wagnon, one 
of the honored heroes of the Revolutionary 
war. He was of Welsh and German e.\- 
traction and was the first of the family to 
settle in the " Bear state." Perry Wagnon 
grew to manhood there and learned and fol- 
lowed the carpenter's trade. He married 
Elizabeth Easley, who was born in Ken- 
tucky, a daughter of William D. Easley, a 
native of Tennessee and a representative of 
one of the old families of that state. When 
the war broke out the father of our subject 
entered the southern army and served with 
the Third Louisiana regiment, until his 
death, which was occasioned by measles. 



He left a widow and seven children, namely: 
Robert M., W. B., Sarah Jane, F. M., F. 
G., T. A., and J. W. The mother is still 
living, at the age of seventy-four years. Mr. 
Wagnon was in politics a Democrat, and in 
religious belief was a Methodist. Many 
years of his life were devoted to the work of 
the Master, and he was ordained as a min- 
ister of the Methodist church. 

Robert M. Wagnon spent the days of 
his boyhood and youth in his native state 
and acquired his education in the public 
schools. After his father's death the re- 
sponsibility of caring for the younger mem- 
bers of the family devolved upon his mother 
and himself and he proved her very able as- 
sistant. He was then but fourteen years of 
age, but he labored earnestly and faithfully 
performed the heavy duties that fell to his 
lot. He was also a valiant soldier boy, en- 
tering the army as a member of Captain 
Ingram's company and Colonel Brooks' regi- 
ment. When the war was over he came to 
Texas in 1865 and worked in the employ of 
others, caring for stock until 1870. Thus 
he got his start in life. He then came to 
Comanche county, where for more than a 
quarter of a century he has made his home. 
Since purchasing his present property he 
has been successfully engaged in its cultiva- 
tion and in stock-raising. He has some 
good cattle and horses and buys and sells 
stock. 

In 1873, in Comanche coimty, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Wagnon and 
Miss E. M. Bates, an esteemed and cultured 
lady, a native of Georgia and a daughter of 
William and R. C. Bates, who came to 
Texas from Georgia. Her parents had a 
large family. The family of Mr. and Mrs. 
Wagnon numbers twelve children, seven 
sons and five daughters, namely: W. Perry, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



517 



Dovey J., Harvey G. , Julia Ann, Rosa M., 
Ruth N., Seth, Custer, Robert J., Cyrus 
Buell, Noah Webster, and Beryl. 

Since attaining his majority Mr. Wagnon 
has supported the men and measures of the 
Democratic party with the exception of the 
past three years, when he has voted with the 
Populist party. He is a consistent member 
of the Baptist church, in which he is serv- 
ing as deacon, and is a public-spirited pro- 
gressive man, who favors all interests or 
movements which have for their object the 
welfare of the community and its advance- 
ment. In manner he is pleasant and 
frank, a man of sterling worth whose many 
excellent qualities make him a popular 
citizen. 



^"^^AMUEL LATIMORE CARLTON, 
•^^^ a merchant of Carlton, Texas, and 
k_^ the proprietor of one of the best 
stores in Hamilton county, is the 
subject of this review. He is a son of 
James and Mary Jane (Aiken) Carlton and 
a brother of Dr. F. M. Carlton. To the 
sketch of the latter in this work the reader 
is referred for the history of their ancestry. 
Samuel L. Carlton spent his early life 
in Mississippi and Arkansas, left home at 
the age of fourteen and from that time on 
made his own way in the world, for some 
years engaging in farm work. In 1861 he 
came to Newton county, Texas, and the 
three years following was employed as over- 
seer on farms in this state. His next loca- 
tion was in Louisiana one year, then re- 
turned to Arkansas, where he was engaged 
in running machinery. From there he re- 
turned to Texas, in 1876, this time to Erath 
county, where he engaged in farming. 
Subsequently he removed three-quarters of 



a mile east of Carlton, at which place he 
purchased a farm of ninety-seven acres, 
which he still owns. Mr. Carlton's career 
as a merchant began in September, 1888. 
At that time he bought out a small stock of 
goods, valued at only forty dollars, pur- 
chased more goods, to the amount of three 
hundred dollars, and opened business in the 
old Armstrong building, on the site he still 
occupies. In the summer of 1892 this 
building was torn down and a new structure 
erected better suited to the requirements of 
his increasing business, and in it he contin- 
ued to prosper until January 13, 1894, 
when the building and contents were swept 
away by fire. The following August he be- 
gan the erection of his present fine build- 
ing, which is built of stone quarried at this 
place, and as soon as it was completed he 
stocked up anew, opening his doors for bus- 
iness in November. At the time of the fire 
he carried a stock valued at five thousand 
and six hundred dollars. When he opened 
up again it was with a four-thousand-dollar 
stock, and now his stock is valued at no 
less than seven thousand dollars. His sales 
average about forty-one thousand dollars. 
Such has been the success of this persever- 
ing man who began at the bottom and 
has worked his way up in spite of discour- 
agements and misfortune. As already 
stated, Mr. Carlton now owns one of the 
finest stores in the county; and in his busi- 
ness he is ably assisted by his son Elmer, 
a young man of good habits and business 
abiHty. 

Mr. Carlton was married December 23, 
1873, in White county, Arkansas, to Miss 
Elizabeth Johanna Bolton, a native of Ten- 
nessee, born December 13, 1854, daughter 
of Captain Bolton. Their family comprises 
the following members: Elmer, born Jan- 



518 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



uary 1 1, 1875; James Wesley, born June 6, 
1876, died March 12, 1877; Marcus Otho, 
born December 16, 1878; Lillie Belle, May 
9, 1882; Samuel Robert, May 19, 1887; 
and Sydney Harrison, March 15, 1889. 

Like his brother, Mr. Carlton was made 
a Mason by Center Hill Lodge in Arkansas, 
and his name is found on the list of charter 
members of the Carlton Masonic Lodge. 
His political standing has been with the 
Republicans, at least in the national cam- 
paigns, until recently, when he identified 
himself with the Populist party. 



^ V* M. MOSS, a well-known farmer of 
^ Bosque county and at this writing a 
A 1 candidate for the office of county 
commissioner, is a gentleman whose 
prominence in the county entitles him to 
more than a passing notice in this work. 
The following facts in regard to his life have 
been gleaned for publication: 

Mr. Moss is a native of Morgan county, 
Illinois. He was born January 16, 1833, a 
son of Isaac Moss and grandson of John 
Moss, the family being of Irish origin. Isaac 
Moss was a native of the Old Dominion and 
an early settler of Morgan county, Illinois. 
He and his wife, who was of French de- 
scent and a representative of one of the pio- 
neer families of St. Louis, were the parents of 
nine children, namely: Elizabeth, James 
M., Jonas, John, Nancy, Thomas, W. D., 
Martha Josephine and Rosanna. The fa- 
ther died in Scott county, Illinois, at the 
age of seventy years. The Moss family was 
represented in both the Mexican and late 
civil wars. In the latter Isaac Moss and 
two of his sons were participants, he and 
one son in the northern army and the other 
in the Confederate ranks. The one who 



espoused the southern cause was the subject 
of our sketch, J. M. He had gone to Cairo, 
Illinois, in 1855 and was a resident of that 
place when the war broke out, and from 
there he enlisted in Jeff. Thompson's brig- 
ade. General Price in command, and fought 
as bravely and earnestly for the cause of the 
south as did his father and brother for the 
preservation of the Union. In a skirmish 
at Bertrand, Missouri, he was wounded in 
the left side. 

After the war Mr. Moss lived in Mis- 
souri until 1870, when he came to Texas 
and located in Bosque county, and since 
1876 has resided on his present farm. 

Mr. Moss was married at the age of 
thirty-one to Miss Eliza E. Kitts, a native 
of Louisville, Kentucky, and a daughter of 
Edward and Joanna Kitts. She is now the 
only surviving member of her family. Mr. 
and Mrs. Moss are active and influential 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south, in which he has for many years been 
honored with the office of class-leader and 
steward. 

Formerly he harmonized in his political 
views with the Democratic party, but re- 
cently has affiliated with the Populists and 
is now their candidate for county commis- 
sioner. He is a man of sterling integrity 
and one whose influence is felt for good in 
his community, and if elected will, without 
doubt, make a worthy official. 



>^ V. . STEPHENS, a worthy and 
fl highly respected old settler of Erath 
A ■ county, who for many years has 
been prominent in the development 
of this region, is a native of Alabama, his 
birth having occurred in Morgan county, on 
the 15th of May, 1840, his parents being 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



519 



Benjamin F. and Anna (Maxwell) Stephens. 
Until his fourteenth year he remained under 
the parental roof, after which he accom- 
panied his brother Benjamin F. to Texas, 
settling in Hunt county in 1854. There 
the brothers remained four years and both 
are still residents of the Lone Star state, 
the elder now making his home in Black 
Jack Grove, in Hopkins county, Texas, 
where he is ranked among the prominent 
business men and esteemed citizens. 

In 1858 the subject of this review came 
to Erath county, then a young man of 
eighteen years, vigorous and energetic, well 
fitted by nature to cope with the difficulties 
of pioneer life. These he met unflinchingly, 
and, like all troubles when bravely encoun- 
tered, the trials incident to the frontier van- 
ished away before his persistent, resolute 
efforts. Soon after the breaking out of the 
late war, his patriotism prompted his en- 
listment in the Texas Rangers, an organiza- 
tion formed to protect the homes and their 
inmates from Indian depredations. The 
red men were at that time occasioning the 
white settlers great trouble, and a patrol of 
armed men all along the border was neces- 
sary to hold them in check. Mr. Stephens 
first enlisted in Captain Selma's company 
and efficiently discharged all the duties 
allotted to him. After a year he was 
mustered out, but immediately re-enlisted 
in the same service as a member of Captain 
Whiteside's company, from which a year 
later he was transferred to Captain Lloyd's 
command. He met the Indians in a num- 
ber of running skirmishes and did gallant 
duty in the lower Brazos countr}' until the 
war was over, when the company was dis- 
banded, in June, 1865. 

Mr. Stephens at once returned to Erath 
county and engaged in the cattle business, 



locating upon the farm which is now his 
place of residence. He has been very suc- 
cessful in his farming operations and has ac- 
cumulated a good property, being now the 
owner of six hundred and twenty acres of 
valuable land, of which sixty acres is under 
cultivation and nicely improved with com- 
fortable buildings. In appearance it is neat 
and thrifty and well indicates the careful 
supervision of the owner, who is one of the 
practical and progressive farmers of the 
county. 

Mr. Stephens was married in January, 
1866, to Miss Olive, daughter of George W. 
and Melvina (Jackson) Wilkins. Her par- 
ents came with their children to Texas when 
it was a repubHc and located first in the 
eastern part of the state. In 1859 they all 
came to Erath county, where they lived 
until after the war, and then went to Hunt 
county, Texas, where the father died within 
a short time. He was a native of Georgia 
and as a means of livelihood followed the 
occupation of farming. Both he and his 
wife were members of the Primitive Baptist 
church. In their family were nine children, 
those besides the subject of this sketch 
being Olive, David, James, Mary, Sarah, 
Elijah, deceased, Louisa and George. The 
mother of this family is yet living. 

To our subject and his wife have been 
born ten children, and the family circle yet 
remains unbroken by the hand of death. 
They are Will, Melvina, Martha, Zoe, Lucy, 
George, Lilie, Benjamin F. , Alice Lonora, 
and Thomas. The family is widely and 
favorably known throughout Erath county 
and their hospitable home is a favorite 
resort with many friends. In politics Mr. 
Stephens is a stanch Democrat, but has 
never been an office-seeker. His wife is a 
member of the Baptist church. His long 



520 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



residence in the county has made him widely 
known and he is well worthy of representa- 
tion in this volume. 



iHOMAS EDWARD PRESLEY, 
M. D., is one of the younger mem- 
bers of the medical profession of 
Hamilton county, but his ability is 
by no means measured by his years, and he 
is to-day enjoying a reputation and a patron- 
age that many an older practitioner might 
well envy. He is located at Shive, where 
for three years he has made his home. 

The Doctor is a native of Coldwater, 
Mississippi, born January 7, 1870, and a son 
of James Madison and Sarah (Cain) Presley. 
The family ancestry is traced back to the 
Emerald Isle, whence the great-grandfather 
of our subject emigrated to South Carolina. 
The grandfather, Winfield Roslin Presley, 
was born in South Carolina and married 
Anna Hardin, and their children were John 
Madison, Thomas and Elizabeth. The sec- 
ond named was a native of the same state 
and in his early manhood went to Missis- 
sippi. In 1885 he came to Te.xas, locating 
near Boston, in Bowie county, on the 5th 
of December of that year. He purchased 
two hundred acres of land, one third of 
which was under a high state of cultivation, 
and there began farming. He is still living 
in eastern Texas, at the age of si.xty-seven 
years. Mr. and Mrs. Presley had five chil- 
dren, namely: William Roslin, John, Car- 
roll, Emma J. and Thomas Edward. 

The last named was a youth of fifteen 
when he accompanied his parents to Texas. 
He began the study of medicine under the 
direction of Dr. J. H. Camp, of Bassett, 
Texas, and after a course in the Memphis 
Hospital Medical College, of Memphis, Ten- 



nessee, was graduated with the degree of 
M. D. He first came to Shive in February, 
1893, and after his graduation returned to 
the place which is now his home and where 
he is successfully engaged in general prac- 
tice. He is a close student of his profes- 
sion, deeply interested in its advancement 
and keeps thoroughly in touch with the prog- 
ress of the day. On first coming to Shive 
he also embarked in the drug business in 
connection with E. L. McKinley, but after 
six months sold out to his partner and has 
since given his entire attention to his chosen 
calling. 

The Doctor was united in marriage June 
7, 1 891, to Elizabeth Parthenia Dillard, 
daughter of Edward Peters and Emma 
(Holcolm) Dillard, and a native of Texas, 
born August 6, 1869. They have three 
children: Jennie Elizabeth, born February 
27, 1892; Kelsey, May 4, 1893; and Palmer, 
June 7, 1895. The Doctor and his wife 
have a pleasant home, which is noted for 
its hospitality, and their friends through the 
community are many. In his political 
views he is a stanch Democrat. 



^VOHN WASDIN JONES is the owner 
■ of one of the fine farms in Hood 
A 1 county, — a tract of three hundred 
and seventy-six acres, — the greater 
part of which is under a high state of culti- 
vation. There are good improvements 
upon the place, including a handsome coun- 
try residence, substantial out-buildings, well- 
kept fences and the other accessories of the 
model farm, and the owner is now success- 
fully engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising. He is progressive in his methods, 
energetic and persevering in his work, hon- 
orable in all dealings, and is justly regarded 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



521 



as one of the leading and influential agri- 
culturists of his adopted county. 

Mr. Jones is a native of North Carolina, 
his birth having occurred in Wayne county 
on the 5th of January, 1837. His parents, 
John and Mary (Wasdin) Jones, were both 
natives of the same state and their respective 
fathers belonged to old Virginian families. 
In early manhood John Jones learned the 
saddler's trade, at which he worked for 
some years, but later in life he became a 
farmer. He died in North Carolina in 
185 1, and his wife, surviving him ten years, 
passed away in 1861. They were the 
parents of eight children, — two sons and 
six daughters, — only three of whom are now 
living: Sarah, wife of William Bardin, who 
is living near the old homestead in North 
Carolina; J. W., and Alva A. Balance, also 
a resident of North Carolina. 

J. W. Jones was reared on his father's 
farm and acquired a good English education 
in a private school near his home. At the 
age of eighteen he assumed the manage- 
ment of the home farm, which was largely 
covered with pine forests, and the manu- 
facture of turpentine therefore became the 
labor to which he turned his attention. 
He was extensively engaged in this business 
at the breaking out of the civil war. He 
had removed to South Carolina in 1859 and 
was doing a large and profitable business, 
when in 1861 he put aside all considerations 
of personal gain to aid in the protection of 
the southern principles and institutions 
which had been familiar to him from his 
earliest infancy. He joined the "boys in 
gray" of Company A, Fourteenth South 
Carolina Infantry, with which he was con- 
nected until the close of the war, partici- 
pating in many engagements with his regi- 
ment. He was slightly wounded at the 



battles of Gettysburg and Gaines' Mills, and 
on the loth of May, 1864, was taken pris- 
oner at Spottsylvania and held at Fort 
Delaware until June, 1865, vvhen the war 
was at an end and he was released. 

Mr. Jones returned to his home in South 
Carolina to find his possessions gone. While 
he was thus forced to begin life anew, he 
began school-teaching, which he followed 
until the close of the year 1865. On the 
7th of December of that year he married 
Sue E. Carter, a native of South Carolina, 
and a daughter of Giles and Martha Carter, 
who were members of old families of that 
state. After his marriage Mr. Jones began 
farming, and followed that pursuit until 
1870, when he came to Texas, arriving in 
Harrison county on the i8th of March. In 
the succeeding autumn he came to Hood 
county, reaching his destination on the 28th 
of October. He purchased land, but owing 
to a defective title he was unable to hold it. 
In 1874 he taught the first school in this 
part of Hood county, conducting the same 
for four terms, and at the same time carry- 
ing on agricultural pursuits. In 1873 he 
purchased seventy-six acres of land ten 
miles south of Granbury, and thereon made 
his home until 1887, when he took up his 
residence upon his present farm. In addi- 
tion to this he owns a tract of one hundred 
and twenty-five acres elsewhere. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jones had eight children, 
three of whom died in childhood. Those 
still living are Charles W., who is a farmer 
of Hood county; Jesse; Sarah A., wife of 
James McCarty, of Erath county; Martha 
H., wife of R. T. Blackburn, a resident of 
Smithville, Bastrop county, Texas; and 
David, at home. The mother of these chil- 
dren died February 27, 1880, and Mr. Jones 
was married December 7, 1 881, to Cynthia 



522 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Poe, a native of Alabama, and a daughter 
of William and Elizabeth Poe. By this 
union there is one son, George. 

Our subject and his wife are consistent 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south. In his political association Mr. Jones 
is a Democrat, and has always taken an act- 
ive interest in all public questions of the 
da}'. He was elected county commissioner 
in 1892, filling the office for one term. He 
belongs'to Mistletoe Lodge, No. 67, K. P., 
and is a man of strong personality and 
marked intelligence, who keeps well abreast 
of the times on all public questions, state 
and national. He is an excellent citizen, 
highly regarded by an extended circle of 
friends, and his fine home is the abode of 
that genuine hospitality for which the south 
is so justly noted. 



K^/^ P- SADLER.— Among the repre- 
1/''^ sentative and influential citizens 
J^^_^ of Bosque county is numbered this 
gentleman, whose residence in the 
state of Texas dates from 1857. He was 
born in Jackson county, Tennessee, May 20, 
1848, and comes of a family of long identi- 
fication with the south. His paternal grand- 
father was a native of Virginia and of Scotch- 
Irish descent. He died on the old Sadler 
homestead in the Big Bend state, at the age 
of eighty-six years. His wife bore the 
maiden name of Patsy Williamson. The 
father of our subject, John K. Sadler, was 
born in Maury county, Tennessee, Decem- 
ber 2, 1 80 1, and was reared in Jackson 
county, acquiring his education in the pub- 
lic schools of that locality. At the age of 
twenty-two he married Celina Roberts, a 
native of Jackson county, and in 1857 he 
emigrated with his family to McLennan 



county, Texas. His home was located 
twenty miles west of Waco, and there 
he engaged in the live-stock business, 
winning success in his undertakings. In 
political affiliations he was a Democrat. He 
served as elder in the Presbyterian church, 
and his upright life commended him to the 
confidence of all. His death occurred in 
Comanche county, Texas, at the age of 
eighty-nine and his wife passed away at the 
age of eighty-five. For more than sixty 
years they traveled life's journey together, 
their mutual love and confidence increasing 
as the years went by, while their upright 
lives won them the high regard of all. 
Their family consisted of eight sons and a 
daughter, namely: C. C, born April 26, 
1824, and during life served twelve years as 
county commissioner; E. F. , born Febru- 
ary 30, 1826, and W. K., born July 2, 1828, 
both died in childhood; J. R., born April 
18, 1830, now lives in Oklahoma; Ridley, 
born in 1832, died in infancy; Darthula, 
born in 1834, is the wife of A. E. Hogan, 
of Comanche county; Henry W., born in 
1837, was a quartermaster in the Confeder- 
ate army, and is now a resident of McGreg- 
or, Texas; R. B., M. D., born in 1839 and 
died in Bastrop, Louisiana, in 1894; and 
B. P., the subject of this sketch, born May 
20, T848. 

The subject of this sketch was a child of 
nine years when he came with his parents 
to Texas. He acquired his education in 
Bosqueville and in Bell county, and at the 
age of sixteen entered the Confederate serv- 
ice, thus becoming one of the soldier boys 
— boys in years but men in courage — of the 
civil war. He served with the Nineteenth 
Texas Infantry, and when the war ended re- 
turned to his home. 

In 1874, Mr. Sadler removed to Rusk 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



523 



county, Texas. On the 21st of November, 
1872, he had wedded Mary B. Graham, who 
was born, reared and educated in the Lone 
Star state. Her father was Dr. A. B. Gra- 
ham, a native of Alabama, and a pioneer of 
Texas. Her mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Susan A. Bradfield, was also born 
in Alabama, and they now reside in Hen- 
derson, Texas. Their children are W. J., 
who is judge of his district; Mrs. B. C. Dick- 
inson, whose husband was county clerk of 
Rusk county, Texas, for twelve years; and 
Mrs. Sadler. To our subject and his wife 
were born six children, four of whom are 
now living: Jodi* Graham, a student in 
Vanderbilt University, of Tennessee; Esther, 
deceased; Walter H. ; Anna, who died at the 
age of two years; Malcolm; and Alfred B. 
The mother was called to the eternal home 
July 24, 1884, and in March, 1886, Mr. 
Sadler married Ida Parramore, a native of 
Georgia, by whom he has two sons— Edgar 
L. and Forest. The second wife died Jan- 
uary 7, 1889. 

Mr. Sadler took up his residence near 
Valley Mills in Bosque county in 1875, and 
in 1 88 1 located on his present farm, where 
he owns two hundred and fifty acres of land, 
of which one hundred acres is under culti- 
vation. In politics he is a Democrat, and 
m religious belief a Presbyterian. He is a 
man of intelligence and good business ability, 
faithful to his duties of citizenship and popu- 
lar with his fellow men. 



WAMES M. PEVELER._Prominent 
I among the representative citizens and 
(»J respected and influential men of 
Hood county is found the subject of 
this biographical notice, who is engaged in 
general farming. His land is well improved 



and highly cultivated, and shows conclu- 
sively that the owner has not mistaken his 
calling in adopting agriculture. 

The entire life of our subject has been 
passed in Texas, his birth having occurred 
in Fannin county, April 6, 1838. His par- 
ents, David and Sarah (McCart) Peveler, 
were both natives of Kentucky, where they 
grew to maturity and were married. The 
former was of German descent, and the lat- 
ter of Irish lineage. Her father, John 
McCart, served as a soldier under General 
George Washington during the Revolution- 
ary war. Soon after their marriage the 
parents of our subject emigrated to Mis- 
souri, where they remained a few years, and 
then went to Iowa. In 1837, however, we 
find them in Texas, and in Fannin county 
they located when there was only one fam- 
ily living west of them. The father became 
captain of a company which he led against 
the Indians under General Tarrant, in 
1 84 1. The family endured all the hard- 
ships incident to pioneer life among the 
Indians, and one son, W. R., was killed by 
the red men in September, 1864. In com- 
pany with five other white men he was en- 
gaged in battle against about sixty Indians, 
and on the 5th of that month received a 
wound which terminated his life. G. C. 
Peveler served in the Mexican war under 
General Zachary Taylor, entering the serv- 
ice in 1846 and remaining therein about 
two years. He died in Young county, 
Texas, in 1862. 

The parental household included thir- 
teen children, one of whom died in child- 
hood, but eight sons and four daughters 
grew to maturity, and seven are still living, 
namely: Malissa, who is the widow of 
Thomas Burns, and now lives in William- 
son county, Texas; Lucinda Terrill, of 



524 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Young county; Mrs. Mary Hampton, of 
Grayson county; James M., of this review; 
Samuel H. and Francis M., both farmers of 
Hood county; and Martha, wife of Colonel 
J. B. Barry, of Bosque county. As there 
were few schools in Texas at that early day 
the educational privileges of the children 
were very meager. With their family the 
parents removed to Young county in 1857, 
and in 1866 came to Hood county, settling 
on the Brazos river, where the father died 
on the 1st of January, 1867. His widow 
survived him until January 29, 1894, dying 
at the extreme old age of ninety-four years. 

James M. Peveler was reared to agricul- 
tural pursuits, and in Young county, in 
1855, became connected with the cattle 
business, continuing in that trade with good 
success until the breaking out of the civil 
war. In 1861 he joined a frontier regiment 
commanded by Colonel Openchain, in which 
he served until the close of hostilities, and 
was with Sullivan Ross at the capture of 
the celebrated Cynthia Ann Parker. 

After his return home Mr. Peveler closed 
out his stock business and removed to Hood 
county, where he has since successfully en- 
gaged in farming. He first bought one 
hundred and seventy-seven acres, to which 
he has added until he now owns three hun- 
dred and eighty-seven acres of tillable land 
and has placed two hundred acres under 
cultivation. He has had much experience 
with the Indians, having, on two different 
occasions in 1866, all his horses stolen by 
them. In January, 1868, while he and two 
others were out fox-hunting, they encoun- 
tered a party of Indians who stole all the 
horses in the valley with the exception of 
those belonging to our subject and his neigh- 
bor, Mr. Raborn, whom he apprised of their 
presence. 



On the 6th of March, 1867, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Peveler and 
Miss Mary Jane Goodlet, a daughter of Cal- 
vin Goodlet, a pioneer of Hood county, and 
to them were born three children, but the 
only son is now deceased. The daughters 
are Martha, who is now the wife of A. C. 
Middleton, of Jones county; and Maggie, 
wife of Walter Dillard, of Cleburne, Texas. 
The mother of these children died March 7, 
1873, and on the 19th of December, 1883, 
Mr. Peveler was again married, his second 
union being with Harriet T. Harris, a native 
of Tennessee. One son is born by this mar- 
riage, Walter L., March 24, 1887. Mrs. 
Peveler is a consistent member of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. 

Mr. Peveler, who is a great reader, keeps 
himself well informed on the current events 
of the day and takes a commendable inter- 
est in the public schools. He uses his right 
of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Democratic party, but has 
never sought office of any kind, preferring to 
devote his entire time and attention to his 
business interests. Socially, he is identified 
with Jubilee Lodge, F. & A. M. Both he 
and his most excellent wife enjoy the es- 
teem and respect of the neighborhood, and 
are valued members of the community. 



■»-t'OHN WILLIAM HINKLE, county 
J commissioner of Hamilton county, is 
A 1 a representative citizen, the owner 
of a valuable farm, and stands well 
in the community. His birth occurred on 
the 20th of August, 1849, in Clark county, 
Arkansas, on the homestead farm of his 
father, William Hinkle, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume. At the 
age of twenty-eight he began agricultural 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



525 



pursuits on his own account, upon a farm 
of fifty acres, which he owned in Dallas 
county. In 1880 he removed to Milam 
county, but in the summer of that year pur- 
chased one hundred and sixty acres in Ham- 
ilton county, on which he located the fol- 
lowing autumn. He later bought four hun- 
dred and eighty acres, but has since 
sold one hundred acres of that amount, 
so that he now has three hundred and 
eighty acres, of which one hundred acres 
are under a high state of cultivation. 
It is supplied with good and substantial 
buildings, and all the farm machinery is 
modern. He spent his boyhood and youth 
after the manner of most farmers' sons, be- 
coming familiar with plowing, sowing and 
reaping, and amid the quiet scenes of coun- 
try life grew up with a healthy constitution, 
a clear brain, and was well equipped for his 
chosen calling. 

On the 2d of May, 1878, Mr. Hinkle 
was united in marriage with Miss Sarah 
Elizabeth Gilliland, who was born in Parker 
county, Texas, February 2, 1858, and is 
the daughter of James Berry and Angeline 
(Baker) Gilliland. They have become the 
parents of five children: Charles William, 
born July 12, 1879; James Baltus, born 
February 2, 1881; Avy Emzella, born Au- 
gust 2, 1883; Chloe Alice, born July 25, 1885; 
and Johrt Calvin, who was born September 
4, 1888, and died on the 13th of the same 
month. 

Mr. Hinkle was a supporter of the Dem- 
ocratic party until 1880, when he joined 
the Greenback party, later belonged to the 
Union Labor party, and since 1892 has 
been a Populist. He was elected county 
commissioner in the fall of 1894, and so 
ably has he filled that position, giving the 
best of satisfaction, that his name is promi- 



nently mentioned for re-nomination. For 
twelve years he has been a consistent mem- 
ber of the Missionary Baptist church, to 
which his estimable wife also belongs. 
They enjoy the society and friendship of 
the best people of their community, and 
possess the entire confidence and regard of 
their neighbors. 



at 



ILLIAM HINKLE, a prominent 
and leading farmer of Hamilton 
county, like many of the best 
citizens of Texas, is a native of 
Alabama, born in Madison county, April 4, 
1 82 1, and is the son of Baltis and Annie 
(Downing) Hinkle, the former of German 
descent and the latter of Irish lineage, her 
grandfather having come to this country 
from the Emerald Isle and founding the 
family here. The paternal grandfather of 
our subject, Jesse Hinkle, was born in South 
Carolina, whence he went to Alabama, and 
later became a resident of Tennessee, where 
his death occurred in 1832, at the age of 
seventy years. In his family were four 
children, — William, Jonathan, Baltis and 
Zuly. 

By trade the father of our subject was a 
carpenter. He died in Alabama when our 
subject was about six years old, at the age 
of thirty years. William was the oldest in 
the family of five children, the others being 
John, Alexander, Catherine and Baltis; but 
himself and John are the only ones now liv- 
ing. After the death of Mr. Hinkle his 
widow returned to the home of her parents, 
Andrew and Elizabeth (Jones) Downing, 
whose children were: Mary, John, Catherine, 
Annie, William, James, Sarah and Jonathan. 
Mr. Downing died in Tennessee, in 1844, at 
the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. 



526 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



For her second husband the mother of our 
subject wedded Tyrance Emerson, by whom 
she had five children. Her death also oc- 
curred in Tennessee, in the fall of 1855, at 
the age of fifty years. 

When between the age of six and seven 
years, William Hinkle was taken by his 
parents to Wayne county, Tennessee, where 
he made his home until 1848, when he re- 
moved to Saline county, Arkansas. Later 
he became a resident of Clark county, the 
same state, and during the war went to Hot 
Springs county. In January, 1869, how- 
ever, we find him a resident of Dallas coun- 
ty, Texas, where he bought two hundred 
and fifty acres of partially improved land, 
living there until the fall of 1883, when he 
came to his present farm of one hundred 
acres of rich and productive land in Hamil- 
ton county. 

Mr. Hinkle was married February 13, 
1845, to Miss Frances Carolina Tinkle, who 
was born in Limestone county, Alabama, 
March 5, 1825, and is the daughter of John 
and Sarah (Browning) Tinkle. By this 
union six children have been born: Sarah 
Ann, born January 24, 1846, married Valen- 
tine O. Brown, by whom she had five chil- 
dren, and died January 26, 1879; John 
William, whose sketch appears elsewhere 
in this volume, is next in order of birth; 
Jesse Baltis, born April 18, 1852, wedded 
Mollie Butcher, by whom he had two chil- 
dren, and died February 28, i89i;Mary 
Catherine, born December 18, 1854, mar- 
ried Isaac Darby, a farmer of Dallas county, 
Texas, and they have eight children; Mar- 
tha Alpha Elizabeth, born August 16, 1858, 
married James Monroe Knight, an agricult- 
urist of Young county, Texas, and they 
have seven children; and Eliza Ellen, born 
October 30, 1861, is the wife of Calvin H. 



Eoff, a farmer of Falls county, Texas, and 
they have seven children. 

Since casting his first vote, up to eight- 
een years ago, Mr. Hinkle was always 
identified with the Democratic party, then 
voted the Greenback ticket, and is now a 
Populist. In 1 849 he became a member of 
the Missionary Baptist church, in which he 
has taken an active part and is now serving 
as deacon. His life has been spent in deeds 
of usefulness and industry, and the name of 
William Hinkle deserves an honored place 
among the representative and highly 
esteemed citizens of Hamilton county. 



'^^OSIAH T. TUNNELL.— Inthe sub- 
B ject of this sketch, Josiah T. Tun- 
A ^ nell, tax collector of Comanche 
county, is found a gentleman whose 
life has nearly all been spent within the 
Texan border and whose prominence in 
a local way justifies the presentation of a 
biographical outline of his career in this 
work. 

Mr. Tunnell is a native of Blount coun- 
ty, Alabama, and was born May 3, 1837, 
son of James and Elizabeth (Ellis) Tunnell. 
His parents were natives of Alabama and 
descendants of old and influential families of 
that state. The arrival of the Tunnells on 
this continent antedates the Revolutionary 
period, they having emigrated to America 
and made settlement in Virginia as early 
as 1752. In 1849 the father of our subject 
removed with his family to Texas and 
located in Smith county, where he engaged 
in farming and stock-raising and where he 
resided for many years. He died in 1861. 
His family consisted of nine children, Josiah 
T. being the second in order of birth. Josiah 
T. Tunnell grew up and received his early 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



527 



training in Sniitli county and finished his 
education with a course in the McKenzie 
College in Red River county. When the 
war broke out in 1861 he was among the 
first to enlist his service for the Confederate 
cause, and as a member of the Fourteenth 
Texas Cavalry went to the front, at first in 
the capacity of a private soldier and later 
holding a lieutenant's commission and com- 
manding Company B of the Fourteenth 
Regiment. He served all through the war; 
was in the Kentucky campaign, participating 
in numerous engagements, including Rich- 
mond, that state, and also was at Chicka- 
mauga, where he was wounded. 

The war over, Mr. Tunnell accepted 
with the best grace possible its results and 
returned to his old home in Smith county, 
Texas, and resumed farming. He removed 
to Comanche county in 1868 and continued 
farming there until 1877, when he turned 
his attention to merchandising, in which he 
was occupied up to 1892. In the meantime 
he served four years as county surveyor, 
from 1872 until 1876. He was elected to 
his present office in 1892, was re-elected, 
and is now serving his second term as tax 
collector, performing the arduous duties of 
this position in a manner that reflects credit 
on him as a prompt, decisive business man 
and official. He has always taken an active 
interest in local politics. Formerly he was 
a Democrat, but of recent years has given 
his stanch and steadfast support to the Pop- 
ulist party. Socially, he affiliates with the 
Masonic order, and is a charter member of 
Comanche Lodge, No. 316, F. & A. M. 
Also he is a member of the Ex-Confederate 
Camp, of which he is at this writing com- 
mander. 

Mr. Tunnell was united in marriage, 
December 27, 1867, to Miss Katie Stewart, 



a native of Alabama and a daughter of 
George A. Stewart, a Texas pioneer of 



BF. LAUGHLIN, county commis- 
sioner of Erath county, is one of 
the native sons of Texas, his birth 
having occurred in Ellis county, on 
the 1st of July, 1856. His parents, Newton 
C. and Margaret J. (Weatherspoon) Laugh- 
lin, removed from Missouri to Arkansas and 
thence to Ellis county, where they resided 
until 1870, when they became residents of 
Johnson county. The father engaged in the 
milling business, conducting a saw and flour 
mill. He also ran a carding factory at Cle- 
burne. Their next home was in Hood 
county, and he also engaged in the milling 
business at Thorp Spring. His death oc- 
curred in June, 1873, at the age of fifty-six 
years, and the mother died in Ellis county, 
when our subject was a youth of eight years. 
B. F. Laughlin accompanied his father 
on his various removals and after the latter's 
death came to Erath county, in 1874, and 
engaged in farming. Here he purchased 
two hundred acres of land on the Paluxy 
river, it being entirely unimproved, but the 
arduous task of developing it did not appall 
him and energetically he began the work. 
He plowed and planted sixty-five acres, 
placing it under a high state of cultivation. 
He is a practical, progressive farmer, and 
the neat and thrifty appearance of the place 
well indicates the careful supervision of the 
owner. 

Mr. Laughlin was married January 2, 
1879, to Miss Sarah A. Williams, a native 
of Wayne county, Tennessee, and a daugh- 
ter of L. C. and Jemima (Massey) Williams. 
During her early girlhood her parents re- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



moved to Arkansas, and in the spring of 
1877 came to Erath county. Her father is 
now a resident of the Indian Nation. Mr. 
and Mrs. Laughlin are the parents of seven 
children, namely: Lydia L. , Louis N., 
Daisy D., Mary E., Wirgil V., Averilla J. 
and Benjamin F. The parents are mem- 
bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
in which he is serving as elder. Mr. Laugh- 
lin also belongs to the Farmers' Alliance. 
In the fall of 1894 he was elected one of the 
commissioners of Erath county and has dis- 
charged his duties in a manner highly satis- 
factory to his constituents and reflecting 
credit upon himself. He is deeply interested 
in all that pertains to the welfare of the 
community, its advancement and upbuilding, 
and whatever measuce is calculated to prove 
of public benefit receives his support. 



^;* A. GRIFFITH, a worthy representa- 
J live of the agricultural interests of 
A 1 Comanche county, was born in North 
Carolina, December 8, 1834, a son 
of Daniel Griffith, who was reared in that 
state and followed the occupation of farm- 
ing. In 1836 he removed with his family 
to Guilford county, that state, where he 
made his home until 1848, when he went to 
Stoddard county, Missouri. In 1858 he 
became a resident of Comanche connty, 
Te.\as, and in 1867 moved to Arkansas, 
but afterward returned to Texas, his death 
occurring in Collin county, this state, in 
1886. He was a Democrat in politics and 
gave an active support to his party, although 
he never aspired to office. His wife still 
survives him and makes her home in Chick- 
asaw Nation. She is a member of the 
Christian church. In their family were 
twelve children, namely: J. A., Jane, 



George, Franklin, John, Sarilda, Madison, 
Rebecca, Columbus, Jemima, Julia and 
Newton. 

Mr. Griffith, whose name heads the 
initial paragraph of this review, was a child 
of only two years when his parents left the 
state of his nativity and removed to I\en- 
tucky. He also accompanied them to Mis- 
souri, when a youth of fourteen, and came 
to Texas in their company in 1858, a young 
man of twenty-four. He was largely reared 
on the frontier and shared in the e.xperiences 
and hardships which always fall to the lot of 
early settlers. After coming to Comanche 
county he engaged in raising hogs and in 
hunting. For some years this region 
abounded in wild game and the followers of 
Nimrod found this a profitable as well as a 
pleasant pursuit. During the war he was in 
the state service on the frontier, and thus 
continued until hostilities had ceased. In 
1 87 1 he left Texas and went to Arkansas, 
remaining with his father until the fall of 
1872, when he was married and established 
a home of his own. 

Mr. Griffith was joined in wedlock with 
Miss Sarah Green, who was born in Georgia 
in 1850, a daughter of William W. and 
Hannah (Dover) Green, the former a native 
of North Carolina and the latter of South 
Carolina, their wedding being celebrated, 
however, in Georgia. Her father was a 
minister of the Primitive Baptist church and 
was exempt from service in the war. In 
1866 he moved to Texas, and in 1S6S took 
up his abode in Arkansas, where he made 
his home until his death, in 1887. His 
wife yet survives him, and is now living in 
Arkansas. They were the parents of fifteen 
children, fourteen of whom reached years of 
maturity, as follows: H. H., Jesse M., 
Alford W., Susan E., Eliza J., Mary A., 






& 



^fSi^r 




^. ^l. '^odei^on. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



529 



Caroline, Laura A., Sela A., Sarah A., Will- 
iam G., Gisson, John F. and Benjamin M. 
The mother and eleven of her children are 
members of the Primitive Baptist church, 
and Jesse M. is a Missionary Baptist minis- 
ter. Hannah A. is also connected with the 
Missionary Baptists, and William G. and 
Benjamin M. are ministers of the Primitive 
Baptist church. The marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Griffith was blessed with ten children, 
but five died in childhood. Those still liv- 
ing are James A., a farmer, William R. , 
Daniel H., Cela M. and Sarah S., all at 
home. The parents hold their religious mem- 
bership in the Primitive Baptist church, and 
are highly esteemed people, whose friends 
throughout the community are many. 

Upon his marriage Mr. Griffith purchased 
a farm in Arkansas and at once began its 
cultivation. In 1885 he again came to 
Comanche county, where he has since re- 
sided, and purchased one hundred acres of 
improved laud, to which he has since added 
one hundred and seventy-five acres. He 
now has one hundred and twenty-five acres 
under cultivation, and this rich and fertile 
tract yields to him a good income in return 
for the care and labor he bestows upon it. 
He also raises enough stock for the care of 
the farm. His home is conveniently situ- 
ated within four miles of Comanche, and 
thus a near market is at hand, enabling him 
to secure easily the comforts of town life, 
and at the same time enjoy the pleasures of 
a country home. 



>^AMES MONROE ROBERTSON, 

h senior member of the law firm of 

A 1 Robertson & Robertson, is one of 

the most able members of the Bosque 

county bar. The present firm was estab- 



lished some four years ago, prior to which 
time our subject was a law partner of O. L. 
Lockett and J. Jenkins. He deserves men- 
tion among those to whom the prosperity 
and development of Meridian is due, as he 
has borne an important part in the upbuild- 
ing of the city and has filled the civic chair 
for two terms. His wide acquaintance, and 
the high regard in which he is universally 
held, will make his life record one of pe- 
culiar interest to our readers, and we gladly 
give it a place in the history of his native 
state. 

Mr. Robertson was born in Hunt county, 
August 25, 1854, and is the eldest in the 
family of eleven children born to Eldridge 
B. and Malinda G. (Dragoo) Robertson. 
The family name is well known among the 
early settlers of North Carolina. The father 
was a native of Giles county, Tennessee, 
and became one of the pioneers of Texas, 
where he resided up to the time of his death, 
which occurred on the 3d of August, 1876. 
The mother's birth occurred in the Hawkeye 
state, and she is a daughter of John H. 
Dragoo, who located in Texas as early as 
1842. She now finds a pleasant home with 
our subject. Her living children are as fol- 
lows: James M. ; Mary, now the wife of 
W. W. Vickry; Eldridge F. ; Sarah M., 
wife of W. P. Caldwell; Benjamin A., 
George P., Ephraim B. and Robert S. 

Mr. Robertson, of this review, spent his 
early life upon the home farm, becoming 
familiar with its hard and steady work, and 
his education was obtained in the district 
schools. He later began reading law. He 
was elected surveyor of Bosque county in 
1878, in which position he served for two 
years, and then formed a partnership with 
O. L. Lockett, the firm being real-estate 
dealers and land lawyers. This connection 



530 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



existed until 1881, and from that period un- 
til 1 884 was engaged in the real-estate busi- 
ness and in surveying. At that time J. 
Jenkins became a member of the firm, and 
as he was an attorney they also engaged in 
the practice of law, our subject in the mean- 
time having prepared himself for admission 
to the bar. He was admitted to practice in 
1888, but the following year death dissolved 
the partnership by taking away Mr. Jenkins. 

Mr. Robertson was married October 2, 
1879, to Miss Lula A. Standefer, a native 
of Alabama, and to them have been born 
six children who are still living, — Mary Ida, 
John Eldridge, James Monroe, Felix Hel- 
ton, Marvin Harris and Joseph Key. One 
son, Abram Mulkey, died October 17, 
1895. 

In his political views Mr. Robertson is 
an unswerving Democrat, and has served 
the city two terms as its mayor, and 
was alderman up to 1895. Religiously he 
holds a membership in the Methodist church, 
south, and socially belongs to Meridian 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is also a mem- 
ber of the chapter. 



iy^-|r>OL WILSON is one of the early 
4 / settlers of central Texas, a promi- 
^Y nent citizen and successful farmer. 
He came to this state empty-hand- 
ed, but was full of energy, industry and a 
strong determination to succeed. Perse- 
vering in his labors, he has therefore worked 
his way steadily upward until his operations 
are now comprehensive in their scope and 
the returns therefrom have made him one of 
the substantial citizens of the community. 

Mr. Wilson was born in Jackson county, 
Georgia, January 18, 1833, and is a son of 
Henry and Jensie J. (Walraves) Wilson, 



both natives of the same state. The Wil- 
son family is of English origin and the orig- 
inal American ancestors came to this coun- 
try at a very early day. The father of our 
subject was a wealthy and prominent farmer 
and slave owner. Although he never at- 
tached himself to any church he was a man 
of Christian habits and belief, and his death 
occurred in Georgia in 1863. His political 
support was given the Democracy. Henry 
Wilson and his wife became parents of 
eleven children, — seven sons and four 
daughters, — all of whom reached years of 
maturity. All of the sons served in the 
Confederate army during the late war and 
three were killed, while one was badly 
wounded, the other three escaping un- 
harmed. Pascal gave his life in defense of 
the south; Oswell is yet living in Arkansas; 
Nancy became the wife of Fillip Wilson; 
Charlotte married L. T. Coker; Fidilla is 
the wife of A. Dover; Vol is the next 
younger; Henry is now living in Tennessee; 
John makes his home in Georgia; Loving 
was killed in the war; Pleasant was seriously 
wounded and crippled for life, but is now 
living in Georgia; and Pliant was also killed 
while defending the banner under which he 
enlisted. The mother of this family passed 
away many years before the war. 

The subject of this review acquired his 
education in the common schools and was 
reared on the old homestead, remaining un- 
der the parental roof until 1854, when he 
came to Texas. He made his first location 
in Bell county, where he rented land and 
raised two crops. In 1856 he came to Co- 
manche county, where he embarked in the 
stock business, devoting his energies to that 
enterprise for a number of years. 

In January, 1862, Mr. Wilson was united 
in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Isham, and in 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



531 



July he bade adieu to his bride and entered 
the army as a member of the Thirtieth 
Texas Cavalry, which was assigned to the 
Trans-Mississippi department. His service 
was largely in the Indian nation and he par- 
ticipated in many skirmishes and a number 
of battles, but was extremely fortunate in 
that he was never wounded or captured. 
He continued in the army until the close 
of the war, at which time he was located in 
Marshall, Texas. When his services were 
no longer needed he returned home to his 
bride whom he had seen only twice during 
the three years that he was numbered among 
the boys in gray. 

Mrs. Wilson was born January ii, 1846, 
and belonged to one of the old families of 
Georgia, her parents being Charles and 
Mary (Warnett) Isham, natives of that 
state. Their marriage was celebrated in 
Georgia and in 1854 they emigrated to 
Texas. After residing at two or three places 
they came to Comanche county in 1855 and 
the father engaged in the stock business. 
During the war he was in the frontier serv- 
ice, and after hostilities had ceased he 
closed out his stock business and purchased 
a tract of land, which he transformed into a 
good farm. His political support was given 
the Democracy, and he took an active inter- 
est in public affairs, holding a number of 
county offices, the duties of which were dis- 
charged in a prompt and able manner. His 
death occurred about 1877, and his wife sur- 
vived him until 1884. She was a consistent 
member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
Their children were Frances, Sarah, Jack- 
son, Millia, Martha A., Caroline, Mary, 
Ellen, and Mrs. Wilson. 

When our subject returned from the war 
he continued to engage in the stock business 
for two years and then sold his cattle. He 



purchased the raw land that formed the 
nucleus of his present fine farm, first be- 
coming owner of one hundred and sixty 
acres, to which he has added from time to 
time until he now has ten hundred and 
thirty-five acres, of which one hundred and 
thirty acres is highly cultivated. He also 
owned two other farms, which he has sold. 
He has made all the improvements upon his 
property and now has one of the model 
farms of the county, with a commodious and 
pleasant residence, substantial outbuildings, 
windmills, all kinds of farm machinery and 
a good orchard. The farm is situated on 
Rush creek, nine miles north of Comanche. 
Mr. Wilson has given his attention to stock- 
raising and land-trading, and although he 
came to Texas with only fifty cents in his 
pocket, by his own efforts he has worked his 
way upward to a position of affluence. He 
possesses excellent business and executive 
ability, and his capable management and 
enterprise are the secret of his success. He 
has shared in the various trials and hard- 
ships incident to life on the frontier, includ- 
ing service against the Indians. Before the 
war he belonged to a ranging company and 
participated in many raids against the In- 
dians, frequently going three hundred miles 
from home in pursuit of the red men and 
taking part in several skirmishes with them. 
In connection with his other work he has 
engaged in milling on Elm creek, a branch 
of Trinity river, and also at Stephenviile. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born 
eleven children, and with the exception of 
one who died in infancy all are yet living, 
namely: Mary J., wife of Jo H. Griffith, 
a farmer; Ellen, wife of W. T. Loudermilk; 
Charles H., who carries on agricultural pur- 
suits; Mintie, wife of W. H. Loudermilk, a 
farmer; David V., who carries on the same 



532 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



business; Annie, wife of John Neighbours, 
an agriculturist; John A., James F., Media 
and Charity B., at home. The mother and 
three of the children are members of the 
Christian church and the family is one of 
prominence in the community, while the 
hospitable home is a favorite resort with 
many friends. In his political views Mr. 
Wilson was formerly a Democrat, but was 
later an active worker in the Greenback 
party and when the People's party sprang 
into existence he joined its ranks and is now 
one of its stalwart advocates. He has never 
sought or desired office, but has given a 
loyal support to all measures calculated to 
support the welfare of the community and 
ever faithfully discharges all his duties of 
citizenship. 



>^OHN B. DABNEY, of Comanche 
^ county, is one of the worthy citizens 
A ■ that Kentucky has furnishedto Texas. 
His birth occurred in Christian coun- 
ty, Kentucky, June 28, 1853, and he is 
descended from one of the old colonial 
families. 

His father, Edwin W. Dabney, was a 
native of Louisa county, Virginia, born 
September 21, 1821; was the grandson of 
Albert G. Dabney and great-grandson of 
Cornelius Dabney. A. G. Dabney also was 
born in the Old Dominion. Edwin W. 
Dabney remained in the state of his nativity 
but a few years. In 1830 the grandfather, 
A. G. Dabney, moved to Christian county, 
Kentucky, with four small boys, his wife 
having died in 1829 in Louisa county, Vir- 
ginia. E. W. was raised in Kentucky, in 
which state he married Miss Hannah G. 
Dabney, in 1841; in 1853 he removed with 
his family to Austin county, Texas. He 



and his wife became the parents of ten 
children, five of whom are now living, — 
three sons and two daughters, viz.: E. T. , 
Cornelius I., John B. , Hannah Elizabeth 
and Virginia Louisa. The mother of these 
children died July 2, 1895, at the good old 
age of seventy-eight years and ten months 
less one day. Their father is still living, at 
the age of seventy-four years and ten 
months, making his home near Belton. He 
is a minister of the Church of Christ, having 
devoted much of his life to his holy caUing, 
earnestly laboring for his fellow men. 

The subject of this sketch, Mr. John B. 
Dabney, was reared at his parental home, 
spending the greater part of his youth in 
Austin county, this state, as he was but an 
infant when he was brought to this state. 
He acquired the greater part of his educa- 
tion in Austin county, and he is to-day a 
well-read man, keeping himself posted on 
all current questions. He resided in Austin 
county and followed farming until the fall of 
1882, when he moved to his present farm in 
Comanche county. This farm is pleasantly 
and conveniently situated near the town of 
Blanket, and he has forty acres under a high 
state of cultivation. 

On the 24th of November, 1875, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Dabney and 
Miss Lida Scoggins, a native of Alabama 
and a daughter of William and Caroline {ncc 
Peinington) Scoggins. She spent her girl- 
hood in the state of Alabama, acquiring her 
education in the public schools there, and 
has proved to her husband an able assistant 
in the duties of life. The home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Dabney has been blessed with seven 
children, namely: Anna E., Cornelius S., 
Creath G., Willie Lou, Manervy M., Henry 
G. and Minnie G. 

In his political views Mr. Dabney is inde- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



538 



pendent, casting his ballot for the man whom 
he thinks best qualified for the office regard- 
less of party ties. He is an honorable, up- 
right gentleman, respected by all who know 
him; is a warm-hearted man, of broad sym- 
pathies, pleasant and genial in manner, 
making friends wherever he goes, and thus 
has he become one of the popular citizens 
of his adopted county. 



>T^OHN H. BRYSON, one of the most 
^ prominent and successful stock-rais- 
A 1 ers of Comanche county, came to 
this section of the state in 1873, a 
poor man, but since that time by his indus- 
try and perseverance has steadily worked 
his way upward. By his earnest efforts he 
has accumulated a competency and there 
are few indeed who have mounted the lad- 
der of prosperity with greater rapidity than 
he. Mr. Bryson is almost constantly in the 
saddle, is a man of indomitable energy 
and perseverance and carries forward to suc- 
cessful completion whatever he undertakes. 
He is comparatively a young man and has 
attained an enviable position in business 
circles and in personal appearance is a per- 
fect type ofmanhood. 

Mr. Bryson is a native of North Caro- 
lina, born April 6, 1853. He was reared 
and educated in the state of his birth and 
was the second in a family of eight children, 
his parents being Coleman and Louisa 
(Bumgardner) Bryson, both of whom were 
natives of North Carolina and were descend- 
ed from old and influential families, whose 
advent on this continent antedate the Revo- 
lutionary war. 

The gentleman whose name introduces 
this review was reared to farm life, but 
since his arrival in Texas, in 1872, he has 



turned his entire attention to stock dealing, 
although for some two years after his arrival 
in the Lone Star state he was engaged in the 
construction of rock fences. His home is 
now located some six miles southwest of 
Comanche and his property consists of 
seven thousand acres, with four hundred and 
twenty-five acres under cultivation. He has 
four tenants upon this place who engage in 
its operation. He also owns five and a half 
sections of land in McCullough county. On 
the home place is a peach orchard, covering 
about an acre, and he now has two thousand 
head of cattle on feed. 

Politically Mr. Bryson is allied with the 
progressive wing of the Democratic party, 
and socially he affiliates with the Masonic 
fraternity, as a member of the blue lodge 
and chapter. He was married April 20, 
1 88 1, to Miss Eleanor E. Martin, a native 
of Texas and a daughter of H. R. Martin. 
They have five children, namely: William 
C, Charles H., Gerald C, Minerva B. and 
Sarah L. The family have a pleasant home. 



EENRY ADKINS SHIPMAN, a pro- 
gressive and enterprising citizen, 
postmaster and general merchant 
of Indian Gap, Hamilton county, 
was born October 17, 1835, in Henderson 
county, Tennessee, at the village of Inde- 
pendence, and is the son of Isaac Denton 
and Sarah (Storey) Shipman, the former of 
English and the latter of Scotch descent. 
The father, who was born in Perry county, 
Tennessee, December 12, iSoi, was a 
farmer by occupation, and for forty years 
was also a preacher in the Missionar}' Bap- 
tist church. He was five feet and nine 
inches in height, a fine speaker, and a Whig 
in politics. His death occurred in Lake 



534 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



county, Tennessee, in 1859, and his wife 
survived hiin only fifteen days. Her birth 
occurred in Virginia in 1802, and with her 
parents she removed to Tennessee. She 
became the mother of eleven children, — 
Jacob, Daniel, Nancy, Marinda, Caroline, 
Elijah, Clark, Henry A., Sarah, Monroe 
and James. All married with the exception 
of James, who died at the age of three 
years, and Clark, who was killed at the 
battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in the 
late war. The paternal grandfather of our 
subject, Jacob Shipman, married Nancy 
Denton, by whom he had the following chil- 
dren: Denton, Isaac D., John, Levi, Dan- 
iel, Abram, Sally, Polly, Annie and Abbie. 
The grandparents lived to be very old. 
Daniel Storey, the maternal grandfather, 
wedded Miss Phesmire, and they became 
the parents of Samuel, James, Elijah and 
several daughters. 

At the age of nineteen our subject began 
teaching school, which profession he fol- 
lowed for three years, and in the fall of 
1858 went to Cassville, Missouri, where he 
clerked for eighteen months for Dr. Deffen- 
baugh, while the following six months were 
passed at Keytesville, Missouri. Returning 
to his Tennessee home, he there engaged 
in farming until June, 1861, when he en- 
listed in Company E, Fifteenth Tennessee 
Regiment, under Captain W. B. Isley, and 
remained with that command all through 
the service. Though he enlisted as a pri- 
vate, he was soon made sergeant, and thus 
served until the close of the war. At the 
battle of Shiloh, he was wounded by a 
piece of shell striking him on the right side 
of the head just above the eye and was in 
the hospital for twenty days. 

When hostilities ceased, Mr. Shipman 
resumed farming in Tennessee, where he 



remained until November, 1872, when he 
located upon a one hundred and fifty acre 
tract of land in Fannin county, Texas. 
This he improved and cultivated for five 
years, when he sold and purchased sixty 
acres near Honey Grove, in the same coun- 
ty, and also had charge of the poor farm of 
the county for one year. In November, 
1884, he moved to Hamilton county, and 
in connection with his son-in-law, J. L. 
Spencer, started a grocery and hardware 
store at Hamilton, Texas, the firm doing 
business under the name of Shipman & 
Spencer for one year, when they sold out 
to C. C. Bumgardner, now a resident of 
McCullough county. 

For one year, Mr. Shipman then lived 
on the ranch owned by B. McPherson, and 
in February, 1885, purchased his present 
place of two hundred and sixty-five acres, 
including the town site of Indian Gap, forty 
acres of which had been placed under culti- 
vation. For four years he conducted his 
farm, at the end of which time he pur- 
chased the remnant of the stock owned by 
Hawley Gerralls, and opened a store, being 
at the same time appointed postmaster at 
that place, and on the 25th of July, 1892, 
moved to his present location at Indian 
Gap. Three years later he built his fine 
residence and sold out his stock of drugs to 
Dr. Carson, and added hardware to his 
groceries, carrying at the present time about 
a two thousand dollar stock. His business 
amounts to that amount per annum. Mr. 
Shipman offered lots, twenty-four by ninety 
feet to any one who would erect either 
a business house or a residence at the Gap, 
and since the proposition was made nine 
houses have been built. 

On the 1st of January, 1861, a marriage 
ceremony was performed by Elder Henry 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



585 



Parker, which united the destinies of Mr. 
Shipman and Miss Clara Ann Simmons, 
who was born in Gibson county, Tennessee, 
November 15, 1840, and was the daughter 
of Andrew Jackson and Harriet (Beard) 
Simmons. The lady was called from this 
life on the 23d of January, 1888. They 
had become the parents of seven children, 
namely: Delia Edna, born May 31, 1863, 
married John L. Spencer, a farmer of Ham- 
ilton county, by whom she has five children; 
Tellamachus, born August 2, 1866, married 
Ora Abney, by whom he has three children, 
is now engaged in farming in Hamilton 
county; Rodolph, born June 18, 1868, died 
in Tennessee, August i, 1872; Beulah, born 
April 3, 1870, died July 23, 1873; Junot, 
born January 25, 1872, is an agriculturist 
of Hamilton county; Hattie, born Decem- 
ber 25, 1874, died November 19, 1881; and 
Henry, born March 10, 1877, died October 
25, 1893. Mr. Shipman was again mar- 
ried July 14, 1889, his second union being 
with Mrs. Nettie Johnson, who was born 
August 4, 1847, in Giles county, Tennessee, 
a daughter of Abram and Nancy Hester, 
and was the widow of Keros Johnson, a 
preacher of the Christian church. 

Mr. Shipman is one of the progressive 
men of the county, and so removed his 
business from the foot of the mountain to 
the Gap proper, which he had purchased. 
Here he platted the town site, and gave 
lots to parties who would erect suitable 
buildings, and as a result the pretty village 
of Indian Gap sprang up. The scenery of 
this region is very fine, and a view of the 
surrounding country can be had for miles 
around, and for health unsurpassed by any 
country. The place was the scene of many 
an Indian raid during early days. Here the 
Indians would pass through the mountains, 



and from this fact it derived its name. For 
sixteen years, Mr. Shipman has been a 
member of the Christian church, of which 
he has served for three years as elder, and 
in politics is an ardent Democrat. 



t >^^ B. SHAW, who figures as one of 
I I the prominent and progressive 
^^^_^ farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
furnishes an excellent illustration 
of what can be accomplished in this state 
by a man with no other capital than brains 
and energy. More than twenty years ago 
he landed here a poor man and in debt; to- 
day he owns hundreds of acres of land and 
is recognized as one of the leading men of 
the county. 

Mr. Shaw is a native of Alabama. He 
was born in Butler county, that state, April 
II, 1843, and is a son of Jonathan J. and 
Elizabeth (Green) Shaw, the former a native 
of North Carolina and the latter of Alabama. 
His parents were married in Alabama and 
after a residence of some years in that state 
removed to Louisiana. Later, however, 
they returned to Alabama, where the father 
passed the rest of his life and where he died 
about 1874. Farming was his vocation, 
but for a number of years he was an invalid 
and unable to work. Of his ancestors little 
is known save that they were of Scotch-Irish 
origin. The mother of our subject survived 
the father some years, came to Texas and 
made her home with her son D. B., and 
died here in 1892. Both parents were 
members of the Christian church. Two 
sons composed their family, D. B. and James 
A., both farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
the latter having resided here since 1878. 
The invalid condition of his father early 
I made it necessary for our subject, the elder 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of the sons, to aid in the maintenance of 
the family, and thus as his boyhood days 
were spent in almost constant work on the 
farm he had little opportunity for attending 
school. But by home study and close ob- 
servation he has acquired a practical edu- 
cation. 

Besides sickness and limited means 
there was another obstacle in the way to 
prevent him from enjoying the advantages 
that he otherwise might have had: While 
he was yet in his 'teens the civil war came 
on. At about the age of eighteen he en- 
tered the First Battalion of Hilliard's Legion 
of infantry, which was organized at Mont- 
gomery. He was with his command in all 
the engagements in which it participated 
until December, 1864, and saw much hard 
service. At Chickamauga he was wounded, 
a piece of shell striking his head and right 
ear, the result being that he was disabled 
for a time and was in hospital at Marietta, 
Georgia. As soon as able he rejoined his 
command, and continued with it until after 
the siege of Petersburg. 

Late in the year 1864 Mr. Shaw left the 
army and returned home, and the next year 
he married and settled down on a rented 
farm in Alabama. He continued farming in 
that state, cultivating land on "the shares," 
until 1872, when with the hope of improv- 
ing his temporal condition he started for 
Texas, arriving at Galveston late in the fall 
of that year and continuing his journey, via 
Waco, to Erath county. The trip from 
Waco to this place was made with ox teams, 
and was saddened by the death of one of 
his children. A pause by the wayside, a 
brief good by, a little grave, and then the 
ox team and the sorrowful family moved on 
and early in the following year, 1873, ar- 
rived at their destination, the father in debt 



and with his means all exhausted. But he 
was not discouraged, and went bravely to 
work hoping for better things. At the end 
of a year spent in rail-splitting and farming 
he found himself no better off than when he 
arrived. Still he kept on and finally the 
tide turned in his favor. He commenced 
buying land, increased his operations from 
year to year, investing and reinvesting as he 
accumulated, and now he is the owner of no 
less than five hundred acres, one hundred 
and seventy-five of which are under cultiva- 
tion and devoted to diversified crops; and 
throughout all these years he has maintained 
his credit and integrity. It has not been 
through luck or wild speculation that he has 
attained to this marked success; it is due 
solely to his honest toil and perseverance 
and good management. Mr. Shaw's resi- 
dence is thirteen miles southeast of Stephen- 
ville, and within three miles of the place 
where he located on coming to this county. 
Shortly after his return from the army 
Mr. Shaw was united in marriage to Miss 
Elizabeth Moore, daughter of A. L. and 
Judia L S. (Northcut) Moore. Her father 
and mother are natives respectively of South 
Carolina and Alabama, and her father when 
in his prime was a farmer and miller, but 
now in their old age the worthy couple re- 
side with their children in Texas, they hav- 
ing come thither from Alabama in 1885. 
Their family comprises thirteen children, 
nine of whom are still living, viz. : Eliza- 
beth, Anthony, W. H., Marion, John T. , 
Louis E., Susan A., Fariba J. M., Theresa 
I. S. Mrs. Moore is a member of the Meth- 
odist church. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have 
been blessed with a large progeny, and nine 
of their twelve children are yet living, 
namely: Andrew J.; Martha E., -wife of 
Edward Cox; Judia A., wife of R. Cox; and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



537 



Edward; John D., William A., Susan M., 
Alford L. and Clara B. 

Mr. Shaw and his wife are identified 
with the Christian church and are active and 
consistent members of the same. He has 
always harmonized with the Democratic 
party and taken an enthusiastic interest in 
local politics and public affairs, but has 
never sought official honors. His numerous 
friends have frequently urged him to be a 
candidate for county commissioner. Thus 
far, however, he has declined to allow his 
name to be used in this way. 



>rj» M. WOODLEY is one of the promi- 
J nent and enterprising farmers of 
m ■ Bosque county, his residence being 
four miles southeast of Iredell, his 
post-office, where he has lived during the 
past ten years. 

Mr. Woodley was born in Alabama, Sep- 
tember 3, 1847; spent his boyhood days on 
his father's farm, and in his youth received 
only a limited education in the common 
schools of the district, civil war interfering 
with his studies as well as with those of 
many other southern and northern boys. 
After he grew up, however, he acquired a 
good practical education. Mr. Woodley is 
a son of William G. and Emily (Cross) 
Woodley, natives respectively of Georgia 
and Tennessee, their marriage having been 
consummated in Alabama. John Woodley, 
the father of William G., was likewise a na- 
tive of Georgia, his father, a native of Dela- 
ware, having served as a soldier all through 
the Revolutionary war and at its close hav- 
ing made settlement in the " Empire State 
of the South." William G. Woodley was 
a farmer all his life. During the late war 



he, like most southern men, espoused the 
cause of the Confederacy and entered its 
army. His service was chiefly in Virginia 
and extended to the close of the war, after 
which he returned to his homestead in Ala- 
bama, where he spent the closing years of 
his life, dying July 11, 1876. He was a 
Democrat. He took a laudable interest in 
all public affairs and especially those of a 
local nature, ever directing his influence in 
the line of truth and right, but never in any 
was aspiring to official rank. Both he and his 
good wife were deeply pious and were zeal- 
ous members of the Primitive Baptist church, 
retaining a membership in this organization 
for many years and dying in the full hope of 
life immortal. Their family comprised eight 
children, viz. : Mary, wife of F R. Schenck, 
has been a resident of Bosque county, 
Texas, since 1 876, Mr. Schenck being ranked 
with the prominent farmers of the county; 
J. M., of this sketch; Urena E., wife of B. 
W. Turner, an employee on the Texas Cen- 
tral Railroad; George W., a farmer of 
Limestone county, this state; Assenith, wife 
of E. B. Davis, of Cherokee county, Ala- 
bama; John W., engaged in the stock busi- 
ness in the "Panhandle;" Mattie J., wife of 
W. R. Davis, a farmer of Bosque county; 
and Sue E., wife of E. R. Turner, a Bosque 
county farmer. 

J. M. Woodley remained with his father 
until twenty-four years of age, when he 
took to himself a wife, rented a farm and 
launched out to make his own way in the 
world. For three years he farmed rented 
land. Then he bought a small farm, moved 
to it and continued its cultivation until 
1885, when he sold out and came to Texas, 
directing his course to Bosque county. 
Here he rented land one season and in 1886 
purchased one hundred and seventy-seven 



538 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



acres of wild land where he now lives. He 
has fenced this whole tract and has about 
a hundred acres of it under cultivation, 
and besides this has made numerous other 
improvements, thus greatly enhancing its 
value. He has a commodious and attract- 
ive residence, substantial and convenient 
outbuildings, wind pump, etc. His land is a 
rich, black soil and produces as good crops 
as any in this part of the country. 

Although Mr. Woodley is comparatively 
a young man and was only a boy at the 
time of the civil war, he has a war record. 
He was enrolled in the Confederate service 
as a member of a battalion, composed of 
boys and old men, which performed guard 
duty and looked after deserters, and was in 
this service during the last eight months of 
the war. He was surrendered under Gen- 
eral Adams' command. 

Mr. Woodley was married in his native 
state, in 1871, to Miss Alice C. Pike, a na- 
tive of Alabama and a daughter of John W. 
Pike. Her father was a South Carolinian 
who in early life settled in Alabama and in 
1885 came from there to Te.xas, coming at 
the same time that Mr. and Mrs. Woodley 
did and settling on a farm in Bosque county, 
where he still lives, engaged in farming and 
stock-raising. He was a Confederate sol- 
dier, was captured at Vicksburg by the fed- 
eral forces, but was soon afterward paroled, 
and was all through the war. Of the chil- 
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Woodley, ten in 
number, we record that two died young, 
and that the others are as follows: Edward 
L., railroad agent at De Leon; Thomas J., 
. a resident of Taylor county, Te.xas; and 
Henry J., Nannie E., Florence, Ernest, 
Cordelia and Jesse, all at home. 

Mr. Woodley and his wife are identified 
with the Missionary Baptist church and are 



among its active and leading members. He 
also is a member in good standing of the 
Knights of Honor. 



HJ. WALKER.— We are at this 
point in this series of biographical 
sketches permitted to review briefly 
the life history of one who stands 
conspicuously as an enterprising agricultur- 
ist and stock man of Bosque county, — 
A. J. Walker. His home and farm are lo- 
cated two miles south of Eulogy. 

A. J. Walker dates his birth in the state 
of Alabama, February 6, 1856, and is a son 
of Henry and Nancy (Pierce) Walker, both 
natives of that state. William Walker, the 
grandfather of A. J., was of South Carolina 
birth, and passed the most of his life in 
frontier districts. He was for some years a 
resident of Alabama. While there his wife 
died, and shortly afterward, in 1856, he 
came to Texas and engaged in ranching in 
Parker county, living on his ranch with his 
hired men and thus passing the closing 
years of his life. He died in 1869. He was 
for many years a slaveholder, and carried 
on extensive farming operations. He served 
as a soldier in the Seminole war in Florida, 
and his frontier life not infrequently brought 
him into contact with the Indians, the red 
men being numerous in Parker count}' when 
he settled there. On two occasions all his 
horses were stolen by them, and he did his 
part in driving the Indians away and putting 
a stop to their depredations. Henry Walker, 
the father of our subject, was reared and 
married in Alabama, and in 1858 followed 
his father's example and emigrated to Texas, 
bringing his family with him and locating 
in Parker county, where he engaged in the 
live-stock business, keeping both cattle and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



539 



horses. In i86S he moved to Bosque county 
and located near Kimball, on Mesquite 
creek, where he continued the stock busi- 
ness. He from time to time became the 
owner of many other tracts of land in this 
county, some of which he opened up to 
farming. In 1888, being afflicted with can- 
cer, and wishing to obtain medical treat- 
ment and a change of climate, he went to 
Eureka Springs, Arkansas; but neither 
change of climate nor medical skill effected 
a cure. He died and is buried there. He 
was a Democrat, and a man who took a 
deep interest in all that tended to promote 
the welfare of his community and the coun- 
try at large. He was a veteran of both the 
Mexican and civil wars. Both he and his 
aged father were in the frontier service 
fighting the Indians during the late war. 
Religiously he was reared a Baptist, and 
adhered to that faith all through life, retain- 
ing a firm trust in the Savior to the very 
last. His wife also was a devoted and con- 
sistent member of the Baptist church. She 
died in 1878. Her father — Grandfather 
Pierce — was a native of Alabama, and for 
many years a prominent farmer of that 
state. He died while 01 route to California 
in 1850. Henry and Nancy (Pierce) Walker 
were the parents of eight children, namely: 
Belle, who became the wife of ]. R. Ashley; 
A. J., whose name forms the heading of 
this article; Nanny, who married a Mr. 
Scott; William H., deceased; John, a law- 
yer of Alabama; Thomas J., who is engaged 
in farming in Somervell county, Texas; 
Jerome, also of Somervell county; and Sally, 
who died at the age of seventeen years. 

A. J. Walker was two years old at the 
time he was brought by his parents to 
Texas, and here he was reared to the stock 
business, early assisting in the care of the 



stock and becoming familiar with every de- 
tail of the business. While in early boy- 
hood he had only limited opportunities of an 
education, he, after becoming a man, made 
up for those deficiencies by his home study 
and reading, and thus through his own 
efforts acquired a good practical education. 
He has always followed the business in 
which he was reared. He has bought, im- 
proved and sold three farms, the first one 
being in Johnson county. His present farm 
comprises 700 acres, is located two miles 
south of Eulogy, and is nicely improved and 
regarded as one of the most desirable farms 
in the vicinity. At the time Mr. Walker 
came into possession of this place only a 
few acres of its soil had been furrowed and a 
small box house was its only building. To- 
day the whole 700 acres are under fence, 
much of the land is being cultivated, there 
is a nice residence and good tenant house, 
wind pump, etc., and the general appear- 
ance of the premises is indicative of pros- 
perity. Of recent years Mr. Walker has 
reduced the number of his stock and in- 
creased the grade. Horses are his specialty, 
and there are few better judges of "horse- 
flesh " in this part of the country than he. 
He has taken droves of horses and mules to 
the Louisiana markets. At this writing he 
has a fine thoroughbred stallion and sev- 
eral valuable mares and colts; and in both 
his farming and stock-raising he is meeting 
with that success which his earnest and well- 
directed efforts merit. 

Mr. Walker was married in 1880 to Miss 
Sally Vinson, a native of Johnson county, 
Texas, born November 22, 1861, daughter 
of Benjamin F. and Susan (Wilbanks) Vin- 
son, natives respectively of Georgia and 
Texas. The Vinsons were slaveholders and 
among the prominent and well-to-do fami- 



r)40 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



lies of Georgia. Mrs. Walker's maternal 
grandfather, Gardiner Wilbanks, was a 
South Carolina man who came to Texas 
about the time it was admitted into the 
Union of States. He was a well-known 
farmer and stock-man and slave-owner, and 
lived to the extreme old age of ninety-four 
years, his death occurring in Johnson county. 
Both he and his wife were of the Methodist 
persuasion. Mrs. Walker's father, Ben- 
jamin F. \'inson, died in Johnson county in 
1 888. He was a member of the Christian 
church, and his wife of the Baptist. The 
latter is still living in Johnson county, and 
recently became the wife of Mr. David 
Wylie. Her children by Mr. Vinson num- 
bered eleven, two of whom died in infancy, 
the others being as follows: Mrs. Walker; 
Frank, a resident of the Indian Nation; 
Alice, wife of Davis Porter, died and left 
two sons; Otis, a farmer; Miss Ola; Jefie, 
wife of Samuel Calahan; and Bertha, Dovie, 
and Velmer. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have 
one son, Loyan H., born October i, 1882. 
Mr. Walker is a Democrat, and both himself 
and wife are members of the Christian 
church. 



>^ B. BLANKINSHIP, who is inti- 
J mately concerned in a line of indus- 
A 1 try which has important bearing 
upon the progress and stable pros- 
perity of any section or community, — the 
farming interests, — occupies a distinctively 
representative position among the enterpris- 
ing and progressive business men of Erath 
county, and it is eminently fitting that he 
be accorded due recognition within the 
pages of a volume whose province is the 
consideration of the lives of the represent- 



ative citizens of the section with whose in- 
terests he has been so closely identified for 
almost a quarter of a century. 

Mr. Blankinship was born in Georgia in 
1832, a son of Woodson and Mary (Weems) 
Blankinship, both natives of North Caro- 
lina, and the latter of English ancestry. 
When our subject was a child of seven years 
his father died, and he then remained with 
his mother on the homestead farm until 
eighteen years of age, when he joined his 
brother in an independent agricultural ven- 
ture. He followed farming in Georgia un- 
til 1852, when he came to Texas and loca- 
ted in Wood county, resuming his labors at 
the plow. He had been a resident of the 
Lone Star state for six years, when, in 1858, 
he secured as a companion and helpmeet on 
life's journey Miss Mary Haley, a native of 
Tennessee. By their marriage three chil- 
dren were born, namely: M. D. ; Mary, 
deceased wife of William G. Wright; and 
Amzy. The mother of this family died in 
1866, and in 1867 Mr. Blankinship was 
again married, his second union being with 
Miss America Jane Jeffries, a native of Ar- 
kansas, who came to Texas during her girl- 
hood with her parents. Her father, Joseph 
Jeffries, was a pioneer of Hopkins county, 
Texas. Eight children have been born of 
the second marriage of Mr. Blankinship, as 
follows: Melissa M., wife of Joseph C. Mc- 
Mahan; J. W. ; A. W. ; J. B., Jr.; A. F. ; 
G. W. ; W. A., who died in infancy; and 
Grover C, who completes the family. 

Mr. Blankinship continued to engage in 
farming in Wood county until 1872, when 
he came to Erath county. Here he has a 
landed estate of three hundred acres, and 
his farm with modern improvements and 
highly cultivated fields, indicate the careful 
supervision of the owner, who is justly 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



541 



regarded as one of the leading agriculturists 
of the community. 

Mr. Blankinship's military record was 
made through service in the civil war, 
wherein he demonstrated his bravery and his 
fidelity to the cause he espoused. In the 
fall of 1 86 1 he joined Roberts' company of 
the Eleventh Texas Infantry, which was 
attached to Reynolds' brigade. He partici- 
pated in the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant 
Hill, Boise Bay and Saline river. At Boise 
Bay he was captured, but soon afterward 
was recaptured. He served until the close 
of the war, and when the regiment was dis- 
banded in 1S65 returned to his home, which 
he found had suffered from the ravages of 
war. 

He and his wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church; socially he is 
connected with the Masonic lodge at Ste- 
phenville, and politically he is a Democrat. 



aHARLES MACK McKINLEY, who 
is engaged in farming in Hamilton 
county, Texas, was born in Harde- 
man county, Tennessee, April 21, 
1846, and is a son of Stephen and Dovy 
Louisa ( Robinson ) McKinley. The family 
traces its ancestry to the Emerald Isle, and 
from the same lineage comes William Mc- 
Kinley, the prominent Republican leader, 
who is therefore a relative of our subject. 
The grandfather of Charles M. McKinley 
also bore the name of Charles, and was 
born in Ireland, whence he emigrated with 
his wife to the United States, locating in 
North Carolina. He served in the Revolu- 
tionary war, valiantly aiding the colonies in 
their struggle for independence. His chil- 
dren were John, Carson, David, Margaret, 



who married John White, and Jennie, who 
was the wife of Thomas McCoughan. All 
were at one time residents of North Carolina. 

Stephen McKinley was born in Cabarrus 
county. North Carolina, July 22, 1799, and 
was married January 6, 1825, to Dovy Lou- 
isa Robinson, who was born December 9, 
1 806. They began their domestic life in the 
state of their nativity and after twenty 
years' residence there removed to Hardeman 
county, Tennessee, in 1845; in 1859 they 
went to Colorado county, Texas, and in June, 
1883, Mr. McKinley became a resident of 
Hamilton county. He died February 12, 
1 886, and his wife passed away July 21, 1875. 
In early life he united with the Presbyterian 
church and for forty years was one of its 
ruling elders and most active workers. His 
political support was given the doctrines of 
the Whig party. In his family were nine 
children, namely: John Robinson, born Sep- 
tember 28, 1825; David Sample, November 
18, 1828; James Harvey, January 8, 1831; 
Mary A., January 13, 1833; Daniel Pence, 
July 5, 1836; Martha Jane, July 31, 1838; 
Margaret Louisa, December 9, 1840; 
Thomas Milton, in 1844; and Charles Mack, 
who completes the family. The sisters are 
all living, but with the exception of our sub- 
ject the brothers have all departed this life. 

Mr. McKinley, whose name introduces 
this review, was in his fourth year when he 
was brought by his parents to the Lone Star 
state. His father purchased a home and as 
soon as Charles had attained a sufficient age 
he assisted in the labors of the farm, its cul- 
tivation and improvement. Thus he early 
became familiar with all the duties that fall 
to the lot of the agriculturist, and when he 
started out in life for himself it was along 
the same line of endeavor. He became 
quite an extensive dealer in stock, and when 



542 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



he removed to Hamilton county he brought 
with him five hundred head. In November, 
1 1876, he arrived in this locality and pur- 
chased one hundred and sixty acres of land 
of Mr. Wilhelm. He now has one hundred 
and eighty-five acres of rich land, of which 
fifty acres is under cultivation. There are 
also good improvements upon the place in 
the shape of substantial buildings and the 
other accessories of a model farm of the 
nineteenth century. 

On the 13th of February, 1873, was cel- 
ebrated the marriage of Mr. McKinley and 
Miss Annie Eliza Ragsdale, daughter of 
Dionysius and Sarah (Haile) Ragsdale. 
Their union has been blessed with one 
daughter, Bessie Clay, born July 29, 1876, 
now with her parents. Mrs. McKinley was 
born in Manchester, Tennessee, October 10, 
1844, and lived there until twelve years of 
age. Within that time her father died, and 
the mother with her son, E. M. Ragsdale, 
removed to Colorado county, Texas, whence 
they afterward went to Goliad county. On 
the breaking out of the civil war they re- 
turned to Colorado county. Dionysius 
Ragsdale was born February 23, 1796, and 
died in Tennessee September 26, 1846. In 
the same state he was married to Miss Haile 
on the 15th of September, 1825, and the 
record of their family is as follows: Francis 
Hewitt, who was born July 15, 1826, and 
became a captain in the Confederate army, 
commanding his company on the last day of 
the engagement at Murfreesboro. He was 
a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He married 
Eliza Howard and had three children. Per- 
melia Hord, born April 21, 1828, died in 
Dallas, Texas, May 4, 1891. She was the 
wife of Samuel Williams, a veteran of the 
Mexican war, and had eight children. 
Martha Jane, born August 26, 1830, died 



at the age of thirty-eight years. She mar- 
ried Thomas Patton and had five children. 
Mary H., born September 22, 1833, and 
died in July, 1857. Edward Mitchell, born 
November 12, 1835, was a lieutenant in the 
southern army and is now a resident of 
Hamilton county; he married Kate Walker 
and has nine children. Nancy Carter, born 
May 6, 1837, died at the age of eighteen 
years. Sarah Elizabeth, born June 10, 
1840, died November 24, 1888. She was 
the wife of James Harvey McKinley and 
their family numbered six children. (J. H. 
McKinley was a lieutenant in the southern 
army.) Angeline Olive, born January 5, 
1842, is the wife of Rodeny Taylor, a resi- 
dent of Pecos City, Texas, and has four 
children. Mrs. McKinley is the next of the 
family. John Dionysius, born March 27, 
1847, died at the age of forty years, a stock- 
man. The father of these children was a 
prominent and influential citizen of Ten- 
nessee. In his religious belief he was a 
Methodist, and in his social relations a Ma- 
son. The Ragsdale family was of English 
origin. His wife, who was born in Vir- 
ginia, in September, 1805, died February 
19, 1886. Her father, Dudley Haile, the 
maternal grandfather of Mrs. McKinley, 
was a native of Ireland and married Nancy 
Carter, by whom he had the following men- 
tioned children: Gatewood, who is now 
living in Kentucky, at the advanced age of 
one hundred years, Leaman, Josie, Nancy 
and Sarah. 

Mr. McKinley has devoted the greater 
part of his time and attention to his busi- 
ness interests and therein has won success. 
He has, however, found opportunity to pro- 
mote the enterprises calculated to advance 
the general welfare and to faithfully perform 
all the duties of citizenship. His political 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



543 



support is given the Populist party, and for 
ten years he has been a member of the 
Methodist church. 



QL. WOOLLEY, an agriculturist 
of energy and "ability, who has 
been identified with the growth 
and development of Comanche 
county for several years, was born Febru- 
ary 24, 1S43, in Alabama, and was reared 
there on a farm. His parents, Irby and 
Feraby (Page) Woolley, were also natives of 
the same state, where their marriage was 
celebrated; but the paternal grandfather, 
Bazil Woolley, was born in South Carolina, 
and on his removal to Alabama became a 
prominent farmer and slave owner. He 
was a strong Democrat, but never cared to 
hold public office. Like his father, Irby 
Woolley, he gave his unwavering support to 
the Democracy, and was called upon to fill 
several important positions of honor and 
trust in the county, including that of pro- 
bate judge, which he held for many years, 
and which he was acceptably filling at the 
time of his death, which occurred before 
the late war. In religious belief he was a 
Methodist, and was a most upright, honor- 
able man and leading citizen. His wife, 
who survived him, also died before the out- 
break of the civil war. In their family 
were five children: Monroe, deceased, who 
served in the late war; Virgil, who was also 
a Confederate soldier in that struggle and is 
now a farmer of Lee county, Texas; Bazil, 
deceased, who also "wore the gray;" M. L., 
who is next in order of birth; and Mila A., 
who become the wife of Thomas Jackson, 
with whom she came to Texas, but both 
are now deceased. 

Our subject remained at home until 



after the death of his parents. In 1861 he 
enlisted in the first company raised in his 
county, becoming a member of the Tenth 
Alabama Infantry, in the Army of Virginia, 
under General Robert E. Lee, and saw 
some very hard service. For a time he 
was a sharpshooter in the advance cam- 
paign, being in constant skirmishes, and 
was in many important battles. At Peters- 
burg he was wounded by a gunshot through 
the right arm, which disabled him for active 
duty for eight weeks, but was never taken 
prisoner, and remained faithful to the cause 
for which he fought until hostilities had 
ceased. While he was at home wounded, 
he was cut off from Lee's army by the fed- 
eral general Thomas. Then he joined 
Gatewood's independent company in east 
Tennessee and fought with them until all 
the Confederate forces had surrendered, but 
he was never surrendered. 

Returning to southern Alabama, Mr. 
Woolley engaged in farming for a time, and 
on the 30th of November, 1865, was united 
in marriage with Miss Alpha Jones, a most 
estimable lady, who was born in Alabama, 
where her parents, Hugh and Janette 
(Woolley) Jones, were prominent farming 
people and slave-owners. They too were 
earnest members of the Methodist church. 
Mrs. Woolley was the seventh in order of 
birth in their family of sixteen children, the 
others being Seaborn, Stephen, Emeline, 
Rebecca, Elizabeth, Joseph W., Bazil, Eze- 
kiel, Hugh, Henry C, George W. , Mary, 
Julia, Geneva, Laura and Andrew S. Six 
children were born to our subject and his 
wife: Emma E., wife of Jack R. Tatam, a 
farmer; Walter H., who is engaged in gen- 
eral merchandising; Allie G., wife of James 
White, an agriculturist; Lula M., wife of 
John Tally, also a farmer; Gatewood L., 



544 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



a farmer; and Druzele, wife of Sam Cooper, 
a farmer. 

After harvesting two crops in Alabama, 
Mr. Woolley emigrated to Texas, locating 
first in Bastrop county, where he rented 
land for two years, and then purchased raw 
land, which he converted into a most excel- 
lent farm, on which he made his home un- 
til 1880. For one year he was then en- 
gaged in the stock business in Shackleford 
county, after which he went to Lee county, 
where he purchased land, which he engaged 
in cultivating and improving until coming to 
this county, three years later. He brought 
his stock with him and was engaged in that 
business until 1892, when he sold out. It 
was in 1884 that he purchased his present 
valuable farm of four hundred and ten acres 
in Comanche county, and now devotes his 
entire time and attention to its development, 
having at present one hundred and thirty- 
seven acres under a high state of cultiva- 
tion and improved with excellent buildings 
and a good orchard. As he was reared in 
the Methodist church, he still holds to that 
faith, and also adheres to the principles of 
the Democratic party, but has never aspired 
to office. He is a highly respected citizen, 
straightforward and honorable in all his 
dealings, and has the confidence of all with 
whom he comes in contact either in a busi- 
ness or social way. 



>T^OHNA. McGUIRE is now living a re- 
■ tired life in Comanche. He is so 
/• 1 well kdown to the citizens of central 
Texas that he needs no special in- 
troduction to the readers of this volume. 
With the history of the county he 
has been closely identified since 1854, 
when he located within its borders and 



erected the first house within its present 
limits. He is to-day the oldest pioneer here, 
in years of continued residence, excepting 
only his father-in-law, who accompanied 
him on the removal to the Lone Star state. 

Mr. McGuire was born in Iredell county, 
North Carolina, May 15, 1823, and comes 
of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, 
John McGuire, was born on the Green Isle of 
Erin, whence he sailed for America, found- 
ing the family in North Carolina. He spent 
his last days in Iredell county, that state, 
and his wife, Anna McGuire, died in Bell 
county, Texas. Spencer McGuire, father 
of our subject, was born in Iredell county, 
September 4, 1804, and there grew toman- 
hood. At the age of eighteen he married 
Sarah Burton, a native of North Carolina 
and daughter of Ed Burton, who was of 
Scotch lineage. To Mr. and Mrs. McGuire 
were born eight children, namely: John A., 
Wiley, Anna, Burton, Mary, Martin, Doc 
and Sarah. The father of this family fol- 
lowed the occupation of farming and died 
in Walker county, Georgia, at the early age 
of thirty-seven. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat of the Jackson school, and in religious 
belief was a Methodist. 

Mr. McGuire, of this notice, spent his 
youthful days in his parents' home, and to 
some extent attended the common schools 
of the neighborhood. Reading and study 
in his leisure hours and the practical experi- 
ence of life has made him a well informed 
man and he has a broad knowledge of the 
questions of the day. 

On the 26th of October, 1846, Mr. Mc- 
Guire chose as a companion and helpmeet 
on life's journey Miss Dicy Martin, an in- 
telligent and estimable lady belonging to 
one of the old southern families. She was 
a sister of H. R. Martin, the president of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



545 



the First National Bank of Comanche, and 
a daughter of Henry Martin, who is num- 
bered among the honored pioneers of central 
Texas. In 1851 Mr. McGuire left Georgia 
and accompanied by his family removed to 
Bell county, Texas, where he remained until 
the fall of 1854, when he came to Comanche 
county and settled on the farm now occupied 
by Thomas Homesley. He remained in the 
county for thirteen years, and in 1866 went 
to Benton county, Arkansas, where he re- 
mained for three years. He then sold his 
property there and returned to this county, 
settling on Rush creek, where he made one 
of the best farms in the county. He now 
has three farms, aggregating fifteen hundred 
acres, of which four hundred acres are under 
cultivation. This is rich bottom land, well 
adapted for the raising of corn and cotton, 
and the excellent crops which he harvests 
are to him a profitable source of income. 
He has upon his land twelve tenement 
houses and other improvements in the way 
of outbuildings, machinery and fences, all 
of which indicate his careful supervision. 
In addition to his other property he has also 
given one hundred and sixty acres of land to 
each of his children, thus enabling them to 
avoid many of the difficulties which must be 
met if one starts in life empty-handed. 

By his first marriage Mr. McGuire had 
twelve children, ten of whom are living, 
namely: Sarah E., E. Anna, William, 
Henry, John E., Jesse, Emily, Martha, 
James and Lucy. Amanda and Elizabeth 
are both deceased. The mother of this 
family died June 25, 1883. She was a de- 
voted and affectionate wife and mother, a 
kind neighbor and a most estimable lady, 
beloved by all who knew her. Mr. Mc- 
Guire's second wife bore the maiden name 
of May Evans, and her death occurred in 



1887. In 1888 our subject wedded Mrs. 
Martha Hairston, a widow, and they have a 
daughter, named Ruby. 

In his political views Mr. McGuire is a 
stalwart Democrat, and is recognized as one 
of the leading members of his party in Co- 
manche county. He was elected sheriff of 
the county in 1 860 and served in that capac- 
ity for four years, a brave officer, never 
flinching in the face of the sternest duty. 
He was also county commissioner for six 
years and school superintendent for four 
years, discharging his duties with a prompt- 
ness and fidelity that won him high com- 
mendation. Socially he is a Royal Arch 
Mason. Mr. McGuire has rounded the 
Psalmist's span of threescore years and ten, 
but a kindly use of those powers which na- 
ture bestowed upon him, both mental and 
physical, leaves him to-day a well preserved 
man. Frank and genial in manner he has 
many friends, and over the record of his life 
there falls no shadow of wrong. 



K^^ ENJAMIN W. SWITZER, who has 
l/"^ been honored with official prefer- 
J^^J ment in Comanche county, is one 
of the successful and highly es- 
teemed farmers in central Texas. A native 
of South Carolina, he was born at Spartans- 
burg, June 3, 1840, and in that locality was 
reared and educated. His father, Samuel 
Switzer, was born in South Carolina, in 
1 80 1, and is descended from one of the old 
and influential southern families. About 
1 820 he was joined in wedlock with Miss 
Mary Gates, a cultured lady born in South 
Carolina in 1804, and a descendant of the 
well known family of that name. She lived 
to the age of forty-eight years, her death 
occurring in 1852. Her husband removed 



54G 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



to Texas in 1865, locating in Milam county, 
where he resided until called to the home 
beyond this life in 1872. Their family 
numbered nine children. 

The subject of this review was the 
seventh in order of birth, and was reared to 
manhood on his father's farm, early be- 
coming familiar with its labors and duties. 
When the civil war was inaugurated he took 
up arms in defense of the south, enlisting 
in 1861, as a member of Company C, 
Twenty-seventh Mississippi Infantry. He 
entered the service as a private, and during 
the engagement at Perryville, Kentucky, in 
1862, received a serious wound in the left 
leg, which necessitated the amputation of 
that member. After sufficiently recovering 
he returned to Mississippi, whither he had 
removed in 1859. 

Ten years later Mr. Switzer came to 
Texas and joined his father, then a resident 
of Milam county. In 1876 he made a per- 
manent location in Comanche county, and 
is now residing about ten miles southwest of 
the county seat, where he owns a beautiful 
farm that embraces within its boundaries 
three hundred and forty acres, of which 
sixty-five acres is highly cultivated, being 
planted to cotton, corn and small grain. He 
also makes a specialty of the raising of hogs, 
and his farm stock is graded, the cattle be- 
ing of the Holstcin breed. His home is a 
commodious and convenient residence, lo- 
cated on a natural building site and sur- 
rounded by a fine orchard of peach and or- 
namental trees. 

Mr. Switzer was joined in wedlock, in 
Hamilton county, May 17, 1877, with an 
estimable lady, Miss Palestine Johnson, who 
was born in Mississippi and is a daughter of 
William Johnson, an honored veteran of the 
Mexican war. Mr. and Mrs. Switzer have 



a family of nine children, namely: Christian 
B. , Samuel O., Mary E., William D., 
James G., Nellie G., Julia J., John C. and 
Clifford W. 

Politically, Mr. Switzer is a stanch and 
steadfast Democrat of the old school. In 
1880 he was elected on that ticket as county 
assessor and served two terms in that im- 
portant office. He has always taken an act- 
ive part in educational matters, and has 
served many years as a trustee or school 
director of district No. 51. A loyal and 
conscientious Christian gentleman, he has 
been connected with the Methodist denomi- 
nation from boyhood, and at this writing is 
secretary and trustee of the church in 
Blanket. 



^"V'AMUEL STILES is an honored 
•^^^k* pioneer and worthy citizen of Hain- 

^^ J ilton county, Texas. As a business 
man he possesses excellent judg- 
ment, is skillful and enterprising in his farm- 
ing operations, and in all respects accounted 
a useful and desirable member of society. 
Almost his entire life has been passed in the 
Lone Star state, but he was born in 
Claiborne parish, Louisiana, September 7, 
1837, and is a son of William and Nancy 
(Lawrence) Stiles. 

The family was founded in America by 
William Stiles, the great-grandfather of our 
subject, who came from Ireland and settled 
in North Carolina when a young man. He 
was married there and later removed to 
South Carolina, where he served as a con- 
tinental soldier in the Revolutionary war. 
In religious belief he was a Protestant. 

The grandfather of our subject, who also 
bore the name of William Stiles, was a 
native of North Carolina, but was married 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



547 



in South Carolina, and became the father of 
six children, — Richard, John, William, 
Hettie, Elizabeth and Sarah. As early as 
1 82 1 he came to Texas, accompanied by his 
wife and three children, — William, Hettie 
and Sarah. Hettie was married at that 
time to Henry Jones. She is the only one 
now living and resides on her old homestead 
on the St. Marcus river. Sarah was also 
the wife of a Henry Jones, who, though 
bearing the same name as her sister's hus- 
band, was no relative. Of the other chil- 
dren Richard was one of the pioneers of the 
state, locating in Shelby county; John was 
one of the first settlers of Red River county, 
making his home near Clarksville; and 
Elizabeth, who married Samuel Frame, 
came to Texas after the civil war and located 
near Austin. The grandfather never left 
the state after his location here in 1821, but 
passed his last days on the Brazos river at 
the home of his daughter Sarah. He also 
aided the colonies in their struggle for inde- 
pendence, serving with Marion and Sumter 
in South Carolina. 

The father of our subject first opened his 
eyes to the light February 3, 1799, in South 
Carolina. With his parents he went to 
Kentucky, where they resided for a time, 
and then removed to Washington county, 
Arkansas. Joining the Austin colony, they 
came to Texas in 1821, where William 
Stiles, Jr., remained for one year. He had 
previously married in Arkansas, and had at 
that time one son, John. At the end of a 
year, however, he removed to Indian Ter- 
ritory, where the following year was passed, 
and then returned to the colony in Texas, 
remaining with it for eighteen months. 
Going again to the nation, he located near 
Fort Towson, where he lived eight years, 
leading a truly pioneer life. His next 



removal made him a resident of Louisiana, 
where he remained until 1850, and in the 
fall of that year came to Ellis county, Texas. 
He located in what is now Johnson county, 
near Mansfield, and his family at this time 
consisted of his wife and six children, 
namely: William, Samuel, Nancy, Jane, 
James and Sarah. The father there secured 
a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, 
to which he added until he had three hun- 
dred acres of good land, and there made his 
home until his death, which occurred August 
29, 1875. He had enlisted as a private 
under General Jackson in the war of 1812, 
but being very young was never called into 
active service. He was a Democrat in poli- 
tics, and after settling in Louisiana became 
a devoted member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, to which faith he ever afterward 
adhered. 

The mother of our subject was born in 
South Carolina, October 25, 1803, and was 
the daughter of Adam Lawrence, who was 
of Scotch lineage. Her father was married 
in South Carolina, and her mother, who 
carried dispatches during the Revolutionary 
war, was wounded at the battle of Cowpens. 
Mrs. Stiles departed this life on the 24th of 
September, 1875. She was the mother of 
the following children: John, George, Eliz- 
abeth, Richard, William, Nancy, Samuel, 
Jane, James, Sarah, and one son that died at 
birth. 

Mr. Stiles, whose name introduces this 
record, remained with his parents until 
1 87 1, when he removed to a home of his 
own in Johnson county, where his farm con- 
sisted of one hundred and seventy acres, 
and continued to reside there until 1875, 
when he purchased one hundred and six 
acres of the farm where he now lives, re- 
moving there on the 27th of December of 



518 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



that year. He now has a valuable tract of 
one thousand acres, of which one hundred 
and sixty acres are under cultivation, and 
erected his present comfortable residence in 
1881. 

On the 3d of February, 1870, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Samuel Stiles and 
Mira Jane Poindexter, who was born in 
Maury county, Tennessee, February 26, 
1846, and is the daughter of Joseph and 
Amanda Jane (Blair) Poindexter. To them 
were born the following children: Ella, 
born October 8, 1870; John, who was born 
May 18, 1872, and died in infancy; William 
Thomas, born July 7, 1873; Samuel Ed- 
ward, born April 15, 1875; Amanda Jane, 
born September 17, 1878; George, born 
November 10, 1879; Mary Emma, born Oc- 
tober 24, 1882; Martha Elizabeth, born 
August 31, 1884; Jamie Omer, who was 
born September 15, 1886, and died April 
23, i8go; Mira Launa, born May 24, 1890; 
and Marvin, September 18, 1892. 

At the beginning of the civil war, in 
April, 1 86 1, Mr. Stiles enlisted in Captain 
Buck Berry's company. First Texas Mounted 
Rifles, and engaged in arduous warfare with 
the Indians for three years, when he went 
to Louisiana and served until the close of 
the war. Prior to his enlistment he had 
belonged to the "ranger" service, and his 
duties carried him well over the state, with 
which he is therefore familiar. He has one 
of the finest farms in the community, 
adorned with excellent farm buildings, and 
is numbered among the most popular, enter- 
prising and successful agriculturists of Ham- 
ilton county. He affiliated with the Demo- 
cratic party until the first election of Presi- 
dent Cleveland, and then became one of the 
first Populists of the county, attending the 
first state convention at Dallas, in 1892, as 



a delegate from Hamilton county. He is a 
consistent member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and is actively identified with 
all plans for the social and moral elevation 
of the community. 



>T^AMES PINKNEY MAJOR, one of 
m the best known and most prominent 
A 1 citizens of Hamilton county, is now 
engaged in the operation of a cotton 
gin at Lanham, and may be justly styled 
the father of that place. His birth occurred 
on the 27th of December, 1838, in Blount 
county, Alabama, at the home of his parents, 
Elijah Tiegue and Casander (Allgood) Major, 
and he is the fifth in a family of eight chil- 
dren, the others being Miles, Charley, Mar- 
tha, Sarah, Ellis, Elizabeth and Stephen. 
The father, who was a native of Pendleton 
count}'. South Carolina, after the death of 
the mother of our subject, married Louisa 
Cowden, by whom he had five children, 
namely: John, George, Amanda, Mary and 
William. The paternal grandfather, Epps 
Major, served in the Revolutionary war un- 
der Generals Marion and Sumter. By his 
marriage to Miss Tiegue he had ten chil- 
dren, — two sons and eight daughters. Bar- 
nett Allgood, the maternal grandfather, 
married a Miss Dean. 

During the late civil war our subject was 
in the hospital department of the Confed- 
erate service at Tunnel Hill, Georgia. In 
1862 he started in the milling business in 
his native state, which he conducted until 
1872, when in November of that year he 
came to Hamilton county, Texas, where he 
engaged to run the old Snow mill at Pull 
Tite, on the Leon river, which he operated 
about a year. He then purchased four hun- 
dred and twenty-eight acres of the St. John 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



549 



survey, all wild land, which he at once 
began to improve, and has since added 
thirty-three acres to the tract. His present 
comfortable home was erected in 1885, and 
three years later he built the gin which he 
now conducts with excellent success. The 
town was named in honor of Colonel Sam- 
uel Lanham, who served as congressman in 
1888. Mr. Major is widely known in busi- 
ness circles as a man of undoubted integrity, 
conducting his interests with ability and a 
strict regard to details. 

In 1858 Mr. Major led to the marriage 
altar Miss Eliza Jane Blakely, and to them 
have been born si.x children: Mattie, who 
first wedded William Tidwell, and after his 
death A. J. Russell; Stephen Ellis; James 
Aleck; Mettie, wife of Mr. Cousins; John 
Elijah, a teacher; and Charles, who is at- 
tending school at Weatherford. Mr. Major 
himself is a well-read man, and has given 
his children a liberal education. He has 
been eminently successful in his business 
ventures, his residence and its surroundings 
denoting him to be a man of thrift and en- 
terprise, and he takes an active and com- 
mendable interest in whatever is for the 
good of his county or state. He assisted in 
the organization of the People's party, since 
which time he has been one of its stalwart 
supporters. For forty-six years he has been 
a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, and was made a Mason at 
Hico, Texas, in 1884, becoming a charter 
member of Fairy Lodge. 



at 



'ALTER C. LANFORD is one of 
the useful and valued citizens of 
Comanche county. It is not the 
men who are found in the legis- 
lative halls of the nation or are prominent 



in military circles on whom the welfare of 
the country depends, but the men who re- 
main quietly at home, attentive to business, 
faithful to their duties of public and private 
life. To them can be attributed the stable 
growth and prosperity of a community and 
to this class belongs the subject of this re- 
view. 

Mr. Lanford was born in the Spartan- 
burg district of South Carolina, on the 3d 
of May, 1855. His grandfather, John Lan- 
ford, was a native of Virginia and a member 
of an old and respected family of that state. 
He was only six months of age at the time 
of the commencement of the Revolutionary 
war. The family of Lanfords is of Scotch 
origin and was probably founded in America 
in early colonial days. To John and Rutha 
Lanford, the grandparents of our subject, 
were born twelve children. The father, 
Silas Lanford, was born in South Carolina, 
and when he had arrived at years of matur- 
ity married Miss Salena Mason, a native of 
the same state and a daughter of Posey 
Mason, one of the native sons of South 
Carolina, and a member of an old and hon- 
ored family. The children born of this 
marriage were: Augustus, W. C, Eu- 
genia, Lee, Elliott, Mason, Jane, Lillie, 
Lou, Herbert and one deceased. The fa- 
ther of this family was a soldier in a South 
Carolina regiment for five years and died in 
that state at the age of sixty-five. Farm- 
ing was his business pursuit and to the de- 
velopment of his land he gave the greater 
part of his attention. In his political views 
he was a Democrat and in his religious be- 
lief a Baptist. His wife is still living in 
South Carolina, at the age of sixty-six years. 

Our subject was reared in the state of 
his nativity and early learned lessons of in- 
dustry and integrity, his home training be- 



550 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



iiig a good preparation for his life work. 
His education was obtained in the public 
schools and through the years of his boy- 
hood and youth he worked on his father's 
farm. In 1878 he left the Atlantic coast 
and came to the Lone Star state, locating in 
Comanche county four years later. He 
then purchased his present farm, comprising 
three hundred and twenty acres of land, of 
which eighty acres are highly cultivated. 
He erected a good house, at a cost of eight 
hundred dollars, the dwelling being situated 
on a natural building site which commands a 
fair view of the surrounding country. He 
also has a good orchard, covering an acre 
and a half, and his farm is one of the best 
improved in this section of the county. 

In the year of his arrival in this county 
Mr. Lanford was married to Miss Minnie 
Switzer, the wedding being celebrated on 
the 14th of December, 1882. The lady was 
born in Austin county, Texas, a daughter of 
H. C. Switzer, who died in 1891. Her 
mother, whose maiden name was Eustacia 
Collins, died in 1876. She also was born 
in Austin county, Texas, and was a daugh- 
ter of J. W. Collins, who went to that coun- 
ty in 1836, becoming one of its pioneer set- 
tlers as well as one of its honored citizens. 
His death occurred in 1886. Mrs. Lanford 
was one of eight children, four sons and 
four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Lanford 
have five sons and one daughter, namely: 
John Posey, Silas Ernest, Sam Christian, 
Lawrence, Elma Malinda, and Walter 
Calvin. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Lanford is 
a stalwart Democrat, and both he and his 
wife are faithful members of the Christian 
church. He is deeply interested in educa- 
tional and religious work and all matters 
that pertain to the welfare and advance- 



ment of the community. He is a man of 
fine physique, of genial, affable manner and 
the excellencies of his character give him a 
standing in the community that is indeed 
enviable. 



>^OHN BOLER.— A view over the field 
J of business life in Hamilton county 
A J shows no one who stands forth more 
conspicuously as one of the most 
prominent representatives of commercial in- 
terests than the subject of this review. He 
is the senior member of the well known firm 
of J. Boler & Son, general merchants of 
Pottsville, and his identification with busi- 
ness in this locality has not only advanced 
his individual success, but has also materi- 
ally promoted the welfare of the community. 
Mr. Boler is of Scotch-Irish descent. 
His father was born June 24, 1793, in Edge- 
field, South Carolina, and when very small 
lost his father, who died leaving three chil- 
dren, — John, Mary and Wesley. The last 
named, before his marriage, accompanied 
his brother to South Carolina and was there 
joined in wedlock with Eliza Walton, a 
daughter of John Walton, who died in New- 
ton county, Mississippi, in 1846, at the age 
of eighty years. He had removed from 
South Carolina to Alabama and thence to 
Mississippi in 1830. His wife bore the 
maiden name of Elizabeth McMillan, and 
their children were James, Enoch, Eliza, 
Martha, Sarah, William, John, Henry and 
Elizabeth. The father of this family served 
in the Indian wars. Mrs. Eliza Boler was 
born in Alabama in 1807, and in 1830 the 
parents of their subject went to Hinds 
county, Mississippi, where they remained 
for five years, then took up their abode in 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



551 



Newton county, where the father carried on 
agricultural pursuits. He was a member of 
the Primitive Baptist church and in politics 
was a Democrat. His death occurred No- 
vember lo, 1883, and his wife passed away 
in February, 1867. The members of their 
family were William Riden, John, Mary 
Ann, James, Sarah Jane, Martha, Elizabeth, 
Greenbury, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson 
and Eliza Jane. All are living with the ex- 
ception of James, William and Eliza Jane. 
After the death of his first wife the father of 
this family married Mrs. Nancy Walton. 

John Boler, of this review, was born 
April 22, 1827, in Clarke county, Alabama, 
and when a child of three years went with 
the family to Mississippi. On attaining his 
majority he entered upon his business career, 
accepting a situation as overseer, where he 
had the management of one hundred hands. 
Subsequently he began farming, which he 
followed until 1865.. In August, 1863, he 
enlisted in the Confederate service but did 
not go to the front, although he aided in the 
attacks made on Sherman's army as it was 
on its raid. He began merchandising in 
Neshoba county, Mississippi, opening a store 
three miles from Union with a stock valued 
at fifteen hundred dollars. This establish- 
ment he conducted for eight years, when he 
returned to his old home in Newton county, 
where he carried on farming for five years. 
He left Mississippi for Texas December i, 

1882, and located in Oceola, Hill county, 
where he rented land. In October, 1883, 
he was joined by his son, Walter J., and 
they have since been largely associated in 
business. Mr. Boler had purchased two 
hundred and forty acres of land on Cow- 
house creek, near Indian Gap, in August, 

1883, and moved to that place in December. 
He also rented land near by and improved 



both properties, continuing their cultivation 
for two years. 

Mr. Boler arrived in Pottsville, March 
25, 1885, and established a store under the 
firm name of J. Boler & Company, busi- 
ness being carried on by this house until 
February 4, 1888, when his son purchased 
the interest of I. G. Alvey, and the firm of 
J. Boler & Son was established. They 
carry a stock valued at twenty-five hundred 
dollars, and their annual sales amount to 
four thousand dollars. They have one of 
the best equipped stores in the entire coun- 
ties and are numbered among the leading 
general merchants in this part of the state, 
while from the general public they receive 
a liberal and well merited patronage. 

On the 29th of June, 1848, Mr. Boler 
was united in marriage with Miss Martha 
Adeline Boyd, daughter of William and 
Maria (Henderson) Boyd. Their children 
were William Alexander, who was born De- 
cember 9, 1850, and died July 26, 1865; 
John Madison, born April 23, 1853, married 
Victoria Germany, who resided in Mills 
county, three miles west of Indian Gap. 
Their children are Ennis, Augusta, deceased, 
Maud, Marcus, Pollie, Austin, Bertie and a 
baby boy. Martha Virginia Adelaide, born 
October 9, 1855, married G. H. Abney, by 
whom she had three children, Ora, Mattie 
and George H. After the death of her first 
husband she wedded T. A. Lovelace and 
the children of this union are Roy, Earl, 
Ina, Ima, deceased, and an infant son. 
Walter James, born July 20, 1866, his fa- 
ther's partner, was married September 13, 
1888, to Pallie Germany, daughter of John 
W. and Hester (Smith) Germany. She 
was born in Mississippi in February, 1869, 
and their children are Roger Willis, born 
August 24, 1889; Bertha May, born March 



552 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



2, 1892; Levie, born October 24, 1894. 
Mrs. Martha A. Boler, who was a consis- 
tent member of the Missionary Baptist 
church, died August 26, 1890. On the 
29th of March, 1891, Mr. Boler married 
Mrs. Maggie Blondell Johnson, widow of 
John Johnson, by whom she had three chil- 
dren. Her father was John Wails. 

In his political views Mr. Boler and his 
son Walter are Democrats, and while living 
in Mississippi the former served as justice 
of the peace for two years. Both are mem- 
bers of the Missionary Baptist church, the 
father having held membership therein for 
forty-five years. When twenty-si.x years of 
age he joined Hillsboro Lodge, F. & A. M., 
of Hillsboro, Mississippi, and now holds a 
demit from the lodge in Newburg, Texas. 



IHOMAS TAYLOR EWELL, a 
prominent lawyer of Granbury, 
was born in McCracken county, 
Kentucky, February 8, 1844, the 
second in a family of fourteen brothers and 
sisters, whose parents were John and Ann 
E. (Taylor) Ewell. His paternal grand- 
father was Major Charles Ewell, an Ameri- 
can soldier of the Revolutionary war, who 
married Mrs. Maria D. Craik, whose maiden 
name was Tucker. His maternal grand- 
father was Captain Thomas Taylor, a sea- 
man, engaged in trade between the Chesa- 
peake and West Indies during the early part 
of this century. The Ewell, Tucker and 
Taylor families had been established in \'ir- 
ginia during early colonial days, and Major 
Charles Ewell and Captain Thomas Taylor 
removed with their families from Prince 
William county, \'irginia, to McCracken 
county, Kentucky, about the year 1826. 



There John Ewell and Ann Taylor were 
reared and their marriage was celebrated 
April 8, 1 84 1. The former followed the 
occupation of farinng and trained his boys 
to a practical knowledge of farm work. He 
was in strong sympathy with the cause of 
the southern Confederacy, and at the close 
of the civil war was broken down both in 
spirit and fortune. Removing to Paducah, 
Kentucky, he was there elected at various 
times to county offices. His death oc- 
curred in 1890. 

As far back as authentic records can be 
secured it is known that the Ewell family 
sprang from Charles Ewell, an English gen- 
tleman, three of whose sons — Charles, Sol- 
omon and James — emigrated with a colony 
from Dumfries, Scotland, and settled along 
the Potomac in Prince William county, Vir- 
ginia, during the reign of Charles II, naming 
the new town Dumfries. Charles, the eld- 
est, remained in Virginia, and from him 
sprang the Virginia family of Ewells; while 
Solomon and James, during Indian troubles, 
removed to the eastern shores of Maryland. 
This Charles Ewell married Marian Ber- 
trand, a lady of a French family, and had 
three sons, — Charles, Bertrand and Solo- 
mon. Of these Bertrand Ewell married a 
Miss Kinnor and had nineteen children, of 
whom Major Charles Ewell, the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was the 
eighteenth. Records of the Taylor family 
beyond Captain Thomas Taylor have not 
been perpetuated. It is traditionally known 
that by intermarriage they are intimately 
descended from the family of "Light- 
Horse" Harry Lee. 

Thomas T. Ewell, as before indicated, 
spent his boyhood on the farm and had only 
the ordinary opportunities of a country 
school, such as was common to the early 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



553 



days of country life in western Kentucky. 
When he was sixteen years of age his 
father secured for him a place with an old- 
time friend as deputy circuit court clerk, 
where he remained from 1859 until 1862. 
While living there he became imbued with 
a desire to enter the legal profession and 
set about to master the science of law, by 
hard study, but the federal army upon en- 
tering Kentucky in 1861 took possession of 
the courthouse, and the civil courts at 
Paducah being virtually suspended he re- 
turned to his father's farm for a few months; 
and then, riding a mule and accompanied 
by a cousin, he made his way from his 
home on the Ohio across Kentucky and 
Tennessee, to Guntown, Mississippi, having 
had many narrow escapes and adventures 
in slipping past the federal lines. Here 
they met Confederate cavalry, and, learn- 
ing that the Third Kentucky Regiment of 
Confederate Infantry, having just partici- 
pated in the battle of Baton Rouge, was 
then encamped at Jackson, Mississippi, they 
at once joined that regiment, where an older 
brother of our subject, Charles Ewell, was 
already enlisted. From this on through 
the war Thomas T. Ewell, as a private 
soldier, followed the fortunes of his com- 
pany under the leadership of Breckenridge, 
Van Dorn, Loring, Buford and Forrest, 
under whose various commands in order 
named it fought through the war. Mr. 
Ewell participated in the battle of Corinth, 
the maneuvers under the direction of Joseph 
E. Johnston before and after the fall of 
Vicksburg, the siege and accompanying the 
battle of Jackson, Mississippi, the battle of 
Port Hudson, Louisiana, the battle of 
Paducah, Kentucky, Brice's Cross Roads, 
Harrisburg, Mississippi, Athens, Tennessee, 
and other minor engagements, and while on 



special detached service entered Kentucky 
with General Lyon in the winter of 1864-5 
and participated in the capture of several 
federal steamers on the Cumberland, loaded 
with cargoes for Nashville. A few days 
later, while engaged in scout service, he was 
hemmed in by a freshet in Green river, the 
retreat of his party being thus cut off, and 
was captured near Bowling Green, Ken- 
tucky, being thence conveyed to Camp 
Chase in Ohio, where he was held as a pris- 
oner of war until March, 1865, when under 
arrangements for final exchange he was 
conveyed by way of Baltimore and up the 
James river to the Confederate lines about 
Richmond and released under parole. 

At the conclusion of the war, before his 
final exchange, he returned to his Kentucky 
home, having but recently reached his 
majority, and there found that his father's 
fortune had gone and he could therefore 
receive no aid from that source. He then 
entered the service of the Paducah & Gulf 
Railroad Company and in the various capac- 
ities of freight and passenger agent, con- 
ductor and master of transportation followed 
such service until January, 1871, when, 
owing to failing health, he removed to Hood 
county, Texas, a then newly organized 
county on the frontier. He settled at Gran- 
bury, where, without a tutor, he took up 
again his long-interrupted study of law, 
sometimes doing farm work and sometimes 
teaching school to bear his expenses. At 
the fall term of the district court of 1871, 
after only eight months of study, — during 
which time, however, he had diligently in- 
vestigated Blackstone, Kent, Phillips on Evi- 
dence, Story's Equity and Chitty's Plead- 
ings, together with the Texas statutes and 
many decisions of the Texas courts, — he 
applied for license to practice law, and after 



554 



HISTORT OF TEXAS 



an examination was admitted to the bar, 
the examination being conducted by Judge 
Charles Soward and a committee composed 
of S. H. Renicit, of Waco, Colonel Rushing, 
of Cleburne, and Mr. Young, of Granbury. 

Being at the time engaged in school- 
teaching, Mr. Ewcll did not enter into 
practice until January, 1872, when he 
opened an office, and has since been actively 
engaged in the practice of his profession in 
Granbury. From the summer of 1872 until 
February, 1876, he was associated in part- 
nership with Colonel T. J. Duke and after- 
ward, till 1880, with John P. Estes and with 
B. M. Estes until 1881. In 1887 he admit- 
ted R. C. Milliken into his office as a student 
and soon as a partner, and this connection 
continued until Mr. Milliken's removal from 
the county in 189 1. In 1878 Mr. Ewell 
was elected county attorney of Hood county, 
serving for one term, but having more taste 
for civil law he did not seek a re-election. 
His professional labors have been chiefly in 
land litigations, and in this field, by skill- 
fully invoking legal and equitable principles, 
thoroughly studied by him, he gained many 
victories for poor and humble clients in his 
earlier career, thus gaining a reputation in 
this specialty which his subsequent career 
has not only retained but made brighter 
still. He has been an occasional contributor 
to the local press of his county on questions 
of public interest, and has recently compiled 
a brief history of Hood county, which is a 
reliable and well-edited volume. 

Mr. Ewell was married to Miss Bettie 
Black, of Jefferson, Texas, in 1874. Their 
eldest child, a daughter, nosv twenty years 
of age, is engaged in school-teaching, hav- 
ing received the degree of A. B. in Gran- 
bury College in the class of 1894. She and 
a son, now thirteen years of age, are the 



only surviving children, two other sons hav- 
ing died in infancy. 

Mr. Ewell was one of the original 
founders and trustees of Granbury High 
School (now College), and is now acting on 
its board of trustees. He has always been 
a friend to local educational institutions, 
deeply interested in all that pertains to the 
mental development of the young. In 
politics he has affiliated with the Demo- 
cratic party, but as an aspirant for office 
has never actively participated in politics. 
However, in the great state contest on the 
prohibition question in 1887 he engaged 
ardently in the public discussions on the 
side of temperance. In his boyhood he 
joined the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south, and has ever since retained his mem- 
bership therein. Not deeply pious, he has 
great faith in God, to whom, with his fam- 
ily, he offers daily prayer and thanksgiving. 
He has never united with any civic society 
except the Masonic, having been made a 
master Mason in Kentucky about 1868; since 
his removal to Texas he has been dimitted. 

To note the characteristics of Mr. Ewell, 
it may be mentioned that while he is en- 
dowed by nature with a high temper, he 
has complete mastery of self. This control 
emanates from his well balanced mental 
organization, to which all of his character- 
istics are subject in a large degree. He is 
candid to a fault, and his strict sense of 
honesty in business and professional life has 
never admitted of an undue advantage being 
taken of any situation. A strict adherence 
to the golden rule has marked his life, and 
while it may have made him poorer in ma- 
terial things he has thereby been enriched by 
blessings choicer than wealth, — the heritage 
of a good name and the confidence and es- 
teem of his fellow men. His sympathetic 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



nature has often occasioned great sacrifice 
of his personal interests to the betterment 
of the condition of others. Possessing a 
studious mind he prefers the exclusion of his 
home and office to the social amenities of 
society. He is quick of perception, writes 
with fluency and clearness, while in speech he 
is not demonstrative in manner but logical 
and pointed in his utterances, which gives a 
weight to his words. Of a frail physique 
his physical constitution has always lacked 
robustness in health and strength, his nerv- 
ous and mental energies alone enabling him 
in lieu of physical strength to succeed in his 
undertaking. 



^"V* R. SWITZER, a leading citizen 
•^^^kT of Comanche county, was born in 

h\^^^y the Orangeboro district, South Car- 
olina, December 22, 1854, and is 
a son of W. C. and Jane C. (Yeargin) 
Switzcr. They had twelve children, nine 
sons and three daughters, namely: S. R., 
W. D., Lula M., Lawrence, John J., Cora, 
Ben, David, Fred, Walter, Isla May and 
Yeargin. 

The subject of this review spent the 
first twelve years of life in the state of his 
nativity, and in 1866 became a resident of 
Austin county, Texas, where he remained 
for three years. He then went to Milam 
county, where he continued for six years, 
and on the expiration of that period became 
a resident of Comanche county. He ac- 
quired his education in the public schools, 
and has largely supplemented it by reading 
and study at home. In his early life he 
learned the blacksmith trade, which he fol- 
lowed for several years, and in 1888 he 
turned his attention to farming, locating at 
his present home, which was then a tract 



of wild land entirely destitute of improve- 
ment. He now has a valuable farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres, of which sixty-five 
acres is now highly cultivated. There is 
also a good orchard upon the place, a com- 
fortable residence, stable yards and the ac- 
cessories of a model farm. 

Mr. Switzer has been twice married. 
He wedded Amy Cross, daughter of Riley 
and Jane Cross and a native of Brown coun- 
ty, Texas, where she was reared and edu- 
cated. Two children were born of this 
marriage, — Pierce and Riley, the latter now 
deceased. The mother passed away in 1 886, 
mourned by many friends as well as her 
own immediate family. In 1887 Mr. Switzer 
was again married, his second union being 
with Miss Eddie Drake, a cultured and in- 
telligent lady and a daughter of M. L. 
Drake. Three children grace this union, — 
Ethlene, Fred and Anna, — and they also 
lost one son, Paul D. 

In politics, Mr. Switzer is a stalwart 
Democrat, and is a member of the Masonic 
Lodge at Comanche. He holds member- 
ship in the Methodist church, and is one of 
its most active and zealous workers, having 
served as steward and trustee of the church 
and as superintendent of the Sunday-school. 
He encourages and aids all enterprises and 
movements calculated to advance the best 
interests of the community, and well de- 
serves mention among the best citizens of 
his adopted county. 



,>^ EV. ROBERT A. BIGGS is one of 

jl ^^ the native sons of Texas and is a 

I P worthy representative of one of the 

honored pioneer families of the 

state. More than half a century has passed 

since his father, Benjamin F. Biggs, came 



556 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



to Texas, during which time the republic 
has taken on statehood and become a rec- 
ognized power in the Union, exerting an in- 
fluence on almost all national affairs of 
moment. He is now living in Duffau, in 
the seventy-ninth year of his age, — a man 
whose honored old age indicates a well 
spent life. He was born in Tennessee, June 
27, 1818, and is a son of Elder Asa Biggs, 
a native of North Carolina, who removed to 
Tennessee in a very earl}' day and was one 
of the pioneer preachers of that state. He 
was accompanied by his wife and six chil- 
dren, namely: Susan Glover, Eliza Mualdin, 
Wilson, B. P., Henry and Amanda. After 
some years' residence in Tennessee Elder 
Asa Biggs came to Texas, where he con- 
tinued the work of the ministry, delivering 
the first sermon in many localities of the 
frontier region. He died in Rusk count}', 
in April, 1861, at the age of seventy-eight 
years, and his death was the occasion of 
deepest regret wherever he was known. His 
life was pure and holy and his kindness and 
sympathy won the love and respect of all. 
He was a man six feet in height, well pro- 
portioned, of light complexion and blue eyes, 
and weighed nearly two hundred pounds. 

Benjamin F. Biggs spent his early life 
in the state of his nativity and in 1838 was 
married. Almost immediately thereafter 
he started for the republic of Texas, taking 
up his residence in Shelby county in 1841. 
For five years he made his home in that lo- 
cality and then removed to Rusk county, 
where he followed agricultural pursuits. He 
was very successful in his undertakings and 
accumulated handsome property prior to 
the conmiencement of the civil war, but dur- 
ing that struggle he lost all of his personal 
effects and transportable property. During 
the last two years of the war he was con- 



nected with the state militia. In 1867 he 
removed to Collin county, Texas, where he 
remained until 1890, when he came to 
Duffau. Here he is spending his last years 
in the enjoyment of a well earned rest, 
while friends and neighbors have for him 
the highest regard. He had not long been 
a resident of Texas when his first wife died. 
Tbey had three children, Eliza Jane, Mar- 
tha Ann and Franklin, — the last named 
having died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, while 
serving as a soldier in the late war. The 
daughters still survive. For his second wife 
he chose Alsa J., daughter of Thomas Starr, 
a native of Illinois, who came to Texas 
about the time Mr. Biggs arrived in the state 
and also settled in Shelby county, where he 
died a few years later. By the second mar- 
riage of Benjamin F. Biggs there were ten 
children, seven of whom are yet living, as 
follows: Elder Robert A., Daniel, Jefferson 
D., Margaret C, wife of James F. Stensin, 
James, Hugh R., and Fannie, wifeof James 
Hagan. The deceased were Minnie E. , 
Thomas A. and Mary E. The mother of 
this family died in August, 1869. For more 
than half a century Mr. Biggs has been a 
member of the Primitive church and has 
always taken an active part in religious 
work. He served for many years as deacon 
and clerk in the church and has ever been 
prominent in advancing the cause of Chris- 
tianity whenever possible. 

Rev. Robert A. Biggs, whose name intro- 
duces this review, was born in Rusk county, 
Texas, June 2, 1849, and his early life was 
spent in a manner similar to that of most 
boys of the state. His early education was 
limited, for the period of the war and its 
attendant hardships interfered with the con- 
tinuance of his school work. During the 
last three years of the war the care of fif- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



557 



teen persons devolved upon his young shoul- 
ders; but faithfully and conscientiously he 
performed the heavy task imposed upon 
him. He remained at home until his mar- 
riage, which was celebrated in October, 
1869, the lady of his choice being Miss 
America Crawley. 

Not long after this event he removed 
with his bride to Collin county, Texas, 
where for eight years he followed farming 
and then came to Erath county, in the au- 
tumn of 1877. The following year he was 
licensed to preach, and in 1880 he was or- 
dained by Elders W. S. Harris and F. Lo- 
den. Following his ordination he received 
calls from the Damascus church in Erath 
county and Concord church in Comanche 
county, serving the former two years and 
the latter six years. During this time he 
was instrumental in the organization and 
upbuilding of Ephesus church, of which he 
acted as pastor for five years, and in 1887 
he returned to Erath county, locating on 
his present farm, a small tract of eighty 
acres, which is cultivated under his personal 
supervision. In addition to his farm work 
he has charge of four churches, — Bosque, 
Hopewell, Providence and Mineral Springs; 
and his labors in the Master's vineyard are 
untiring. He has ofificiated at the ordina- 
tion of eleven deacons and six ministers, 
and since 1887 has baptized one hundred 
and twenty-four people and has married 
fifty-four couples. In eight years, while 
serving four churches, he traveled one thou- 
sand miles annually, and since his ordination 
he has delivered eleven hundred and eighty- 
nine discourses. Mr. Biggs is a gentleman 
of scholarly attainments and broad general 
information, is a fiuent, logical and enter- 
taining speaker, has won an enviable repu- 
tation as a debater and is a warm defender 



of his faith. His labors in the ministry have 
been productive of most beneficial results, 
and his devotion to this holy calling has led 
many to enter that straight and narrow way 
which leads to life everlasting. 

Mr. Biggs was called upon to mourn the 
loss of his wife June 25, 1881. She was 
born May 5, 1850, and departed this life at 
the age of thirty-one years, leaving five chil- 
dren,— Nathan L., John B., Riley B., Lula 
M. and Jesse D. One child, Josephine, is 
now deceased. On the 7th of October, 
1 88 1, Rev. Biggs married Sarah E. Hack- 
ler, by whom he had six children; but 
Lewis A. and an infant have passed away. 
Those who are still with their parents are 
Callie L., Dora P., Neal L. and Dollie B. 



>T^ H. KEITH is the oldest settler on 
J Alarm creek, having been connected 
A 1 with this section of the state since 
1859. The region in which he lo- 
cated was wild and unimproved. Vast 
stretches of prairie offered excellent oppor- 
tunity to the agriculturist, but as yet were 
in the primitive condition. Few homes had 
been established in the surrounding country 
and along the banks of Alarm creek no 
settlement had been effected. From that 
time forward Mr. Keith has been active in 
the development of the neighborhood and 
belongs to that class of honored pioneers to 
whom the county owes a debt of gratitude 
for what they have accomplished. 

Mr. Keith was born in McNairy county, 
Tennessee, on the 21st of February, 1829, 
a son of Stephen and Rebecca (Crane) Keith, 
who removed to Arkansas in 1830 and came 
to Texas in 1839. Our subject resided in 
Titus county, this state, until after he had 
attained his majority and then took up his 



558 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



abode in Hunt county. He was married in 
the former county, in 1848, to Miss Jane 
O'Neal, a native of McNairy county, Ten- 
nessee, born in 1829, a daughter of George 
W. and Mary (Major) O'Neal, who reached 
Titus county, Texas, on the 2u of January, 
1846. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Keith 
removed to Hunt county, where he followed 
farming and stock-raising until 1859, when 
he came to Erath county, then on the very 
border of civilization. Locating on his 
present iarm he began to clear and improve 
the place and continued this work until the 
breaking out of the war. In August, 1862, 
he enlisted in Colonel Gurley's regiment, 
which was attached to General Gano's di- 
vision, and served in the western army, par- 
ticipating in many skirmishes and the battle 
of Cabin creek, where three hundred 
wagons were captured by the Confederate 
forces. 

At the close of the war the regiment 
with which Mr. Iveith was connected was 
disbanded, and he returned home to find 
that all his transportable property had been 
stolen and he was forced to begin business 
life anew. His family had during the strug- 
gle between the north and the south re- 
moved to Dublin, Te.xas, in order to escape 
the treachery of the savage Indians, who 
were committing so many depredations on 
the frontier. Locating upon his farm our 
subject once more began the work of devel- 
opment and improvement and now has a 
valuable place, comprising seven hundred 
and twenty acres, all of which is fenced, 
while one hundred and fifteen acres is under 
a high state of cultivation and yields to him 
a golden tribute in return for his care and 
cultivation. Mr. Keith has won that suc- 
cess that results from enterprise, capable 



1 management, and unfaltering industry, and 
is to-day numbered among the substantial 
citizens of the community. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keith arc the parents of 
eleven children, seven of whom are still liv- 
ing, namely: Wilson S., born June 25, 
1849, ^tJ after attaining to years of matur- 
ity engaged in the stock-raising business. 
While following this pursuit on the Pecos 
river, August 3, 1873, he was wounded by 
the Indians at Horse Shoe Bend, and after 
being removed to Seven Rivers he died. 
W. G. is married and resides near the old 
homestead. Nicodemus is married and 
makes his home in Eastland county, Texas. 
Ellen died at the age of eight years. 
Stephen is married and resides on the home- 
stead farm. The next, a daughter, died in 
infancy. Robert E. is married and lives in 
Erath county. Elba is the wife of Frank 
Ham, of Erath county. Walter is at home. 
Emma is the wife of J. H. Boyd of Erath 
county. The youngest child also died in 
infancy. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keith are members of the 
Missionary Baptist church and are people 
whose many excellencies of character have 
endeared them to a large circle of friends. 
In his political views our subject is a Demo- 
crat and warmly advocates the principles of 
his party, although he has never sought or 
desired office, preferring to give his time and 
attention to his business interests. 



at 



ILLIAM H. DAVIS, Sr., is one 
of Erath county's most honored 
pioneers, dating his residence 
here from 1S56. His name is 
indelibly engraved on the pages of its his- 
tory and the progress of the county bears 
the impress of his individuality. A man of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



great force of character, he was well fit- 
ted to cope with the difficulties of frontier 
life, and his labors have largely opened the 
way to civilization and advancement in this 
region. It is therefore with gratification 
that the historian enters upon the task of 
preserving the record of his achievements 
and the good he has accomplished and given 
to his many friends, — a review of a career 
that has been as honorable as it is replete 
with interesting incidents. 

Mr. Davis comes of a family of Welsh 
origin that was established in the United 
States when the country was a province of 
Great Britain. The great-grandfather of 
our subject, leaving his native Wales, took 
up his abode in Virginia, where he reared a 
family of children, furnishing four sons to 
the colonial .army to battle for the cause of 
freedom. These were Mathew, Jonathan, 
John and Samuel. The last named was the 
grandfather of our subject. He was born in 
Westmoreland county, Virginia, and was 
reared on a farm in the neighborhood of the 
Washington plantation, where the boy 
George spent his youthful days. The two 
served together for their country's independ- 
ence, Mr. Davis entering the army when 
only sixteen years of age. He was in the 
battle of Yorktown and was present at the 
surrender of Cornwallis. After the war he 
removed to Burke county. North Carolina, 
where he was married and reared a family of 
four sons and four daughters, two of the 
sons, William and John, serving in the war 
of 1812. 

Of this family Samuel Davis became the 
father of the gentleman whose name intro- 
duces this sketch. He was married in 
Burke county to Miss Eliza Morris, a native 
of Rutherford county. North Carolina, and 
a daughter of Hal Morris, who also was bpri] 



in the same locality. Her grandfather, 
William Morris, was of Irish descent and his 
wife was of Scotch ancestry. Samuel Davis 
followed agricultural pursuits and also en- 
gaged in gold mining. By his marriage 
there were two children, our subject and 
Sallie, who became the wife of W. K. Har- 
ris. The mother died when William was 
only two years and a half old, and in 1835 
tlie father sold his farm and removed to 
Cass county, Georgia. Later he went to 
Gilmore county, where he remained until 
1855, when he emigrated to Dallas county, 
Texas. His last days were spent at the 
home of our subject, where he died in 1858, 
at the age of sixty-four years. 

After his mother's death William H. 
Davis remained with his father for eight 
years, then went to live with other rela- 
tives and at last made his home with his 
grandfather Morris until the demise of that 
gentleman. In 1842 he removed to Gil- 
more county, Georgia, and embarked in 
farming on his own account, but his soli- 
tary life was not pleasant, and on the 28th 
of October, 1847, he married Miss Sarah 
Ann Osborn, a native of Henderson county. 
North Carolina, and daughter of Newman 
and Judith (Harris) Osborn. Her father 
was born in Henderson county and was of 
Scotch- Irish descent, and the mother was 
born in the Abbottville district, of South 
Carolina. 

At the time of his marriage Mr. Davis 
was a young man of twenty years, his birth 
having occurred in Burke county, North 
Carolina, April 15, 1827. He followed 
farming until 1856, when he started for 
Texas with an ox team and wagon, reach- 
ing his destination after fourteen weeks of 
travel. He landed on the Paluxy on the 
31st of December, without any money. 



560 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



He improved several farms in this section 
of the state and at length purchased three 
hundred acres of land, at three dollars per 
acre. Of this he improved seventy-five 
acres and then sold out and in 1870 bought 
one hundred and twenty-three acres of wild 
land, which he placed under cultivation. 
He has improved five different farms in 
Erath county and thus has carried on the 
work of progress which makes the labor 
each succeeding generation lighter. He now 
has a very valuable and desirable property, 
on which he has placed all the accessories 
and conveniences of a model farm, and his 
orchard is the finest in the county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Davis are the parents of a 
family of twelve children, ten of whom are 
still living, namely: Newman O. , who 
died at the age of thirty-three years, leaving 
a wife and four children; Judith A., widow 
of C. C. Brooks, of Erath county; Samuel 
J., a physician and minister of Morgan Mill; 
Andrew J., a stock-dealer of Morgan Mill; 
Eliza J., wife of P. M. Cantrell; Monroe 
F. , who is living in the Indian Nation ; Sarah 
E. , twin sister of Monroe, who became the 
wife of F. M. Dever and died July 16, 
1882, leaving one daughter; Harriett E., 
wife of Dr. M. H. Logan, of Jack county; 
Rev. Jeremiah Lee, a minister of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church, located in Erath 
county; Mary F., wife of R. M. Ballentine, 
of Bluff Dale; William H., Jr., of Erath 
county; and Marian N., wife of O. L 
Moates, of the Indian Territory. 

The parents are members of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist church and are people whose 
genuine worth has won them a large circle 
of friends. Mr. Davis has served as mag- 
istrate and in all the relations of life has 
been found true and faithful to the trust re- 
posed in him. He is a self-made man who 



by his own industry has accumulated a good 
property, which has enabled him to supply 
his family with those comforts that go to 
make life worth living, and in giving his chil- 
dren such educational privileges as would fit 
them for the duties of the future. He came 
to Erath county when the Indians were far 
more numerous than the white settlers, and 
has been an important factor in making the 
district what it is to-day. 



^t'OHN C. McCAMEY. — Among the 
J early settlers and prominent farmers 
^j of Comanche county is numbered 
this gentleman, who claims Tennes- 
see as the state of his birth, that event hav- 
ing occurred in Greene county, April 15, 
1829. His parents were Alexander and 
Malinda (Borden) McCamey. The former 
was of German lineage, while the latter was 
of Irish descent, the maternal grandfather 
having come to this country from the Eme- 
rald Isle. The paternal grandfather, Samuel 
McCamey, was a gunsmith by trade, and 
also carried on farming. He held member- 
ship in the Methodist church, and died in 
Tennessee. Alexander McCamey was born 
in Virginia and reared in Tennessee, where 
throughout his life he followed farming. In 
political faith he was a Whig and in religious 
belief a Methodist. His death occurred in 
1 87 1, and his wife passed away in 1889. 
They had sixteen children, and with one 
exception all reached mature years, namely: 
Sarah; Mary; William, a prominent lawyer 
and teacher now residing in Comanche 
county, who served in the Mexican and 
civil wars, being taken prisoner in the latter 
and sent to Rock Island, Illinois, soon after 
which he removed to Iowa, where he resided 
until 1888; James; David, deceased; Mari- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



561 



man, deceased, who served through the 
civil war; John C. ; Jane; EUza; Elizabeth; 
Alpha; Martha; Daniel; Samuel, who served 
in the federal army during the civil war 
and is now in Tennessee; and Malinda, of 
Tennessee. The parents and all of their 
children with the exception of our subject 
were members of the Methodist church. 

John C. McCamey was reared to farm 
life and is indebted to the common schools 
for his educational privileges. He remained 
under the parental roof until he had attained 
his majority, when, in March, 1856, he came 
to Comanche county, Texas, where he made 
a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty 
acres and afterward pre-empted it. The 
first season he placed a small portion of the 
tract under cultivation, and in 1857 he built 
a cabin and was married, then beginning 
life in earnest. He still has in his posses- 
sion the patent from the government grant- 
ing him his land, and since 1856 he has 
lived upon his farm. In 1861 he entered 
the frontier service, and after serving as a 
scout for a short time was detailed with four 
others to act as special guard to the assessor 
and collector of war tax, thus continuing 
until the close. 

Returning home, Mr. McCamey resumed 
farming, and now owns one hundred and 
eighty-three acres of rich land, of which 
eighty acres are highly cultivated, while a 
commodious residence, an orchard and the 
well-tilled fields make this a desirable prop- 
erty. It is situated eight miles east of Co- 
manche. 

Mr. McCamey has been three times mar- 
ried. He first wedded Sarah A. Martin, a 
native of Murray county, Georgia, who came 
to Texas with her father, Henry Martin, a 
leading citizen of Comanche county. Their 
children are Pulaski, now deceased; Calvin, 



Caldona, Mary E. and Ann. All reached 
maturity and were married. The mother, 
who was a consistent member of the Meth- 
odist church, died in 1873. In 1876 Mr. 
McCamey married Miss Lucinda Howry, a 
native of Arkansas, reared in Missouri. 
She was early left an orphan, and after the 
war came to Texas. They had five chil- 
dren, — Edward, Julia, Alpha, John and 
Anna. Mrs. Lucinda McCamey, who was 
a faithful member of the Holiness church, 
died in 1890. On the loth of April, 1895, 
our subject wedded Mrs. Josephine Lincoln, 
widow of Jesse Lincoln, who died, leaving 
four children. She was a daughter of E. 
Durham, of Tennessee, who in 1856 located 
in Hunt county, Texas, where he is still 
living. He served through the late war, 
and in his religious affiliations is a Method- 
ist. Mr. and Mrs. McCamey are faithful 
members of the Holiness church, and their 
upright lives and genuine worth have gained 
them the respect of all. In politics he was 
formerly a Democrat, but now votes with 
the Populist party. 



aLAIBORN GARNER, of Comanche 
county, is not only one of the 
native sons of Texas, but is a rep- 
resentative of a family that has 
been connected with the history of this 
state since the days when the territory be- 
longed to Mexico and through that romantic 
yet perilous period that brought independ- 
ence to the "Lone Star," through the days 
of its existence as a republic and through the 
later epoch that has brought peace and 
prosperity to the region and placed Texas in 
the front ranks among the states that form 
our glorious country. 

David Garner, the father of our subject. 



562 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



was a native probably of Louisiana, and 
a son of Isaac Garner, a native of North 
Carolina, whence he removed with his fam- 
ily to Louisiana, becoming there a great 
hunter and stockman. There at one time 
for nine months the family subsisted on 
game, until they could raise a crop of corn, 
which they did on ground they cleared by 
burning a dead canebrake; and they planted 
the corn with sharp sticks. Isaac Garner 
first left his family when about fourteen 
years old and went with some emigrants 
who caused him and his family to lose sight 
of each other indefinitely. David was 
largely reared in Louisiana and from his 
earliest boyhood was familiar with the stock 
business, but there were many more excit- 
ing and thrilling chapters in his life than 
those which disclosed his industrial career. 
He was captain of a company in the war 
with Mexico, and was present at the old his- 
toric church — the Alamo — of San Antonio, 
only a few days before the bloody massacre 
which virtually brought to Texas her inde- 
pendence, when the noble, valiant heroes 
defended with their lives the cause of free- 
dom. He was at Sabine Pass, at the time 
of the decisive battle of San Jacinto, being 
actively engaged in moving the women and 
children from the scene of danger and pre- 
venting them from falling into the hands of 
the ruthless, unprincipled Mexicans, to which 
fate death would have been preferable. His- 
tory shows forth no grander examples of 
heroism than was displayed by the Amer- 
ican soldiers at that time, and while Texas 
remains the memory of their brave deeds 
will be green in the hearts of her citizens. 
David Garner was married in Texas to 
Matilda Hampshier, a native of Louisiana, 
and his last days were spent in Calhoun 
county, Texas, where he died April to, 



1864. He followed stock-raising during the 
greater part of his life, and during the civil 
war he speculated in Louisiana — in negroes 
and sugar. He converted a large amount 
of gold into Confederate money and left his 
heirs a fortune of thirty-six thousand dollars 
in Confederate money. As the war was 
drawing to a close and the currency of the 
south was losing its purchasing power, the 
administrator sold eleven thousand dollars 
in Confederate bills for three hundred dol- 
lars in gold and bonded the balance. When 
Texas was a republic Mr. Garner served in 
the senate and was also sheriff of Jefferson 
county. He was a successful and promi- 
nent man, public-spirited and had the sin- 
cere respect of all who knew him. Socially 
he was connected with the Masonic frater- 
nity. His wife, who was a consistent mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, died in 
Comanche county, March 30, 1889, at the 
age of seventy-two years. They were the 
parents of eleven children, namely: Emily, 
deceased wife of W. H. Williams; Jacob, a 
stock-dealer of Calhoun county, who served 
in the late war; David, who died in 1869; 
Claiborn, of this review; Annie, who be- 
came the wife of A. J. Williams, and both 
are now deceased; Martha, who has also 
passed away; John, a stock-dealer of Cal- 
houn county; William B., who follows the 
same pursuit in that county; Matilda, wife 
of J. P. Campbell, a farmer of Comanche 
county; Sally, wife of J. B. Price, of Cal- 
houn county; Mary, wife of Charles Camp- 
bell, an agriculturist of Comanche county. 
Claiborn Garner was born in Jefferson 
county, Texas, May 23, 1844, and was edu- 
cated in the country schools. From his 
earliest boyhood he was perfectly at home 
in the saddle and became familiar with 
every detail connected with the care of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



563 



stock. When he was old enough to engage 
in business for himself he followed the same 
pursuit and carried on operations along that 
line of business until 1886, when he came 
to Comanche county and began the improve- 
ment of his present farm. During the war 
between the two sections of the country he 
became a member of the Eighth Te.xas Ar- 
tillery and was detailed to drive and handle 
beef cattle for the government, being thus 
employed until the close of the war. He 
afterward handled cattle for different com- 
panies, also for himself, and in this way 
made considerable money. His father was 
an extensive landowner and by the burning 
of the home lost land certificates for about 
forty or fifty thousand acres ! He also 
owned a large tract of land in Comanche 
county and our subject bought of the estate 
eleven hundred acres where he now lives, 
to which he has since added until he now 
has sixteen hundred acres. 

In 1886 Mr. Garner was married and at 
once started for his property in Comanche 
county. The first farming he ever did was 
in that year, on a tract of rented land. The 
year following he erected a house and moved 
to his own farm. He now has one hundred 
acres under a good state of cultivation and 
improved with the accessories now essential 
to farming. He has erected a commodious 
residence, good barns and other outbuild- 
ings, has planted a good orchard with a 
variety of fruits, including grapes, and has 
about ten miles of fence upon his land. He 
is still carrying on stock-raising and now has 
some good cattle and horses, also hogs, up- 
on his place. As a business man he is en- 
ergetic, industrious and persevering, and 
these qualities, combined with good judg- 
ment, have brought to him success. He 
long voted with the Democracy, but now 



supports the Populist party, yet political 
affairs do not claim his attention, which is 
given exclusively to his business interests. 

Mr. Garner was married April 29, 1886, 
his choice for a companion on life's journey 
falling upon Miss Katie Boquette, a native 
of Calhoun county, Texas, and a daughter 
of J. V. and Sarah (Swenney) Boquette. 
The father was a native of Louisiana and 
his parents came from France to America. 
He became a prominent stockman, for four 
years served in the Confederate army and is 
now living in Calhoun county. He belongs 
to the Catholic church, and his wife, whose 
death occurred January 28, 1889, was an 
Episcopalian. In their family were ten chil- 
dren, besides two who died in early life. 
The others are Mrs. Garner; Annie, wife of 
Bradley Garner; Rosa, wife of W. H. 
Thomas; John, Eddie, Addie, Bell, James, 
Claiborn and Arthur. To our subject and 
his wife have been born five sons: David C, 
February 23, 1887; William C, November 
5, 1888; John L., January 15, 1891; Milton 
E., April 19, 1893; and Clarence B., Oc- 
tober I, 1895. The parents are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. 



® 



HOMAS A. DEATS is one of the 
most extensive farmers and stock- 
raisers of Comanche county. His 
home is situated in one of the most 
fertile sections of this region and is pleas- 
antly and conveniently located nine miles 
southeast of Comanche. He has to-day 
nineteen hundred acres of land all under 
fence, with two hundred acres under a high 
state of cultivation, and in the midst of his 
fine farm stands a good residence with barns 
and the necessary outbuildings for the shelter 
of stock and grain. He is accounted one of 



5U 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the leading agriculturists of the locality and 
is an enterprising and public-spirited citizen 
that Comanche county could ill afford to 
lose. 

Mr. Deats was born in Bastrop county, 
Te.xas, June lo, 1855, and is a son of Paul 
and Elizabeth (Ware) Deats, the former a 
native of Berlin, Germany, and the latter 
belonging to a prominent old family of 
Georgia. Their marriage was celebrated in 
Bastrop county, Texas. The father had 
come to America with his parents about 
1835, when only five or six years old, the 
family first locating in Alabama, whence the 
following year they came to Texas, where 
the paternal grandparents of our subject 
died. Paul Deats grew to manhood in 
Bastrop county and after his marriage 
turned his attention to farming and stock- 
raising. In 1858 he removed to Lebanon 
county, where he engaged exclusively in the 
stock business, and remaining there until 
1 87 1, when he sold his stock and brand 
and in 1872 went to Travis county, settling 
near Austin. He took up his abode upon 
his farm, where he spent his last days, his 
death occurring June 1 1, 1885. His wife is 
yet living in that county. In his business 
he was very successful, accumulating a com- 
fortable property. His political support 
was unswervingly given the Democratic 
party. His wife was a daughter of Burrell 
Ware, a Georgia farmer, belonging to one of 
the most influential and honored families of 
that state. Mrs. Deats is a member of 
the Methodist church. By her marriage 
she became the mother of seven children, 
namely: Mary; Thomas A. ; Laura, de- 
ceased; Robert, a farmer, stock-raiser and 
merchant residing in Travis county; Eliza, 
wife of Tom Thrasher, an agriculturist and 
stock-dealer of Bastrop county; Martha, 



wife of Rufus Burleson, a farmer and mer- 
chant of Travis county; and Paul, al.so 
engaged in merchandising in Travis county. 

Our subject was born in Bastrop county 
June 10, 1855, and from a very early age 
was entirely at home in the saddle, aiding 
in the care of the immense herds of stock 
which his father owned. He thus in his 
youth became familiar with the best methods 
of caring for stock, and his experience has 
proved very profitable to him in his own 
business career. He has devoted the greater 
part of his time since attaining to man's 
estate to stock-dealing, and is now making 
a specialty of the raising of hogs and beef 
cattle. In 1884 he was married and located 
at Wichita Falls, but the following year 
took up his residence in Travis county and 
aided his mother in settling up the estate. 
In 1890 he purchased his present home, 
becoming owner of three hundred and thirty- 
two acres, to which he has added from time 
to time until his landed property aggregates 
nineteen hundred acres. 

On the loth of June, 1884, Mr. Deats 
married Miss Annie Elkins, a native of 
Parker county, Texas, and a lady of culture 
and refinement, whose family is a prominent 
one in the state. She was born November 
16, 1865, a daughter of G. K. Elkins, a 
stock-dealer of Kent county, Texas. He 
has served as assessor and in politics is a 
stalwart Democrat. Four children grace 
the union of our subject and his wife: Paul 
K. , born May 4, 1885; Jane E., born March 
28, 1887; Lorena, September i, 1889; and 
Bob, August 31, 1893. 

Socially our subject is connected with the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in 
politics he is a Democrat, but has never 
sought or desired office. Success has come 
to him in his business dealing, for his care- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



565 



ful management, enterprise and persever- 
ance are qualities which always insure pros- 
perity. 



«y-rf ON. TILLMAN K. SEAGO, a 

1^''^ farmer of Comanche county, is one 
\ ^ P of the deservedly prominent men 
of this section of the state. His 
loyalty to the south was fully tested during 
the civil war, his faithfulness in public office 
has been shown, and all who know him are 
assured that his honesty and uprightness in 
business and private life is above question. 
He may therefore be justly numbered 
among the e.xeniplary citizens of the county, 
and it is with pleasure that we present the 
record of his life to our readers. 

Mr. Seago is a native of Cherokee county, 
Georgia, born July 29, 1836, a son of Isaac 
L. and Lucinda (Garrett) Seago, who were 
born in South Carolina and in that state 
were reared and married. The former was 
a son of Benjamin Seago, a prominent 
farmer and slave-owner. He was a member 
and deacon of the Baptist church, and in 
politics was a Whig, but never had any de- 
sire for political preferment. His death oc- 
curred in Georgia. Isaac Seago also was a 
leading farmer and held a membership in the 
Baptist church. He enlisted in 1846 for 
service in the Mexican war, joining Captain 
Bird's company, and soon after arriving in 
Me.xico he was stricken with the measles and 
died. He was buried at Matamoras, Mexico, 
being then thirty-two years of age. His 
widow still survives him and is now living 
with a daughter in Dallas county, Texas, at 
the ripe old age of eighty-four years. She, 
too, is a consistent member of the Baptist 
church. In her family were seven children: 
Matilda; Mrs. Malinda Dooley, now de- 



ceased; Tillman K. ; Alford, who died in the 
army during the late war and left a wife and 
one child; Posey, who came to Texas in 
1 85 1, served in the late war and had one 
eye shot out, and died in 1882; Thomas died 
in the army; and Cynthia, who married Sam 
Sullivan and now resides in Dallas county, 
her mother finding a pleasant home'with her. 
Our subject was reared on a farm and 
acquired his education in the common 
schools. He remained with his widowed 
mother until his marriage and with the fam- 
ily came to Texas in 1851. Four years 
later, in 1855, he was married and then be- 
gan business on his own account. He began 
farming, but after raising two crops turned 
his attention to carpentering, which he pur- 
sued until the beginning of the war. In 1 86 1 
he entered the service of the south, — the 
south which had furnished him a home and 
with whose principles and institutions he had 
been familiar from his earliest infancy. He 
enlisted for one year in the Third Texas 
Cavalry, and on the expiration of that 
period he re-enlisted and continued to serve 
until hostilities were over. He was assigned 
to the Trans-Mississippi department and 
was in Missouri with McCulloch's command. 
He participated in the battle of Oak Hill 
and saw much hard service in Missouri and 
Arkansas His command was ordered to 
Shiloh, but before reaching that place the 
battle was over, and he later went with Joe 
Johnston and continued with the Army of the 
Tennessee for some time. He participated 
in the battle of luka, and, remaining with 
the wounded, he was taken prisoner, but 
was paroled after five days. He remained 
with his brother and other wounded com- 
rades for two months and then joined his 
command and was at Jackson, Mississippi, 
where he remained some time. Without 



566 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



any absolute knowledge as to whether he 
had been exchanged, Mr. Seago joined his 
regiment and continued in active service un- 
til the close of the war. When General Lee 
surrendered he was in east Mississippi, 
whence he returned to Te.xas and soon took 
the regular parole. 

Resuming the interrupted labor of civil 
life Mr. Seago purchased a farm in Cass 
county, Texas, which he operated for two 
years and then traded for a mill in Marion 
county, which he conducted for one year. 
He next traded this property for a tract of 
wild land in McLennan county, where he 
developed a good farm, and later he bought 
land in Dallas county, where he successfully 
carried on agricultural pursuits for fourteen 
years, and established the town of Seago- 
ville, named for him. In 1884 he arrived 
in Comanche county and bought a small 
tract of land, — the nucleus of his present 
fine farm, which comprises four hundred 
acres of rich land, one hundred and eighty- 
five acres being highly cultivated, while the 
neat and thrifty appearance of the place in- 
dicates the careful supervision of the owner. 
He has erected a commodious residence and 
good outbuildings, which stand as monu- 
ments to his enterprise. He has planted a 
good orchard and the great part of the land 
is under fence. For seven years after lo- 
cating in Comanche county Mr. Seago was 
a partner in a country store, but is now 
giving his entire attention to his farming in- 
terests, in which he is meeting with excel- 
lent success. 

In 1855 Mr. Seago was joined in wed- 
lock with Miss Matilda Davenport, who was 
born in Georgia in May, 1839, a daughter 
of P. G. and Sarah (Credille) Davenport, 
the former a leading farmer and slave- 
owner. He and his family were active and 



prominent members of the Methodist church. 
He died in Georgia, and in 1854 the mother 
removed with her family to Cass county, 
Texas, where her death occurred in 1866. 
Her children areas follows: George, Moses, 
Mrs. Seago and Eunice, wife of Mr. Witt, 
of eastern Texas. The marriage of our sub- 
ject and his wife has been blessed with 
eight children, viz. : Sarah, who became 
the wife of Martin Joice and died in 
1889; Tillman B., a farmer; Jennie, at 
home; Lilla, wife of H. Tate, an agricult- 
urist; Annie, wife of C. McCamey, a farm- 
er; Ada and Eunice, at home; and Benja- 
min Lee, who died in 1890, at the age of 
eighteen years. The family is widely and 
favorably known in Comanche county and 
its members hold a high position in social 
circles. Their home is noted for its hospi- 
tality and is a favorite resort with their 
many friends. 

On attaining his majority Mr. Seago was 
a supporter of the Democracy, but in 1878 
he joined the Greenback party, with which 
he affiliated for some time. He is always 
on the side of reform and improvement and 
was among the first to advocate the doctrines 
of the new Populist party, with which he 
has been identified from the beginning. He 
has never been a politician in the sense of 
office-seeking, but always keeps well in- 
formed on the issues of the day and gives an 
intelligent support to the measures that he 
advocates. In 1894 he was nominated and 
elected by the Populists to a seat in the 
state legislature and served in the Twenty- 
fourth General Assembly, where he ably 
represented his district and did effective 
service for the best interests of the state. 
He then refused further political honors, 
preferring to give his entire attention to his 
business in which he is meeting with ex- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



567 



cellent success. He is persevering, ener- 
getic and far-sighted, and prosperity has 
come to him as the reward of his own 
labors. His life is one of honor in all 
things, and the name of Mr. Seago every- 
where commands respect. 



ai 



n.LIAM J. NABERS.— The gen- 
tleman whose name heads this 
sketch is one of the leading, in- 
fluential and successful farmers 
of Comanche county. He is a native of the 
Lone Star state, his birth having occurred 
in Bell county, on the 2d of March, 1848. 
His father, Thomas J. Nabers, was born in 
Pendleton county, South Carolina, on the 
17th of February, 18 16, and in early man- 
hood removed to Tennessee, where he re- 
sided for many years. He afterward went 
to Missouri, whence he came to Texas in 
the year 1846, locating in Milam county, 
where he became one of the prominent 
stockmen of the community. He was, 
however, a stone-mason by trade, but aban- 
doned that occupation in the later years of 
his life. His death occurred October 12, 
1 891. On the 3d of November, 1842, he 
was united in marriage with Lucy Jane 
Murill, a native of Nelson county, Virginia, 
whose death occurred in 1882. They be- 
came parents of nine children, six of whom 
are yet living, William J. being the third in 
order of birth. 

Mr. Nabers, of this review, was brought 
to this county during his early childhood 
and has been virtually reared in Comanche 
county. He is indebted to its schools for 
his educational privileges, and taking ad- 
vantage of these he has become a well in- 
formed man. He has always followed 



farming and stock-raising as a means of 
livelihood, although his youthful days were 
spent, as he expressed it, "as a picket on 
the lookout for Indians," while the elder 
members of the family conducted the farm 
work. They had come to Comanche 
county in 1857, when Indians were still 
quite numerous in this section of the state 
and occasioned no little trouble to the white 
settlers by their depredations on the stock 
pastures. The present home of our subject 
is located six miles southwest of the city of 
Comanche, and his real-estate holdings 
comprise three hundred and twenty acres 
of land, of which sixty acres is highly culti- 
vated and improved. His fine orchard, 
comprising two acres, is planted with peach- 
trees and grape-vines. He also has a good 
apiary and is well versed in bee culture. 
His pleasant and hospitable home is located 
on a natural building site and is surrounded 
by fruit and ornamental trees, which add to 
the value and attractive appearance of the 
place. His stock is adequate for farming 
purposes and is well graded, the cattle 
being principally of the Jersey breed. 

Mr. Nabers takes quite an active inter- 
est in school matters and has been a 
trustee in his district for many years, doing 
all in his power to advance the cause of ed- 
ucation. In politics he is a stanch and 
steadfast Democrat, having supported that 
party since attaining his majority. Socially 
he affiliates with the Masonic order, and 
religiously he and his family are closely 
allied with the Methodist church and its 
work, while Mr. Nabers is serving as super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school. 

He was married September 15, 1872, to 
Miss Adra A. Leroy, a native of Texas and 
an only child of Gilbert Leroy, a highly re- 
spected pioneer of the early '50s. Her 



568 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mother bore the maiden name of Mary Ann 
Mayes and was also a native of this state. 
She was born in 1837 s"<i died May 19, 
1861. Mr. and Mrs. Nabers have eight 
children, as follows: Thomas J., Leroy, 
Mary A., Bailey C, Lucy J., Eulalia, Roger 
V. and William T. 



«y-^ ENRY R. MARTIN.— The subject 
|rV of this review is one whose mem- 
\ , r ory links in an indissoluble chain 
the trend of events from the early 
pioneer period in the history of this section 
of the state to the latter-day epoch where 
peace, progress and prosperity crown the 
end of the century. In this era of develop- 
ment in central Texas he has been a con- 
spicuous figure. He belongs to that class 
of citizens who promote the public welfare, 
while advancing individual prosperity, and 
he has left the impress of his individuality 
upon the agricultural and commercial inter- 
ests in a way that has brought advancement 
and improvement to the community as well 
as a most excellent pecuniary success to 
himself. His record furnishes an illustra- 
tion of what can be accomplished through 
perseverance, unfaltering industry and en- 
terprise, when guided by sound judgment, 
and furnishes a most practical example 
which may well be followed by those who 
wish to make life an honorable success. 

A native of Georgia Mr. Martin was born 
May 8, 1829, and is a son of Henry and 
Ellen Martin. His father was born in 
Edgefield district, South Carolina, in 1800, 
and in his early manhood married Miss 
Dooly, who was born in North Carolina and 
was a representative of one of the old fam- 
ilies of that state. In 1853 the parents 



emigrated with their family to Texas, locat- 
ing in Bell county, whence in 1855 they 
came to Comanche county in company with 
their son-in-law, John A. McGuire. They 
were among the very first settlers of the 
county and were prominent in its develop- 
ment and upbuilding. Mr. Henry Martin, 
Sr. , after a well-spent life, which won him 
the high regard of many friends, passed 
away in 1883, and his wife was called to 
the eternal home in Arkansas, in 1853. 

Mr. H. R. Martin, whose name intro- 
duces this article, was reared and educated 
in Murray county, Georgia, and continued 
at his parental home until he had attained 
his majority, when he started out in life for 
himself. In 1850 he removed to Missis- 
sippi, where he remained for three years, 
when, attracted by the discovery of gold on 
the Pacific slope, he went to California, 
making the journey by water. There he 
engaged in mining in different parts of the 
state and was very successful in his under- 
taking, accumulating a considerable amount 
of the precious "dust." In 1855 ^e re- 
turned to his family, whom he had not seen 
for five years. Removing to Texas, he in- 
vested his capital in real estate and has 
added to this from time to time until he is 
now one of the most extensive landholders 
in central Texas. He has ten thousand 
acres three to seven miles south of Co- 
manche, of which sixteen hundred acres are 
under a high state of cultivation and yield 
to him a good tribute. He has upon this 
place twenty-nine tenement houses and 
other necessary buildings and improvements, 
together with a one-acre orchard. His 
other real-estate holdings include a farm on 
the Sweetwater of two hundred acres, of 
which eighty acres are cultivated and two 
acres have been planted to fruit trees, form- 



m 



4 




iWMaae. 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



569 



ing a fine orchard; also town property, in- 
cluding his present commodious and com- 
fortable residence in Comanche. 

He has been president of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Comanche since its organi- 
zation on the 24th of September, 1886, and 
his able administration of its affairs has made 
it one of the leading financial institutions in 
this section of the state. The bank was 
capitalized for fifty thousand dollars, which 
was afterward increased to one hundred 
thousand dollars. There is also a surplus 
of twenty thousand dollars and undivided 
profits to the amount of thirteen thousand 
dollars. The company does a general 
banking business and also gives e.xchange on 
all the large cities throughout the country. 
Mr. Martin is also president of a company 
owning an oil mill which has a capacity of 
fifty tons of seed per day. It has the latest 
improved machinery and its output finds a 
ready sale on the market. 

Mr. Martin is one of the most extensive 
cattle dealers in this part of Texas. He 
handles thousands of cattle annually, having 
at the present time five hundred head in 
Comanche county, together with large herds 
in New Mexico. He also has a number of 
horses in Oklahoma. His business dealing 
for many years has been of colossal pro- 
portions, and as every legitimate business 
transaction has a reflex beneficial influence 
on the community where the operation is 
conducted, so Mr. Martin's dealings, great 
in extent, have been of material benefit to 
Comanche county. 

In his political views Mr. Martin is a 
stalwart Democrat and takes a deep interest 
in the growth and success of his party, but 
has never found time from his business 
cares to seek for political honors. Socially, 
he is a Royal Arch Mason, and religiously is 

36 



connected with the Baptist church, which 
finds in him a liberal contributor. 

In 1853 Mr. Martin married Miss Mar- 
tha Maxwell Ross, a native of Tennessee 
and a daughter of William Ross. She died 
in 1862. They had four children: John 
Alex., William Henry, Calvin Davis and 
William H. In May, 1863, was celebrated 
the marriage of Mr. Martin and a Martha 
J. Ratliff, by whom he has six cnudren: 
Elizabeth Eleanor, Mary E., Sarah J., 
James Monroe, Martha J. and Lucy N. 

Mr. Martin has passed the sixtieth mile- 
stone on life's journey, but the years rest 
lightly upon him and he seems yet a man in 
his prime. In manner he is genial and social, 
and is of a frank and jovial disposition that 
commands confidence and awakens respect. 
His genuine worth, his kindly nature and his 
honorable life has gained him the friendship 
of all, and the history of this section of 
Texas would be incomplete without a review 
of his career. 



*y ^ ON. WILLIAM BYE WHITACRE 
I'^^V stands forth as a conspicuous figure 
\ , P in the history of central Texas. In 
business and political life he is well 
known. He has labored for the best inter- 
ests of his fellow citizens in the latter field, 
and his labors in the former have not only 
brought to him personal prosperity but have 
also promoted the material welfare of the 
community. For many years he has been 
known for his sterling qualities, his fearless 
loyalty to his honest convictions and his 
clear judgment and practical work in public 
affairs. Such a man is certainly deserving 
of prominent mention in the annals of the 
state with which he has been identified, and 
it is a matter of gratification to the biog- 



570 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



rapher to present to the readers of this vol- 
ume his life record. 

A native of Ohio, Mr. Whitacre was 
born on the 6th of June, 1829, and is a son 
of Edward and Rachel (Bye) Whitacre, 
natives of Virginia. His grandfather was 
Edward W^hitacre, one of the heroes of the 
Revolutionary war, who valiantly aided in 
that long struggle that happily resulted in 
the establishment of the American republic. 
He belonged to an old Virginian family of 
English ancestry and settled in Ohio among 
the pioneers of that state. In the year 1832 
the father of our subject left his home in the 
Buckeye state and went with his family to 
Illinois, locating in Wayne county, which 
seemed then on the very border of civiliza- 
tion, so little had the work of development 
been advanced in that region. He pur- 
chased a tract of wild land, which was still 
in the condition which nature had placed it, 
and transforming it into a fine farm he spent 
his remaining days there engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits. His death occurred in 1842, 
and his wife passed away previously. In 
early life they were connected with the 
Society of Friends and later were members 
of the Christian church. They had live 
children, three sons and two daughters, and 
with one exception all reached years of 
maturity, while three are still living. 

Upon the old home farm, amid the wild 
scenes of frontier life, W. B. Whitacre was 
reared, and the subscription schools of the 
neighborhood afforded him his educational 
privileges. His opportunities in this direc- 
tion, however, were necessarily limited, for 
at the early age of thirteen he was left an 
orphan, and thrown thus upon his own 
resources he has since been self-dependent. 
He early developed a strength of character 
and self-reliant spirit which have proved of 



incalculable benetit to him in his business 
career and combined with energy and inde- 
fatigable industry have brought to him pros- 
perity. He first worked at chopping wood 
along the Mississippi river, for thirty-seven 
cents per cord, and afterward was employed 
in various capacities and at whatever labor 
would yield him an honest living. Several 
years were thus passed, after which he was 
employed in building bridges and ware- 
houses. 

A new incentive for labor came to him, 
— the establishment of a home of his own 
and a wife to care for. Mr. Whitacre was 
married October 6, 1 851, to Miss Matilda 
Roberts, a native of Illinois and a daughter 
of John G. and Millie Roberts, who were 
natives of Virginia and emigrated to Illinois 
at an early day. Mr. Whitacre now pur- 
chased a tract of wild land which he im- 
proved and continued to cultivate until the 
autumn of 1855, — the date of his emigra- 
tion to Texas. Arrangements were made 
for the removal, and on the 12th of Octo- 
ber they bade adieu to the old Illinois home 
and started southward, arriving at their 
destination after a journey of thirty-seven 
days. For three years they resided in Na- 
varro county, and then, still following the 
frontier, they went to Jack county. Mr. 
Whitacre, with his sturdy, courageous and 
resolute nature, is well fitted to cope with 
the difficulties of pioneer life, and has there- 
fore been an important factor in the devel- 
opment of the unimproved regions of this 
state. He came to Erath county in i860 
and located about two miles from his pres- 
ent home. He afterward located on a farm 
fifteen miles northwest of Stephenville, and 
in 1865 took up his abode at the county- 
seat, where he engaged in blacksmithing 
until 1867. In that year he went to the 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



571 



Brazos, and in 1870 settled upon his pres- 
ent farm, which was then in a wild state. 
Having pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, he afterward purchased three 
hundred and fifty-two acres, but has since 
sold a portion of this, his present property 
comprising three hundred and twenty acres, 
of which two hundred and twenty acres are 
under a high state of cultivation, with well- 
tilled fields, good buildings and machinery, 
rich pasture lands and all the accessories of 
the model farm of the nineteenth century. 
Without assistance he has achieved this 
success, and it is certainly most creditable. 
Such a life is an example well worthy of 
emulation, and acts as a source of encour- 
agement and inspiration to others who must 
depend entirely upon their own resources. 

During the civil war Mr. Whitacre served 
in the state militia, holding the rank of first 
lieutenant in Captain Pugh's company, and 
serving on the frontier from i860 until 1865. 
The troops met all the expenses of this cam- 
paign, calling on the government for no 
part of it. In other public service Mr. 
Whitacre has been eminent, and his fidelity 
to duty and marked ability has been recog- 
nized by higher honors in the poHtical field. 
In 1866 he served as justice of the peace 
and district clerk, and in the fall of 1894, 
at the urgent solicitation of many friends, 
he became the candidate on the ticket of 
the People's party for the legislature, and 
was triumphantly elected. There he made 
for himself an excellent record, and vvas a 
valued member of the committee on federal 
relations, commerce and manufacturing, and 
mining and minerals. Prior to 1892 he was 
allied with the Democracy, but since that 
year he has been connected with the Pop- 
ulists. 

Mr. and Mrs. Whitacre are the parents 



of ten children, namely: Ellezan, widow of 
Benjamin Daly, of Dublin; Lycurgus, who 
died at the age of fourteen years; John Syl- 
vester, of Erath county; Edward Stanley; 
Millie Rachel Ann, wife of William A. Tur- 
pin, of Erath county; Herman F. ; Sarah 
E., wife of Leonard Williams, of Erath 
county; Laura E., wife of W. T. Carlton; 
Alatha J., wife of Matthew Moss; and Alice 
Augusta, wife of James Moss. The parents 
are members of the Christian church, and 
the family is one of considerable influence 
and prominence in the community, its mem- 
bers holding an enviable position in social 
circles. 



>^OSEPH B. PARKS, one of the lead- 
f ing and enterprising business men of 
nt 1 Iredell, is now proprietor of a hotel 
and livery, and is also engaged in 
mercantile trade. He arrived here in i 884. 
Near Rome, Georgia, he was born Septem- 
ber 7, 1852, and is a son of Marshall and 
Mary (Bobo) Parks, the former a native of 
Tennessee and the latter of Georgia. Both 
were members of well-known and prominent 
families, and the father was of English 
origin. He was a planter and slave-owner, 
and became the father of nine children, five 
still living: Abram, Archie, John and Mrs. 
Eva Bradley, all of Georgia; and Joseph B., 
of this sketch. With the Missionary Bap- 
tist church the parents were connected, and 
the father was called to his final rest in 
1852, and his wife, who long survived him, 
died in August, 1887, at the age of sixty- 
nine years. They were both laid to rest near 
Rome, Georgia. 

Our subject spent his early life upon a 
farm in Georgia, and there received his edu- 
cation. He continued to engage in agricult- 



572 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



ural pursuits until coming to Texas in 1884. 
In January, 1895, he became a member of 
the firm of Doyal, Mitchell & Company, 
dealers in general merchandise, who carry a 
large and complete stock and have succeeded 
in building up an excellent trade. In 1896 
he purchased his present hotel, which he is 
now successfully conducting, and it has be- 
come quite a favorite with the traveling 
public. In connection with this he also has 
a good livery. He has an honorable busi- 
ness record, and is a man of unchallenged 
honesty and integrity. 

On reaching his majority, Mr. Parks was 
married, in Georgia, the lady of his choice 
being Miss Nancy Adaline Doyal, a native 
of Alabama, and a daughter of J. C. Doyal, 
one of Iredell's worthy citizens. They have 
seven children: Eva, wife of J. A. Brennan; 
Joseph, Archie, John, Ida Belle, David and 
Luella. They have also lost one daughter, 
Lela Ann, who was killed by lightning at the 
age of ten years. 

Politically, Mr. Parks casts his ballot in 
support of the men and measures of the 
Democratic party. Both he and his wife 
are active members of the Baptist church, 
in which he has served as clerk. His life 
has been manly, his actions sincere, his 
manner unaffected, and his example is well 
worthy of emulation. 



>^AMES L. OWNBEY, one of the 
■ county commissioners of Bosque 
A 1 county, who occupies an influential 
and prominent position among the 
agricultural population, has made the most 
of his opportunities in life and become well- 
to-do. The early tramping ground of our 
subject was in Lumpkin county, Georgia, 



where he was born on the 20th of March, 
1833- 

His father, James Ownbey was born in 
Buncombe county, North Carolina, Decem- 
ber, 1797, the son of Porter Ownbey, a 
native of Amherst county, Virginia, where 
the founder of the family in the New World, 
who was English, located at a very early 
day. On reaching man's estate the father 
of our subject led to the marriage altar Miss 
Elizabeth Oxford, also of Buncombe county, 
North Carolina, and a daughter of Jonathan 
Oxford, who was of English origin. The 
father died September 21, 1834, leaving his 
widow with five children, namely: David M. , 
Jonathan W. , Porter M., Elizabeth E. and 
James L. He was a planter, in politics was 
a Republican, and was a member of the 
Baptist church. The mother's death oc- 
curred in Coffey county, Kansas, in Decem- 
ber, 1875. 

Until thirteen years of age our subject 
made his home with his maternal grand- 
father, and went to live with his paternal 
grandfather. He was educated in a primi- 
tive log school-house, with a large fireplace 
at one end, and the seats were made of 
rough slabs. He has supplemented the 
knowledge acquired there by reading and 
study in subsequent years, and in the school 
of experience has learned many valuable 
lessons. 

On the 20th of March, 1856, in Wash- 
ington county, Arkansas, was consummated 
the marriage of Mr. Ownbey and Miss Ava 
Oxford, a native of that county, and a 
daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Goodwin) 
Oxford, both of whom died in Washington 
county, the former August 29, 1872, and the 
latter January 2, 1893. Twelve children 
were born of the union of our subject and 
his wife, namely: Willis T., Perry W., Ava 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



573 



A., Jacob N., Mary B., Dora E. and James 
K. are the living. The last is now attend- 
ing school at Itasca, Texas. Three of the 
children died in infancy; Rebecca at the age 
of five years and Jonathan at the age of 
fourteen years. 

In 1877, Mr. Ownbey became a resident 
of Texas, at first locating near Morgan, in 
Bosque county, but at the end of two 
years removed to his present fine farm com- 
prising two hundred and eight acres of fer- 
tile and productive land, one hundred acres 
of which have been placed under the plow 
and yield bountiful harvests. The neat and 
thrifty appearance of the place indicates the 
owner to be a man of industry, perseverance 
and enterprise, and the improvements found 
thereon are all of a substantial character. 

Mr. Ownbey is a strong third party man 
and on the Populist ticket was elected 
county commissioner in 1892, re-elected in 
1894, and is still filling that position to the 
satisfaction of all concerned. He takes an 
active interest in the welfare and advance- 
ment of his county and is public-spirited to 
a marked degree. He is well developed 
physically, being six feet three inches in 
height and weighs two hundred pounds. 
He is a sincere Christian, a member of the 
Protestant Methodist church, and is fore- 
most in all good works. 



>^OHN E. McGUIRE occupies a lead- 
J ing place among the business men of 
/• 1 Comanche and is connected with one 
of its most important industries as a 
member of the firm of McGuire Brothers, 
proprietors of a cotton gin and corn mill, — 
one of the foremost establishments of the 
kind in the county. His conspicuous iden- 
tification with a line of business which has 



a marked bearing upon the industrial activi- 
ties and the material prosperity of the com- 
munity, and his acumen and discrimination 
in the conduct of different enterprises have 
given him prestige as a practical man of 
affairs and as one of the valued and promi- 
nent citizens of the community. He has 
also the distinction of being the first white 
male child born in the Comanche county, 
and his long connection with its interests 
has made him known to a majority of the 
citizens, all of whom have for him the 
highest esteem, — a feeling that has been 
won by his well-spent life. 

The date of his birth is June i, 1855. 
His father, John A. McGuire, was a native 
of Walker county, Georgia, born in 1823, 
and a son of Spencer McGuire, whose birth- 
place was in Iredell county, Georgia. His 
father was Joseph McGuire, who was born 
on the Emerald Isle and who belonged to 
an old and respected Irish family of brave 
and honest people noted for their courage 
and their kindness of heart. John A. Mc- 
Guire was reared to manhood in the state of 
his nativity, and, emigrating to Texas, took 
up his abode in what is now Comanche 
county in 1854. It was then a wild frontier 
region and he made the first settlement 
within its borders, thus carrying the torch 
of civilization farther into the west and 
lighting the way that others might follow. 
He had married Dicy Martin, a sister of H. 
R. Martin, the president of the First National 
Bank of Comanche, and a daughter of Henry 
and Ellen (Dooly) Martin, who were also 
numbered among the first settlers of the 
county. 

A detailed account of the life of John E. 
McGuire, whose name introduces the initial 
paragraph of this review, would contain 
almost a complete account of the history of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Comanche county from the days of its set- 
tlement down to the present, so intimately 
has he been associated with its progress, its 
upbuilding and advancement. He has wit- 
nessed its entire growth, and since attaining 
to man's estate has been an important factor 
in its improvement. His early life was that 
of a boy on the extreme western frontier. 
He was the fifth in a family of five children, 
his brothers and sisters being his playmates, 
for neighbors were widely scattered. The 
prairie, covered with the long grass, formed 
his playground. Many varieties of wild 
flowers and the gorgeous cactus blossoms of 
the plains added beauty to the scene, and a 
chorus of birds caroled a sunrise hymn. 
There were also hardships to be borne in 
connection with the farming and stock- 
raising and danger from the Indians, who 
lived not far distant, was to be feared. 
When a boy of only six years Mr. McGuire 
was perfectly at home in the saddle and 
frequently drove the cattle over the prairies 
when still a mere child. He assisted his 
father for many years, then went to Benton 
county, Arkansas, where he remained for 
three years, when he returned to his native 
county. He spent a number of years in the 
cattle trade, buying and selling stock, and is 
recognized as one of the best judges of cattle 
in this part of the state. He also operated 
a threshing-machine until he lost one hand 
in the separator. This accident caused the 
amputation of the left arm and he afterward 
turned his attention to other pursuits. 

Mr. McGuire has had ten years' expe- 
rience in the cotton-ginning business, and in 
this, as in every thing else he undertakes, 
he has thoroughly mastered the work in all its 
details. Some four years ago he joined his 
brother as a member of the firm of McGuire 
Brothers, and they have since conducted in 



Comanche the gin and mill mentioned above. 
Their establishment is supplied with the 
latest and best improved machinery in both 
departments and they are now enjoying an 
excellent trade. In 1894 they pressed sev- 
enteen hundred and forty-one bales of cot- 
ton and in 1895 fourteen hundred and forty- 
two bales. The capacity of the gin is about 
twenty-five bales per day. They take in 
some days three hundred bushels of corn for 
grinding and the excellent quality of their 
work insures them a good trade. The 
brothers are popular business men and their 
straightforward dealing and energy has 
brought to them prosperity. 

In October, 1880, Mr. McGuire was 
united in marriage, in Comanche county, to 
Miss Calle Williams, a daughter of A. J. 
Williams. They have an interesting family 
of six daughters, namely: Lona, Viola, 
Lois, Buena, Velma, and Beulah. The 
family is widely and favorably known, and 
their home is the attractive center to a large 
circle of friends. Socially Mr. McGuire is 
connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He is a man of pleasing person- 
ality, very genial and jovial in manner and 
is well-liked by all who know him. 



at 



M. BURGER, M. D., has been 
a resident of Bluff Dale for little 
more than two years, yet in that 
time has demonstrated his supe- 
rior skill as a physician and won a most lib- 
eral patronage which many an older prac- 
titioner might well envy. He was born in 
Cannon county, Tennessee, December 22, 
1852, a son of S. N. and Sarah A. (Kelton) 
Burger, the former of French and German 
descent and the latter of Scotch-Irish ances- 



HIS TORY OF TEXAS. 



575 



try. During the infancy of the Doctor his 
parents removed to Coffee county, Tennes- 
see, where he spent his childhood and youth. 
His literary education was completed in 
Manchester College in 1870 and he then 
entered upon his business career, securing a 
clerkship in a drug store in Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, where he remained until his removal 
to the Lone Star state. 

On the 1st of March, 1873, Dr. Burger 
became a resident of Waco, Texas, and 
taught school in McLennan county through 
the ten succeeding years. He also carried 
on farming and met with fair success in his 
undertakings. In 1880 he began the study 
of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. 
J. M. Burger, of McMinnville, Tennessee, 
and took his first course of lectures in the 
winter of 188 1-2. He entered upon the 
practice of his chosen profession in Pendle- 
ton, Texas, in November, 1882, and in 
March, 1885, he was graduated at the Van- 
derbilt Medical College at Nashville, Tennes- 
see. He then took up his residence in 
Bartlett, Bell county, where he did a good 
business until October, 1887, when he re- 
ceived the appointment as physician to the 
Tongue river Indian agency, thus serving 
from November, 1887, until May 15, 1890. 

Remaining in the Panhandle of Texas 
until July, 1894, he then came to Bluff 
Dale, where he has built up a lucrative 
practice that well attests the confidence that 
the public have in his skill and ability. His 
standing among his professional brethren is 
such that classes him among the foremost 
physicians of the county. He is a progres- 
sive man, constantly improving upon his 
own and others' methods and gaining fresh 
information for coming work by the faithful 
performance of each day's duty. Of the 
State Medical Association arjd the Erath 



County Medical Association he is a valued 
member. 

Dr. Burger has been twice married. In 
January, 1878, he wedded Miss Maggie M. 
Messer, of Howard, Bell county, Texas. 
She was born in North Carolina, but when 
a child of four years was brought by her 
father, Neil B. Messer, to Texas. Her 
death occurred in November, 1886, and the 
Doctor was again married on the 2d of 
March, 1889, his second union being with 
Miss Allie M. Muse, a native of Bedford 
county, Tennessee, and a daughter of W. R. 
Muse, of Bellbuckle, Tennessee. Dr. and 
Mrs. Burger are prominent members of the 
Christian church, and socially he is connect- 
ed with Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, F. & 
A. M., and Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 396, 
I. O. O. F. 



91 



K. HOLMES.— Among the pio- 
neer settlers and prominent men 
of Bosque county, this gentle- 
man is especially worthy of notice 
in a work of this kind. He came to Texas 
as early as 1848 and located permanently 
in this community in 1866. Being pos- 
sessed of a rare amount of energy, he proved 
a most valuable member of the young and 
rapidly growing community, and has since 
been actively identified with its interests. 
In Knox county, Tennessee, Mr. Holmes 
was born November 2, 1826, and is a son 
of George Holmes, whose birth occurred in 
North Carolina. Hardy Holmes, the pater- 
nal grandfather, was also a native of North 
Carolina, and was descended from a good 
old family of Irish origin. On reaching 
manhood the father was united in marriage 
with Elizabeth Bird, daughter of Thomas 
Bird, who with his family had come over 



576 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the mountains to Tennessee on foot, carry- 
ing their beds on their backs. The young 
couple located in Knox county, Tennessee, 
where were born to them the following chil- 
dren: Charity, who is now living in Ken- 
tucky, at the age of eighty years; James; a 
daughter who is deceased; William K., of this 
review; George Thomas, Nancy Ann, John 
R., and Aaron. When our subject was only 
nineteen his mother's death occurred, at 
the age of fifty years, and the father passed 
away at the age of sixty. By occupation 
he was a farmer, was a Democrat in poli- 
tics, and in religious belief was a Baptist. 

Upon the home farm in Tennessee, Will- 
iam K. Holmes was reared and his edu- 
cational privileges were rather limited dur- 
ing early life, but by reading and experience 
he has gained a good practical knowledge. 
On his arrival in Texas in 1848, he located 
in Rusk county, but the following year went 
overland to California for gold, making the 
trip with an ox team, which required six 
months. Upon the Pacific slope he en- 
gaged in mining for about two years, when 
he returned home by way of the Nicaragua 
route to New York and thence to Tennessee. 
For three years he then made his home in 
Blanco county, Texas, whence he went to 
Leon county. During the war he was in 
the detached service, driving a team for the 
government for three years. 

In 1866 Mr. Holmes came to Bosque 
county, and three years later located upon 
the farm he still owns. He has three hun- 
dred and fourteen acres of valuable farming 
land, one hundred and twenty-five of which 
is under a high state of cultivation and well 
improved with good buildings, including a 
comfortable dwelling thirty-four by thirty- 
eight feet. 

On the 12th of May, 1854, in Blanco 



county, Mr. Holmes led to the marriage 
altar Miss Frances Blasongame, a native of 
Alabama and a daughter of Woodson and 
Mary E. (Blasongame) Blasongame, the 
latter the sister of old Parson Jesse Tubbs, 
of Texas. Ten children to our subject and 
his wife, but John and an infant son are 
now deceased. Those living are Mary E. 
Dillard, Sarah Caroline McCronie, William 
Woodson, George Thomas, Frances Matil- 
da Moss, Alice Martin, Jesse Alonzo and 
Martha Lucinda Martin. They have also 
twent3'-one grandchildren. 

Mr. Holmes has ever used his right of 
franchise in support of the men and meas- 
ures of the Democratic party, casting his 
first vote, however, for General Zachary 
Taylor, a Whig; and he and his faithful wife 
are worthy and consistent members of the 
Baptist church. Socially he affiliates with 
Iredell Lodge, No. 405, F. & A. M. Al- 
though he has now reached the age of three- 
score years and ten, he is still hale and 
hearty, and attributes much of his good 
health to the fact that he has never used 
liquor or tobacco in any form. Since com- 
ing to the county he has always held a 
prominent and influential position and stands 
remarkably high in the estimation of the 
community as an honorable, upright and 
trustworthy man. 



K^"^ R- THORNTON is one of the 

I I honored pioneers of Erath county, 
/^^_y taking up his residence in tnis 
district when it seemed on the very 
border of civilization, for the country 
stretched away unbroken for mile after mile 
and the few settlers were constantly in dan- 
ger of losing their lives at the hands of the 
treacherous savages and again and agaiq 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



577 



suffered the loss of their stock. The usual 
experiences that come to pioneers were 
also to be endured, and the development of 
this region demanded men of courage, of 
unfaltering perseverance of industry and in- 
domitable purpose. Possessing the quali- 
ties which go to make up the pioneer, Mr. 
Thornton has for many years borne a most 
important part in the development and im- 
provement of this region, and a work of this 
character would be incomplete without the 
record of his life. 

A native of Alabama, he was born in 
Pickens county, on the 27th of March, 1833, 
a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Roberts) 
Thornton. The former was born in South 
Carolina and was a son of John Thornton, 
a native of the same state and of English de- 
scent. The great-grandfather served as a 
soldier through the Revolutionary war and 
lived to the advanced age of one hundred 
and seven years. Our subject remembers 
seeing him when he was one hundred and 
five. The mother of D. R. Thornton was 
a native of Virginia, and a daughter of 
Daniel Roberts, whose father was killed by 
the Indians, in Virginia, and when the son 
had reached manhood he killed two of the 
red men in order to avenge his father's mur- 
der. Both the paternal and maternal grand- 
parents of our subject were pioneers in 
Alabama, and the parents were married in 
'that state. In 1839 they removed to 
Mississippi, where Mr. Thornton followed 
farming as a means of livelihood. In the 
family were twelve children, who reached 
years of maturity, while nine are still living. 
Their mother died at the age of eighty-three 
years, but their father still survives, at the 
age of eighty-six. 

Mr. Thornton, of this sketch, spent his 
childhood days in assisting his father on the 



farm and resided with his parents until he 
came to Texas, in November, 1852. He 
visited the state that year, intending to re- 
turn the following spring. He first stopped 
in Anderson county and spent the months of 
April, May and June in exploring the coun- 
try. He was married in Anderson county, 
July 27, 1853, to Miss Mary Garland, a 
native of Tennessee and a daughter of Peter 
and Lucinda (Goff) Garland, of Irish ances- 
try. Mrs. Thornton came with her parents 
to the Lone Star state when a maiden of 
twelve years. 

Upon his marriage Mr. Thornton turned 
his attention to farming, which he followed 
in Anderson county until February, 1857, 
when he came to Erath county, reaching 
his destination on the 20th day of the 
month. He located eighteen miles north- 
west of Stephenville, where he found a fine 
range for his cattle. He embarked in the 
stock business on a small scale and for six- 
teen years followed that pursuit. At first 
he had no trouble with the Indians, but in 
November they made a raid, stealing a 
number of horses from Mr. Thornton and 
killing a Mr. Johnson. From that time on 
for some years the settlers had to be con- 
stantly on their guard. A fort was also 
constructed so that the settlers might unite 
in their efforts for defense. On one occa- 
sion Mr. Thornton, in company with Robert 
Wylie, started for Palo Pinto with a num- 
ber of cattle. On the way they saw a large 
band of Indians and turned to go back to 
the fort. They were followed by three In- 
dians, who attempted to steal some horses. 
Mr. Thornton dismounted, made a stand 
and succeeded in driving off the redskins. 
At another time he aided in the rescue of 
the Lemly girls, who had been carried off 
by the Indians in 1859; and as soon as the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



girls were taken to a place of safety he with 
others started in pursuit of their captors. 
Such were the experiences which were con- 
stantly occurring in this frontier region. Mr. 
Thornton once had a muscle of his arm 
shot through by an arrow while attempting 
to defend himself from five Indians who had 
come to steal his horses. He succeeded in 
drawing his revolver on one and wounded 
him, but soon was himself wounded. At 
no time was it safe for a man to venture 
away from home without a double-barreled 
shotgun, and even the wives and daughters 
were forced to go armed as they made their 
way about the farms. This life of excite- 
ment and danger continued for sixteen 
years, the last raid being made in 1874, 
when many settlers lost their horses and 
when Charlie Ellington was shot by the 
savages. Mr. Thornton has sustained 
severe losses through these Indian depreda- 
tions, but now the era of danger is over and 
he has succeeded in accumulating a good 
property. He continued to engage in the 
stock business until 1869, when he made 
his first purchase of land, becoming owner 
of ten hundred and twelve acres. He now 
has a landed estate of thirty-five hundred 
acres, of which three hundred is under cul- 
tivation. For a time he engaged in raising 
small grain, but is now cultivating only 
cotton and corn. He also has a good or- 
chard of five acres, containing peaches, pears 
and apricots. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the parents 
of eight children, viz. : Columbus, who mar- 
ried Molly Crawford and has nine children; 
Peter, who married Parcinda Gordon and 
has six children; Elizabeth, wife of Henry 
Wylie, of Runnels county, by whom she has 
six children; Henry, who married Florence 
Kenny and has four children; William, who 



wedded Jakkie Kenny and has one child; 
Arthur, who married Fannie Fulkerson and 
has two children; and Daniel and Minnie, 
who are at home. 

Mr. Thornton is a member of Hannibal 
Lodge, No. 564, F. & A. M., and is a mem- 
ber of Stephenville Chapter, R. A. M. His 
wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

Mr. Thornton made his military record 
while in the Confederate service during the 
civil war. He was a member of Company 
D, Fifteenth Texas Cavalry, but after a time 
the troops were dismounted and served as 
infantry. At the battle of Arkansas Post Mr. 
Thornton was taken prisoner and sent to 
Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he was held 
for three months. He then went to Virginia, 
where he was exchanged, and later joined 
the Army of the Tennessee. He participa- 
ted in the battles of Cedar mountain and 
Missionary Ridge, and after the defeat of 
Bragg he obtained a furlough and returned 
home. From that time until the close of 
the war he was on post duty guarding pro- 
visions. He served as county commissioner 
in 1876 and 1877, under the reconstruction. 
His name is inseparably associated with the 
history of Erath county and the work he 
has done in its behalf well entitles him to 
prominent mention among the honored pio- 



BRANCIS D. HOLMES, grandson 
of Gordon V. Holmes and wife 
Annis h.,iicc Alexander, of Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, and son of 
Thomas W. Holmes and wife Mary Ann iicc 
Grennon, is one of the worthy citizens that 
Alabama has furnished to central Texas, 
and his identification with this region has 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



579 



been long and honorable. He was born in 
Greene county, in the " Cotton state," Jan- 
uary ii, 1838. His early youth was spent 
on his father's farm in the state of his nativ- 
ity, and when twelve years of age he accom- 
panied the family to Cherokee county, Ala- 
bama. After three years they removed to 
Marshall county, that state, where our sub- 
ject was living when he attained his ma- 
jority. 

He remained at his parental home until 
the breaking out of the civil war and then 
joined the southern army. In the first year 
of the struggle he aided in the organization 
of Humphrey's brigade, which, however, 
was disbanded before being mustered into 
service. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted 
as a member of Captain Turpin's company 
of the Twenty-eighth Alabama Infantry, 
which was immediately sent to Corinth. 
He participated in the battle of Shiloh and 
many skirmishes, and was then in a hospi- 
tal in Mississippi for a time. He was later 
commissioned second lieutenant and joined 
Forrest's brigade, which was ordered to 
Murfreesboro, doing service in that vicinity 
and then taking part in a raid in western 
Tennessee. Mr. Holmes participated in the 
battle of Lexington and Parker's Cross 
Roads, and was wounded there in the right 
wrist and captured; but the following morn- 
ing he was paroled. He remained in that 
neighborhood for two weeks, after which he 
started for home, but his wound so troubled 
him that he was obliged to make the jour- 
ney by slow and easy stages and was un-.. 
fitted for further service. 

He remained at the old homestead from 
the close of the war until his marriage, on 
the 4th of September, 1866, to Martha J. 
Laughlin, a native of Alabama and a daugh- 
ter of Marcus and Isabella (Batty) Laugh- 



Hn. The young couple began their domes- 
tic life upon a farm which Mr. Holmes 
operated until 1870, when he sold out and 
with a capital of eight hundred dollars re- 
moved to Fannin county, Texas. While on 
the journey, his wife and children were at- 
tacked with the measles and smallpox and 
all died within a few weeks. This left Mr. 
Holmes all alone except that his mother-in- 
law kept house for him until his second 
marriage. She was a member of his family 
until her death. For a year our subject 
remained in Fannin county, and in 1871 
came to Erath county, where he pre-empted 
one hundred and sixty acres of land and be- 
gan the development of a farm. To this 
property he has added as the years have 
passed, and his financial resources have in- 
creased until to-day he owns a valuable 
property of eight hundred acres, of which 
one hundred and seventy-five acres are un- 
der a high state of cultivation and yields to 
him a handsome tribute in return for the 
care and labor he bestows upon it. He 
has also engaged in stock-raising to some 
extent. 

In August, 1876, Mr. Holmes was again 
married, his second union being with Miss 
Mary A. Gunter, a native of Louisana and 
a daughter of Henry and Sarah (George) 
Gunter. By their union they have three 
children, two yet living, ^Thomas Howard 
and Martha Hortense. The other child 
died in infancy. 

Mr. Holmes and his wife are consistent 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
and are people of the highest respectability. 
He belongs to Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, 
F. & A. M., of which he is treasurer, and 
in politics is a Populist. He may truly be 
called a self-made man, for by industry and 
enterprise he has overcome the difficulties 



580 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



in the path to success and has become the 
owner of a valuable and desirable property. 
He is now able to surround his family with 
the comforts of life, and, more than the 
property he has acquired, he has made for 
himself that "good name which is rather 
to be chosen than great riches." 



^y*ESSE COX is a venerable citizen of 
J Erath county, Texas, now an invalid 
A 1 and living retired at his pleasant rural 
home in the vicinity of Chalk mount- 
ain. His life has been a somewhat eventful 
one and is well worthy of an honorable men- 
tion in the county annals. 

Jesse Co.\ was born in Tennessee, No- 
vember 19, 1825, and is of German de- 
scent. His parents were Nathan and Sarah 
(Wheeler) Cox, the former a native of 
North Carolina, who went with his parents 
to Tennessee when he was very young, and 
in that state grew up and passed his life. 
His father was Henry Cox, a Pennsylvanian 
by birth and in religion a Quaker. On 
account of his religious views Henry Cox 
took no part in the Revolutionary war. He 
was hated by the Tories, and at one time, 
when some sort of a disagreement arose be- 
tween him and some members of this party, 
one of them struck him with a saber, inflict- 
ing a wound which he carried through life. 
He emigrated to Tennessee at an early day, 
was among the pioneer farmers of that state, 
and there reared his family and died. The 
Quakers in those days were as much op- 
posed to slavery as to war; consequently he 
had no slaves, and carried on his farming 
operations with the assistance of his sons 
and with hired help. He had six sons and 
two daughters, none of whom ever came to 
Texas. The father of our subject, Nathan 



Cox, married in Tennessee, and there spent 
his life in agricultural pursuits. He and his 
wife were members of the Christian church. 
They were the parents of eleven children, 
namely: Huldah, deceased; Jesse, whose 
name graces this article; Henry, still a resi- 
dent of Tennessee; William, deceased; 
Samuel, a resident of Mississippi; John E., 
a farmer of Ellis county, Texas; Solomon, 
of Tennessee; Mary A., who died when 
young; the next two died in infancy; and 
the youngest, Nancy, is the wife of D. Col- 
ston, a farmer. 

At the age of twenty years Jesse Cox 
left the parental home and started out in 
life to care for himself, and was at first em- 
ployed as a farm hand. After that he was 
variously employed for several years. In 
1853 he married Sarah C. Murphy, and at 
this time he was engaged in merchandising. 
At first he conducted a country store, then 
he did business in Nashville; but merchan- 
dising was not particularly suited to his 
taste and he left it to engage in work at the 
carpenter's trade. In 1856 he moved to 
Missouri and settled in St. Clair county, 
where he worked at his trade and also did 
some farming. During the latter part of 
his residence in Missouri he was a member 
of the home guard. The Kansas Jayhawk- 
ers made a raid through St. Clair county 
and destroyed Osceola, the county seat, and 
Mr. Cox, as a member of the home guard, 
was in a skirmish with these raiders, in 
which encounter one or two men were 
killed. About three weeks later, in Octo- 
ber, 1 86 1, Mr. Cox started to flee with his 
family, and worked his way to Texas, land- 
ing here after some time and making settle- 
ment in Grayson county. He had but little 
means and he worked at whatever he could 
get to do. In the fall of 1862 he was de- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



581 



tailed by the Confederacy to make salt in 
Van Zandt county, in which he was engaged 
until the close of the war. 

After the close of the war he went to 
Ellis county and bought a small tract of 
land, paying for the same with money he 
earned by freighting with ox teams, in two 
years' time completing the payments and af- 
ter devoting his attention to the improve- 
ment of his land. He continued farming in 
Ellis county until 1883, when he sold out 
and came to his present location in Erath 
county. Here he bought twelve hundred 
and eighty acres, all in one tract, portions 
of which he has since sold to his children, 
retaining eight hundred acres in his home 
place. The most of this is under fence and 
one hundred and fifty acres in cultivation. 
Before he disposed of his property in Ellis 
county Mr. Cox took a herd of cattle to 
Stephens county, where he bought a tract 
of land and on it ranged his cattle three 
years, selling out his interests there just be- 
fore coming to this county. Here he has 
made substantial improvements, including 
nice orchard and comfortable residence, and 
here he is pleasantly situated in his old age. 
About 1882 he became afflicted with rheu- 
matism and for a few years was unable to 
attend to business. About 1890 he grew 
worse instead of better, finally becoming 
helpless, and for the past four years has been 
unable to help himself. He has to be lifted 
in and out of his bed, and his hands are so 
drawn that he can not close them, but 
through all his sufferings he is cheerful and 
patient. 

Mr. Cox is the father of a large family, 
three of his children dying in early life. Of 
the others we make record as follows: Will- 
iam E., an attorney of Waxahachie ; John 
B., a farmer, who died in 1889 and left a 



wife and live children; Jessie May, wife of 
James F. Hatchett, a farmer; Mollie D., 
wife of Joel F. Hatchett; Laura L., wife of 
C. Rogers, a farmer now of Oklahoma; 
Effa, wife of William Hamick, a farmer; 
Emma, wife of H. Dodson, a farmer; Henry 
W., engaged in farming; and Charlie, Sally, 
and Walter E., at home. 

Mr. Cox and his wife have long been 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal 
church, south. In his political views he 
was originally a Whig. Later he belonged 
to the American party, then the Greenback- 
ers, and of more recent years he has har- 
monized with the Democrats. 



St 



ILLIAM MINGUS.— The subject 
of this notice is certainly entitled 
to be considered not only one of 
the most enterprising farmers of 
Bosque county, but one of its respected and 
honored citizens and a man of more than 
ordinary ability. His residence in the 
county dates back to 1867, but he has lived 
in Texas since 1852. He was born in Hay- 
wood county. North Carolina, November 3, 
1823, and is of German extraction, his 
grandfather, George Mingus, being a native 
of Germany. After coming to the New 
World he aided the colonies in their struggle 
for independence. 

Abram Mingus, the father of our subject, 
was born in Lincoln county. North Carolina, 
where he was reared, but was married in 
Haywood county to Miss Rebecca Stilhvell, 
also a native of that state and a daughter of 
Jerry Stilhvell, whose birth occurred in 
Holland. In 1853 the parents removed to 
Newton county, Missouri, where the father 
died in 1859 and the mother ten years later. 
In their family were twelve children, namely: 



582 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Mary, who died in Iredell, Texas; George W. , 
Cornelius, William, Richard, Abram, David, 
Isaac, Rebecca, Abigail, Jacob and one that 
died in infancy. By occupation the father 
was a farmer; was a Whig in politics, being a 
warm admirer of Henry Clay; and in religious 
belief was a Baptist. 

In the common schools of his native 
state William Mingus obtained a limited 
education, and in 1848 left home, going to 
Jackson county, Missouri, where he remained 
for about twenty months, when he returned 
to Haywood county, North Carolina, but in 
the fall of 1850 went to Mississippi, where 
the following year was passed. We next 
find him in McLennan county, Texas, later 
in Bell and De Witt counties, and in 1855 
he went to Lawrence county, Missouri, 
where he was married. He then returned 
to Bell county, where he remained for two 
years, and the following ten years he was 
engaged in the stock business in Palo Pinto 
county, Texas, but in 1867 located upon the 
land in Bosque county, where he still lives, 
it being a valuable tract of seven hundred 
acres, well improved. His first home here 
was a rude log cabin, sixteen by sixteen 
feet, and this was later replaced by a box 
house, where he kept a stage tavern for 
travelers, it being one of the best at that 
time in the locality. He now has a com- 
fortable and commodious dwelling, two 
stories in height, good barns and other out- 
buildings, which are models of convenience. 
He is engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising and has one of the most productive 
places in the county. 

While in Lawrence county, Missouri, 
Mr. Mingus wedded Miss Julia Frances Spill- 
man, who comes of a prominent family and 
is a woman of more than ordinary business 
ability, possessing excellent judgment and 



rare tact. She was born in Allen county, 
Kentucky, and was ten years of age when 
she went to Missouri, where her education 
was obtained. Her father, John Spillman, 
was also a native of Allen county, and was 
the son of Thomas Spillman, who was born 
in Virginia, of German and English parent- 
age. The mother of Mrs. Mingus, who bore 
the maiden name of Mary Boucher, was born 
in Allen county, Kentucky, and was a daugh- 
ter of Peter Boucher, of French parentage. 
To John Spillman and wife were born 
twelve children, nine of whom grew to ma- 
turity, namely: Nathan, who is now serv- 
ing as county judge; Thomas, Mary, Sarah, 
John J., an ex-treasurer and justice of the 
peace; Arrena; Nancy Ellen; Julia Frances 
and Theresa Eveline. At the present time 
there are also seventy-five grandchildren, 
nine great-grandchildren and four -great- 
great-grandchildren. The father was a 
well-to-do planter and a member of the 
Baptist church. His death occurred at the 
age of sixt3^-two years, and his wife reached 
the age of sixty-five. 

Twelve children blessed the union of 
our subject: Ada Mingus, the daughter of 
Frances Mingus, is the wife of Hon. W. H. 
Lockett, of Texas; G. W. , at home; Mary 
J., wife of Frank Duckworth, of Erath 
county; Charlotte R,, wife of Morgan Wea- 
ver, of Hico, Texas; Judson L. , deputy 
county clerk, living at Meridian; Ida E. , a 
popular and successful teacher of Bosque 
county; Nelia Pauline, wife of C. C. Crews, 
editor of the Courier, of Hico; William 
Coke and Frank Mills are twins, and John 
A., the youngest, — these three are at home. 
The children have all been supplied with 
good educational advantages. 

Mr. Mingus is a clear-headed, intelligent 
man, with sound common-sense \iews of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



life and its duties, and is active in well-do- 
ing, sober, industrious and of good business 
habits, — in fact, possessing in an eminent 
degree all the qualifications that go to make 
up a good citizen and an honorable man. 
In politics he sides with the Democratic 
party, has served as justice of the peace, 
and socially belongs to Iredell Lodge, No. 
405, F. & A. M. He is a faithful member 
of the Baptist church, in which he has 
served as elder and deacon, and is one of its 
most liberal supporters. 



St 



C. ROBINSON.— This gentle- 
man stands as one of the most 
prosperous and prominent agri- 
culturists of the vicinity of Eu- 
logy, is well known and highly respected 
throughout the county of Bosque, and there 
is therefore signal consistency in giving 
an outline of his life history in this con- 
nection. 

W. C. Robinson was born in Lee coun- 
ty, Mississippi, January 6, 1850; was reared 
on a farm, and at the age he should have 
been in school the war and its vicissitudes 
prevented the carrying out of any educa- 
tional plans. Thus he grew up with but 
little book learning. Later in life, however, 
by improving his odd moments in reading 
and study and by close observation as he 
passed along, he acquired a valuable fund 
of useful information, and now has as good 
a practical education as the average farmer. 
He is a son of W. B. and Elizabeth A. 
(Thomason) Robinson, the latter a native of 
Alabama. W. B. Robinson was born in the 
Old Dominion, March 18, 1819, the son of 
Virginia parents, his father an Irishman by 
birth, and his mother of Welsh descent. 
His marriage to Miss Thomason was con- 



summated in Alabama in December, 1842, 
and as time passed by they became the par- 
ents of four children, namely: James L., 
now a farmer of Johnson county, Texas; 
William C, whose name graces this sketch; 
Henrietta; and Mollie, wife of J. W. Chit- 
wood, who is engaged in the sheep business 
in Greer county, Texas. The father was 
at one time a slaveholder and prominent 
farmer, carrying on his operations in Ala- 
bama and Mississippi, and the family still 
own a large tract of land in the latter state. 
Also he was a stock dealer, bought and sold 
horses, and was successful in his undertak- 
ings. Religiously, he was a Missionary 
Baptist, and a deacon in the church; in his 
political views he was Democratic, but he 
never sought official honors; and fraternally 
he was a Mason, having risen in that order 
to the Royal Arch degree. He died in 
Mississippi, and his venerable widow is yet 
living, is now seventy-eight years of age, 
and resides with her son, our subject. 

W. C. Robinson remained with his 
mother in Mississippi until their removal to 
Texas in 1871, he being then a single man, 
and with his mother located on rented land 
near Waco, McLennan county, where they 
remained until 1875. In the meantime, in 
November, 1874, he won and wed a young 
lady of that county. In 1875 he removed 
to Bosque county and settled near Eulogy, 
and two years later, in 1877, he purchased 
a portion of his present holdings, his origi- 
nal purchase comprising fifty-seven acres of 
wild land, to which he has since added until 
he now has 457 acres. Seventy-five acres 
of this he has under cultivation. He has 
made various improvements in the way of 
buildings, fences, etc., and he now has a 
valuable farm desirably located, being two 
and a half miles south of Eulogy. 



584 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Robinson's marriage, as above re- 
corded, was to Miss Sudie Lockhart, a 
native of Mississippi, born October 22, 
1858, only child of Marion and Amelia 
(Criddle) Lockhart. Her parents were born, 
reared, married and died in Mississippi, 
dying when she was quite small, the mother's 
death occurring only three months before the 
father's. In 1865 the little girl was brought 
to Texas by her grandmother, Mrs. Nancy 
Rhenson, who settled near "Waco and who 
died some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Robin- 
son have had nine children, two of whom 
died young. Those living are as follows: 
Mollie, Edgar, Marion, Thomas, Lulu, Het- 
tie, and Sudie, all at home except the eldest 
daughter, Mollie, who is the wife of W. C. 
Wamble. 

In fraternal circles, Mr. Robinson is act- 
ive and popular, being identified with both 
the I. O. O. F. and the F. & A. M., having 
membership in the former at Morgan and in 
the latter at Eulogy. He was initiated into 
the mysteries of Masonry at Morgan, was 
one of the charter members of the Eulogy 
Lodge, which he helped to organize, and at 
present holds the office of master of this 
lodge. He is Democratic in his political 
views and as a voter takes an intelligent in- 
terest in party issues, but has never been 
an aspirant for official preference. A genial, 
pleasant gentleman, he makes friends wher- 
ever he goes, and is as popular as he is well 
known. 



%y^ OBERT L. SELMAN.— It is a sat- 

I /^ isfaction to the biographer to write 

M . F the sketch of a man who- is not 

only a native son of the Lone Star 

state but is also a representative of one of 

the old and honored families that has been 



connected with its history since the days of 
the Republic. The name of Selman stands 
conspicuously forth on its annals, and the 
subject of this review is one whose connec- 
tion with the growth and substantial up- 
building of the thriving city of Comanche 
has been of an intimate nature and has ex- 
tended over a considerable period. He is a 
recognized leader in commercial and politic- 
al circles, and wherever known his name 
passes current as a synonym for all that is 
upright and honorable. 

Born in Cherokee county, Texas, April 
4, 1855, Robert L. Selman is a son of 
Greene B. Selman, who was born in Ala- 
bama and came to Texas in 1846. The 
grandfather, Benjamin Selman, had arrived 
in this state the year previous an3 in 1848 
was elected to the legislature, where he 
proved an acceptable and valued member of 
the house, advancing by his support all in- 
terests which he believed would promote the 
welfare of the state. He was one of the 
pioneer settlers of Texas and his prominence 
and his well spent life won him the highest 
regard of all with whom he came in contact. 
He was popular with all and when he passed 
from this life many friends mourned his 
death. Greene B. Selman took no part in 
public affairs, but was an energetic, pro- 
gressive farmer, who extensively engaged in 
stock dealing. His wife bore the maiden 
name of Amanda D. Oldham and was a na- 
tive of Mississippi. Her death occurred in 
1880 and Mr. Selman passed away in 1888. 

R. L. Selman spent the days of his boy- 
hood and youth in Leon county, Texas, and 
in its public schools acquired his education. 
He afterward removed to Hood county, 
which was then located on the frontier, and 
later he became a resident of Baylor county, 
where he engaged in farming and stock-rais- 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



585 



mg. He is a man of good business ability, 
with whom failure could never come through 
inattention to his interests. On the other 
hand the success he has achieved is the re- 
sult of his earnest application and energy 
combined with good judgment and careful 
management. He came to Comanche coun- 
ty in 1884 and devoted his time to farm- 
ing. In 1893-4 he served as deputy tax as- 
sessor of Comanche county and in the lat- 
ter year was elected county surveyor, in 
which capacity he is still serving, discharg- 
ing his duties with a promptness and fidelity 
that have won him the commendation of all 
concerned. 

In his political views Mr. Selman is a 
Populist and takes a very active interest in 
the work of that party. He is a member of 
the Farmers' Alliance and of the Baptist 
church. He is a man of strong intellectual- 
ity, of broad and progressive views and is a 
friend to education, religion and all interests 
which are calculated to benefit humanity or 
to advance the welfare of the community 
with which his interests are now identified. 
He has the confidence and respect of all 
who know him and is a popular member of 
society. 



eE. KILGORE, the efficient post- 
master of Gap, and one of the in- 
telligent, progressive farmers of 
Comanche county, is one of the 
worthy sons that Georgia has furnished to 
Texas. He was born in Walker county, of 
the former state, on the 17th of December, 
1858, and is a son of James Kilgore, a na- 
tive of Tennessee. His mother bore the 
maiden name of Rachel Moore and died 
during the early childhood of our subject. 
The father came to Texas in 18S6 and died 



in 1 888. In the family were seven children 
of whom E. E. was the sixth in order of 
birth. 

Mr. Kilgore of this review was reared on 
his father's farm and early became familiar 
with the duties and labors that fall to the 
lot of the agriculturist. He is indebted to 
the public schools for his early educational 
training, but after leaving the school-room 
he added greatly to his knowledge by read- 
ing and study at home, while in the experi- 
ences of a business career he had found 
practical training in the affairs of life. He 
maintained his residence in his native state 
until 1878, when he came to Texas and 
made a location in Robertson county, where 
he remained for thirteen years. He was 
there engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
met with a fair degree of success. 

During his residence there Mr. Kilgore 
was married, on the 29th of December, 1S80, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Ellen 
Walton, daughter of J. N. Walton, a promi- 
nent and early settler of Robertson county. 
Mrs. Kilgore, with the influences of a re- 
fined home, became a lady of culture and 
intelligence, who presides with gracious hos- 
pitality over her own home. Four children 
grace this marriage,— three daughters and 
a son,— namely: Maud A., Adella P., Sadie 
A. and Hugh W. 

In 1 89 1 Mr. Kilgore left Robertson 
county and came with his family to his pres- 
ent home in Comanche county. Here he 
has one hundred acres of cultivable land, of 
which thirty acres is now highly cultivated, 
while in the pastures are found good grades 
of stock. His comfortable residence stands 
on a natural building site, and good barns 
and outbuildings and an orchard are among 
the improvements which have helped to 
transform the once wild land into a good 



58(5 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



farm. In addition to the cultivation of his 
land Mr. Kilgore is also serving as postmas- 
ter at Gap. In politics he is an inflexible 
adherent of the Democratic party and 
warmly advocates its principles. He keeps 
well informed on the issues of the day and 
is a progressive man in all particulars, in his 
business, in politics, and in all local matters 
which tend to the advancement of the gen- 
eral welfare. The success he has achieved 
is richly merited, for it has been achieved 
entirely through his own industry. 



BRANK SMITH.— It is our purpose 
at this point to briefly call atten- 
tion to the life of one of the rep- 
resentative and well-known men 
of the town of Bibb, Frank Smith, who is 
postmaster of the town and also a dealer in 
general merchandise. 

Mr. Smith is a son of early settlers of 
this state. He dates his birth in Hunt 
county, Te.xas, April 7, 1861, and was 
reared on a farm in that county and re- 
ceived no other educational advantages than 
those of the common schools. His parents, 
Hugh and Mary A. (Hendricks) Smith, were 
Tennesseeaniwho about 1858 left their na- 
tive state and emigrated to Texas, making 
settlement on a farm in Hunt county, where 
they reared their large family, Frank being 
their fifth in order of birth. 

Frank Smith remained in Hunt county 
until 1889, when he removed to Comanche 
county and located at Bibb. Here he is 
doing a prosperous business in the line of 
general merchandise, keeping a well-selected 
stock, including dry goods, groceries, patent 
medicines, and in short almost every article 
demanded by the trade. He has for sev- 
eral years taken an active interest in polit- 



ical matters and is regarded as one of the 
wheelhorses among the Democrats at Bibb. 
In 1894 he received from President Cleve- 
land the appointment of postmaster at 
Bibb, and has since had charge of the office, 
conducting it in connection with his store, 
it being a fourth-class office. As a business 
man he is fair and square in all his deal- 
ings, is genial and accommodating, and that 
he is popular both as a merchant and post- 
master goes without saying. 

Mr. Smith was married in Hunt county, 
Texas, December 23, 1882, to Miss Pinkey 
Voyles, who, like himself, is a native of 
this state. She is a daughter of John 
Voyles, one of the early pioneers of Texas. 
They have a family of three interesting 
children, — Luther, Horace and Claude, — 
and they also had a daughter that died in 
infancy. 



^^ M. VERNON is the editor and 
•^^^^ proprietor of the Comanche Chief, 

K,^_^ the leading newspaper of Coman- 
che county. His connection with 
the paper has been continuous since 1881 
and under his capable management he has 
placed it in the front ranks among similar 
publications in this part of the Lone Star 
state. 

A native of Mississippi Mr. Vernon was 
born on the 6th of November, 1862, and is 
a son of Dr. Samuel M. Vernon. His 
father was born in Alabama and when he 
had arrived at years of maturity he was 
united in marriage to Miss Haseltine Dowd, 
of Mississippi. In 1872 the family came 
to Texas, and here the subject of this notice 
was reared and educated. He learned the 
printer's trade and in 1881 he took full 
charge of the Comanche Chief, a bright, 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



587 



interesting journal which was established in 
1873 by G. A. Beemer. It is the leading 
Democratic paper of the county and has a 
circulation of twenty-five hundred. It is 
well edited, is clean and pure, fit for intro- 
duction into the most refined household. 
It is pre-eminently suited for a family paper 
and its diversified contents make it interest- 
ing to the various tastes found in any home. 
It contains a review of all matters of gen- 
eral interest, as well as the state and local 
news, and the ofi^ce is equipped with mod- 
ern machinery and accessories so that in 
appearance also the paper is equal to the 
best publication of the kind in the state. 
Mr. Vernon is one of the prominent and 
progressive business men and leading and 
influential citizens of Comanche county. 
His position gives him an insight into public 
affairs that others seldom have. He sees 
the public needs and champions all meas- 
ures calculated to advance the public wel- 
fare, materially, socially or morally. He 
has done much to build up the town in 
which he lives, he is wide-awake and enter- 
prising and has been found as the leader in 
many movements for the general good. His 
political support is given the Democracy, 
and of the principles of that party he is an 
earnest and able advocate. 



eLIAS BARBEE, who is now living 
retired in Granbury, in the enjoy- 
ment of the fruits of his former toil, 
IS one of those whose valor and 
loyalty were displayed during the eivil war 
m defense of the Union, and whose life has 
always been marked by the faithful discharge 
of his duties of citizenship. 

Mr. Barbee is a native of Williamson 
county, Tennessee, born on the 3d of Sep- 



tember, 1840, a son of Joseph and Rachel 
(Compton) Barbee. Both parents were na- 
tives of Virginia, but were married in Ten- 
nessee, and in 1841 removed to Jefferson 
county, Illinois. There the subject of this 
sketch grew to manhood upon his father's 
farm, and his labors in the fields were alter- 
nated with his attendance on the public 
schools of the neighborhood, where he ac- 
quired a fair English education. He re- 
mained at home, assisting in the labor of 
the farm, until the breaking out of the late 
war, when, on the 19th of October, 1861, 
he offered his services to the government,' 
enlisting in the Union army as a member of 
Company K, Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry. In 1862, at Camp Butler, Illi- 
nois, he was taken ill, which resulted in his 
total blindness and led to his honorable di.s- 
charge from the service on the 30th of 
I April, 1862, at Camp Stanton, Tennessee. 
He then returned to his home in Illinois, 
but, though his army service was thus cut 
short, few of the "boys in blue" gave more 
to their country than Mr. Barbee, who 
through a third of a century has been de- 
prived of his sight. 

On the 14th of April. 1861, in Franklin 
county, Illinois, Mr. Barbee was united in 
marriage with Miss Lovisa Allen, a native 
of that county, and a daughter of Stephen 
and Rebecca (Webb) Allen, the former born 
in Kentucky, the latter in Illinois. For a 
number of years our subject and his wife 
continued their residence in Illinois and 
then emigrated to Te.xas, settling in Palu.xy, 
Hood county, where Mr. Brabee purcha.sed 
one hundred and si.xty acres of land. He 
had secured the capital as the savings 
from his meager pension of eight dollars per 
month, which was later raised to twenty- 
five dollars. With the assistance of his 



til STORY OF TEXAS 



thirteen-year-old son, Mr. Barbee engaged 
in the stock business on a small scale and in 
the undertaking met with success. He sub- 
sequently sold his land and purchased else- 
where one hundred and ninety acres, also 
an interest in about five hundred acres of 
cedar brake. The former place he made 
his home and engaged there in general 
farming, with the assistance of his son. 
Before coming to Texas his pension was in- 
creased to fifty dollars per month, which 
was of material assistance to him, and in 
1879 it was raised to seventy-two dollars. 
Mr. Barbee made many excellent improve- 
ments upon his farm, placed the greater 
part of the land under a high state of culti- 
vation, and continued to engage in agri- 
cultural pursuits until 1887, when he laid 
aside all business cares and took up his resi- 
dence in Granbury, where he has since made 
his home. 

He deserves great credit for his success 
in life, for, suffering under an affliction which 
would have utterly discouraged and dis- 
heartened a man of less resolute spirit, he 
has worked his way steadily upward and has 
not only been able to provide for his family 
but has also acquired a handsome property 
which now permits him to rest from all 
care. 

Mr. and Mrs. Barbee were the parents 
of three children, but only one is living. 
Wilson B. married Mary Pate and they have 
two children, Luther B. and Alta. He has 
always been his father's assistant and with 
a wisdom and judgment seemingly beyond 
his years managed the business interests in 
his early boyhood. Emma married William 
H. Meek, and died in 1885, leaving two 
children, Minnie and Maud, who are now 
living with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. 
Barbee, for they were left orphans by the 



death of their father in 1895. Williard J., 
the youngest of the family, died at the age 
of three years. The parents are members 
of the Missionary Baptist church and sup- 
port all worthy enterprises which tend to 
advance the general welfare. Mr. Barbee 
is a Republican in politics at national elec- 
tions, but at local elections, where no gen- 
eral issue is involved, he supports the Dem- 
ocratic candidates. 



* y ^ ARVEY WILSON, one of the prom- 
l^'^W inent farmers of Hood county, who 
\ P for a quarter of a century has been 
identified with the best interests of 
the community, is a native of South Caro- 
lina, where he was born March 15, 1825, 
and is a son of Henry and Mary (Hunt) 
Wilson, the former a native of Virginia and 
the latter of South Carolina. The father 
served as a soldier in the Colonial army 
during the Revolutionary war, and died at 
the age of seventy-eight years, when our 
subject was only seven years old. The 
mother was the second wife of Henry Wil- 
son, by whom she had six children, and her 
death occurred in her native state in 1871. 
After the death of his father Harvey 
Wilson was reared by strangers, and was 
able to attend school for only six months, 
for which privilege he had to work the other 
si.x months to pay for his board and tuition. 
Most of his education has been secured since 
his marriage, being taught by his wife. At 
the age of eighteen he began learning the 
trade of wagon-maker, and later took up 
blacksmithing, at which he worked for 
nearly twenty years, at the same time man- 
aging a farm which he owned in his native 
state. 

Mr. Wilson was married in 1849, the 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



lady of his choice being Miss EHzabeth 
Reynolds, who was born in South Carolina, 
and is a daughter of Edward and Winnie 
Reynolds, also natives of the same state. 
Twelve children were born of this union, 
but only four grew to maturity, and are 
living at the present time, namely: Ara- 
menta, wife of M. E. Huggins, a farmer of 
Hood county; Vermeil, wife of E. J. Baker; 
Ella, wife of W. J. McElroy; and Fannie, 
wife of D. F. Ward. All make their home 
in Hood county. 

In ten years after his marriage Mr. Wil- 
son was employed as clerk and bookkeeper 
for a firm that engaged in merchandising 
and in the manufacture of turpentine. In 
1861 he enlisted in Company H, Twenty- 
first South Carolina Infantry, with which he 
served until captured at Fort Fisher in Jan- 
uary, 1864, and was a prisoner on Gov- 
ernor's island. New York, for about two 
months, when he was paroled. He was 
first a corporal, from which position he was 
promoted to that of orderly sergeant, and 
later to that of second lieutenant, and at 
the siege of Battery Wagner on Morris 
island had command of a detachment of 
thirty men for six months. 

In 1870 Mr. Wilson sold his interests in 
South Carolina and came to Texas, locating 
on the Brazos, which was his objective 
point. At the end of a year he purchased 
two hundred acres of partially improved 
land, which he cultivated for a year and 
then sold out and bought one hundred and 
sixty acres of his present farm. He has 
given to each of his children eighty acres of 
good land, and still owns three hundred and 
thirty acres, all of which he rents, as he is 
now living in comparative retirement, ne- 
cessitated by having received a sunstroke 
and partial paralysis. For two years he 



conducted a store at Acton, Hood county, 
since living upon his present farm. He has 
been the architect of his own fortune, and 
has never been afraid of putting his shoul- 
der to the wheel whenever necessary. He 
has brought his land to a high state of cul- 
tivation greatly by the labor of his own 
hands, and well deserves the success that 
has come to him. 

Mr. Wilson is a popular and influential 
man, who for two years served as county 
commissioner, and socially is a member of 
Acton Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M. In re- 
ligious matters he and his wife belong to 
the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and 
are people who enjoy the confidence and 
respect of the community generally. 



ej. WHITACRE is a worthy repre- 
sentative of the agricultural inter- 
ests of Erath county, where he has 
resided since 1876. A native of 
Ohio, he was born in Carroll county, that 
state, on the 14th of October, 1826, the 
second son of Edward and Rachel (Bye) 
Whitacre, who were natives of Virginia and 
were of English descent. They became 
pioneer settlers of Ohio and in 1 840 removed 
to Illinois, taking up their residence in 
Wayne county. 

The youth of our subject was spent on 
the old home farm. He lost his father 
when he was about eighteen years of age 
and since that time he has been dependent 
on his own resources for a livelihood. He 
acquired a good common-school education 
and when nineteen years of age he taught 
his first school, which was held in a little 
log building with a mud-and-stick chimney 
and dirt floor, while the light made its way 
through a greased-paper window. There 



590 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Mr. Whitacre taught for three months, re- 
ceiving from each pupil a dollar and a half 
in payment for -his instruction. When the 
school term was ended Mr. Whitacre went 
to Williamson county, thence to Union 
county, Illinois, and later to Arkansas. 
Subsequently he returned to Illinois and 
engaged in teaching for eight years. 

On the 29th of September, 1853, Mr. 
Whitacre was united in marriage to Miss 
Nancy Jane Roberts, a native of Illinois, 
born in Union county, and a daughter of 
John and Mildred (Ferrill) Roberts, the 
latter born in Virginia and the former in 
North Carolina. In an early day they took 
up their residence in Illinois, where Mrs. 
Whitacre spent her girlhood days. In 
1855 our subject came to Texas, making 
the journey by team and traveling from the 
4th of October until the 12th of November. 
He settled in Navarro county, where he 
engaged in teaching for two years and 
resided until the fall of i860, when he 
removed to Hill county. He next engaged 
in teaching in Hill county and later located 
on the Brazos river, where he followed 
agricultural pursuits for sixteen years. In 
1876 he came to Erath county and bought 
two hundred and thirty acres of wild land 
that had been left as it came from the hand 
of nature, beingentirely destitute of improve- 
ment. He at once began to clear the place 
and soon richly-cultivated fields were seen 
where was once only wild prairie. He now 
has one hundred and ten acres under the 
plow and the harvests of autumn bring their 
reward for his energetic labors. He has 
followed farming continuously since coming 
to Erath county and is now the owner of 
one of the highly developed farms in this 
locality. 

In 1895 Mr. Whitacre was called upon 



to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on 
the 23d of June, at the age of sixty-three 
years and three months. She was a con- 
sistent menr.ber of the Christian church and 
had many estimable qualities which endeared 
her to all who knew her. In the family 
were five children: Rachel, wife of G. W. 
Whitehead, of Erath county; Mary R., wife 
of M. P. Balock, of the same county; A. 
Y., who is living on the old homestead; 
Clara J., wife of G. H. Rainsey, of Erath 
county; and S. J., who also inakes his home 
in the same locality. Like his wife, Mr. 
Whitacre is a member of the Christian 
church and is now serving as one of its 
elders. His life has been well spent and he 
has the esteem of all. 



eLISHA TERRY, living near Jones- 
boro, was born in Hot Springs 
county, Arkansas, October 13, 
1837, the son of Turner and Ma- 
tilda (Bond) Terry. On the 8th of January, 
1839, his father died, leaving two children, 
— Elisha and George, the latter now lying 
in the carnage at Vicksburg, Mississippi. 
Later the mother became the wife of James 
Wornick, and by that marriage there were 
three children, — William D., Margaret and 
Ellen. His paternal grandfather, John 
Terry, married Miss Fanny Gaddy, at Bed- 
ford Court House, Virginia. Richard Bond, 
the maternal grandfather of our subject, who 
wedded Mary Baker, was a North Caro- 
linian by birth. On both sides Mr. Terry is 
of Irish descent. 

In 1847 he accompanied his parents to 
Union parish, Louisiana, where the family 
continued to reside until May, 1852, when 
they emigrated to Texas, locating in Leon 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



501 



county. At the age of twenty he began 



teaching, which profession he followed 
eight months of the year until the outbreak 
of the civil war; then, in 1861, he joined 
Company B, Twelfth Texas Cavalry (Par- 
sons'), and served as chaplain for a limited 
time. Shortly before the close of the war 
he resigned. He had a horror of shedding 
human blood and hence never actively bore 
arms. His sympathies, however, were with 
the south, and he did all in his power to 
administer to the spiritual welfare and alle- 
viate the physical suffering of the soldiers. 

Returning to Leon county, Mr. Terry 
made his home there until August, 1868, 
when he removed to his present place in 
Hamilton county. Finding no congrega- 
tions here, the territory being large and 
sparsely settled, although there had been a I 
conference of the Methodist Protestant 
church for ten years, he went to work to 
raise a congregation. He had no means 
but his labor and no church funds to aid in 
the good work. Before the close of the 
year 1869 he was enabled to organize Lib- 
erty church. Two years later he was elected 
president of the district, which office, how- 
ever, he was compelled to abandon before 
the close of the second term, on account of 
physical exhaustion and meager support. 
Thus, up to 1883, all the time that could be 
so spent was spent in any labor the confer- 
ence might require till the onerous duty of 
pastor of a weak church and the care of a 
large family so overtaxed his powers of both 
body and mind that he was forced to retire 
from the active ministry. 

Our subject is more familiarly known as 
"Parson Terry." In 1859 he became a 
member of the Methodist Protestant church, 
and a year later entered the work of the 
ministry, preaching the gospel until 1883. 



During that time he established Liberty 
church, four miles east of Jonesboro, one at 
Brown's creek in Brown county, and still 
another in San Antonio, Texas, while he has 
assisted in the organization of many others. 
He has made a valiant fight for his church 
and Master, and now, in his old age, has 
the pleasure of seeing some of the congre- 
gations which he established in a flourishing 
condition. He is one of the pioneer Meth- 
odist Protestant preachers of the state, and 
to the Master's work he has devoted the 
best years of his life. He is a well read 
man, thoroughly informed on the current 
events of the day, and has the esteem and 
confidence of all who know him. Politically 
he is a conservative Democrat, and socially 
is a Mason, having joined that order at 
Leona Union Lodge, No. 39, in 1865, and 
is a charter member of Coryell Lodge, No. 
442, at Jonesboro. 

Mr. Terry remarks in addition to the 
above: "If the endowments of an individ- 
ual are such as claimed above, why not 
align himself with more power and prestige 
in Christian work.' I feel a respect for dif- 
ferent bodies of Christians that amounts to 
admiration, — a love that amounts to broth- 
erhood. At the same time I believe the 
genius of Christian teaching to be the re- 
quirement of perfect equality among breth- 
ren, higher endowments among Christians 
enjoining only more love, more humility and 
more work. I believe that Christians are 
required to do all in their power to promote 
the welfare of the country in which they 
live; hence I believe that all church officials 
should hold place only by consent of the 
church. In a word, I believe that a man 
should stand to his own sense of Christian 
duty at all hazards. Under these convic- 
tions I joined the church I thought to be 



592 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



nearest in harmony with them, being a con- 
stitutional republic of Christian people. 

"When called upon to cast a ballot on 
the ordinance of secession I told the officers 
that my mother had taught me to reverence 
my Bible and the constitution of my coun- 
try, and I should vote no ticket stained in 
blood, and cast an open ballot against it — 
secession." 

At the age of forty-seven years, namely, 
on the 25th of July, 1866, Mr. Terry was 
united in marriage with Miss Asalie Hunt, 
who was born July 22, 1844, the daughter 
of Noah and Ann (Rheinhart) Hunt. Mr. 
and Mrs. Terry have had the following 
named children: George E., born in Leon 
county, Texas, July 30, 1867; Turner H., 
born in Hamilton county, February 6, 1871; 
the next was a daughter who died in infancy 
January 18, 1873; Mary Ida was born Jan- 
uary 4, 1874; Rosa A., October 13, 1876; 
Matilda Andora, January 10, 1879; Luther, 
March 9, 1881; Olive M., July 13, 1884; 
Mary Clark, February 22, 1888; and Will- 
iam E., August 17, 1890. The last seven 
were born in Hamilton, Texas. 



^V^ENJAMIN F. BEACH has for 

\f^^ nearly four decades maintained his 
J^^J home in the commonwealth of 
Texas. Here he has rendered val- 
iant service in times of war and Indian 
troubles, and since those dark days has con- 
tributed his due quota toward the agricult- 
ural development of the country. For 
thirty-five years he has resided at his pres- 
ent location in Erath county. Skipper's Gap 
being his post-office address. 

Tennessee is Mr. Beach's native state. 
He was born August 11, 1835, son of Oliver 
C. and Sela (Furguson) Beach, natives of 



North Carolina who moved to Tennessee in 
the year 1834. Oliver C. Beach purchased 
land and improved a farm in Tennessee, 
and there spent the rest of his life and died, 
his death occurring in 1891, at the advanced 
age of seventy-nine years. He figured 
prominently in his community. For about 
forty years he was a justice of the peace. 
He was a man of deep piety, a member of 
the Christian church, and was honored and 
esteemed by all who knew him. His wife 
survived him only a short time, her death 
transpiring in 1893. They were the par- 
ents of six children, — Martha, Benjamin F. , 
Melissa, Hiram H., Mary and Sampson, — 
all residents of Tennessee at this writing, 
with the exception of the subject of our 
sketch. 

Benjamin F. Beach spent his youthful 
days in honest toil in his father's fields, 
with no other educational advantages than 
the common schools, and at his native place 
passed from boyhood to manhood. He 
was married in Tennessee in 1858, and the 
following year came to Texas, stopping in 
Hunt county with his wife and babe and 
sixty-four dollars in money. He lived in 
Hunt county one year, and that was a 
memorable year, — memorable on account 
of his own sickness and that of his family, 
and also by reason of their limited means 
and the privations which they endured. In 
1 86 1, with the hope of bettering their finan- 
cial condition, he came to Erath county. 
Here he "squatted" on a tract of land, 
built a cabin and located his family, and as 
soon as the land was placed on the market 
he purchased it. It is on this same place 
that he yet resides. 

After getting his family settled he en- 
tered the state service on the frontier, and 
in 1863 was transferred to the regular Con- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



federate service along the Texas coast, 
where he remained until the close of the 
war. During this coast service, however, 
he saw no actual fighting. On his re- 
turn home after the surrender of Gen- 
eral Lee, Mr. Beach found the Indians had 
become so troublesome that measures had 
to be taken to stop their raids and depreda- 
tions. The Indians took advantage of the 
moonlight nights for their raids, slipped up 
on the scattered settlers and stole and drove 
off their stock in great numbers, and when 
pursued by the white men would turn and 
fight, always trying to keep themselves be- 
tween the settlers and the stock they were 
stealing. Mr. Beach on many occasions 
joined with the neighbors in pursuit after 
thieving Indians. One time, a beautiful 
moonlight night, the Indians came through 
his neighborhood with a large herd of horses 
they had stolen from the settlers. The lat- 
ter, Mr. Beach included, made a running 
fight and recovered one hundred and fifty 
head of horses during the night and the ne.xt 
day continued the pursuit and secured the 
rest, recovering altogether over three hun- 
dred head. This was only one of many 
raids which finally resulted in putting 
a stop to the stealing and driving the red 
men from the country. In these Indian 
raids Mr. Beach was often exposed to the 
greatest danger, the bullets flying thick and 
fast around him, but he fortunately escaped 
without wounds. 

As soon as possible after his settlement 
here Mr. Beach began fencing and improv- 
ing his land, and in 1871 bought it, the 
tract comprising four hundred acres, two 
hundred acres of which he afterward dis- 
posed of. He now has this land all under 
fence, has one hundred and twenty-five 
acres in cultivation, and has made numer- 



ous substantial and valuable improvements, 
including a commodious and comfortable 
residence. And besides this home place he 
owns other lands, six hundred acres in all, 
and in four different surveys. About a third 
of this acreage is under cultivation, most of 
it in the hands of renters. During his early 
residence here Mr. Beach, like most of the 
pioneers, gave considerable attention to the 
stock business, but of later years has kept 
only a limited amount of stock. He has 
always made his own pork and lard and 
home supplies such as the farm produces, 
and his farming has been of a diversified 
character. For about fifteen years he 
owned and ran a threshing-machine. He 
has witnessed the development of this part 
of the country from its early settlement, 
and has not only been an eye witness to the 
transformation which has been wrought 
here but also has done his part in bringing 
about this change. 

Mr. Beach was first married in Tennes- 
see, in 1858, to Miss Martha J. Gilentine, 
a daughter of Nicholas Gilentine, a Tennes- 
see trader who left Tennessee in i860, came 
to Texas and located in Erath county, 
where he built a cabin for his family and 
started a horse ranch. The year following 
his settlement here he went out as captain 
of a company to re-enforce the Texas ran- 
gers. While in this service and in the bat- 
tle of the Concho he and one of his sons 
were killed. Another one of his sons was 
badly wounded at the same time, but lived 
seven or eight years afterward. That was 
one of the most noted of all the Indian 
fights of those days. The rest of Mr. Gil- 
entine's family remained in this country 
and settled down to farming. The widowed 
mother died here in 1869. One son is now 
a resident of Stephenville. By his first 



594 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



marriage Mr. Beach had four sons. His 
wife, a consistent member of the Baptist 
church and a most estimable woman, died 
in 1 87 1. In 1S75 he married Miss Ellen 
Wood, whose birth occurred in Cooke 
county, this state, April 4, 1859. She is a 
daughter of John D. Wood, honorable 
mention of whom is made in the sketch of 
C. C. Wood on another page of this vol- 
ume. Mr. Beach and his present compan- 
ion ha\e eight children, namely: Theo- 
dore, Lulu, Lillie, Benjamin, Jessie, Can- 
die, Ruby and Flossy, all at home. 

Mr. Beach maintains a membership in 
the Masonic order, and his political sup- 
port has always been tendered the Demo- 
cratic party. 



5>^~X W. BROUGHTON, a leading and 
I B successful farmer and fruit-grower 
\ y of Comanche county, has been a 
resident of Te.xas since 1848. He 
was born in Monroe county, Alabama, 
January 30, 1826, and is a son of Hon. 
Edward T. Broughton, who was born in 
South Carolina in 1805 and became a very 
prominent citizen of Alabama. The grand- 
father, Nathaniel Broughton, who was also 
born in South Carolina, and his father was 
one of the heroes who aided in the estab- 
lishment of the American republic by his 
faithful service in the war of the Revolu- 
tion. The family is of English lineage. 
The grandfather married a Miss Benbow 
and removed to Alabama, where they spent 
their remaining days. 

The father of our subject was reared in 
Alabama, acquired a good education in his 
youth and afterward engaged in teaching 
school for a time. • He was married Decem- 
ber 18, 1823, to Mrs. Rachel Walker, widow 



of Robert Walker, by whom she had one 
son. Rev. J. O. Walker, a well known Bap- 
tist minister and physician now deceased. 
Her maiden name was Rachel Winburn, 
and she was born in South Carolina, a 
daughter of Dempsey and Priscilla (Owen) 
Winburn, also natives of South Carolina. 
Both are now deceased, the father having 
passed away in Alabama, the mother while 
residing in Texas. Mr. Broughton was a 
man of sterling worth, and his capabilities and 
many excellencies of character led to his se- 
lection for public office. He was elected 
sheriff of Monroe county, Alabama, and 
for two terms served in the General Assem- 
bly of that state with credit to himself, sat- 
isfaction to his constituents and to the best 
interests of the commonwealth. In 1842 
he removed with his family to Arkansas and 
fn 1848 came to Texas, making the journey 
with horse, mule and ox teams, and camping 
out along the road at night. After several 
weeks of travel he reached Jasper county, 
where he remained for a year, when, in 
1849, he removed to Cherokee county. In 
185 1 he went to Smith county, where he 
was clerk of the county court. After the 
war he took up his abode in Kaufman coun- 
ty, and in 1875 came to Comanche county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Broughton were the parents 
of the following children: Dempsey W. , 
who was an attorney, physician and Presby- 
terian minister of the gospel, and died in 
Dallas, Texas; Nathaniel W., of this re- 
view; Sarah Priscilla; Rachel Elizabeth; 
Ed Thomas, who was a captain and lieu- 
tenant colonel in the civil war, after the war 
a prominent lawyer and state senator from 
Gra3'son county; Amanda; and Ann M. 
The mother of this family died in Kaufman 
county in 1869, and the father died at the 
home of our subject, April 30, 1891, in the 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



595 



eighty -seventh year of his age. He was a 
man of broad general information, a public- 
spirited citizen and a gentleman whose loy- 
alty to his honest convictions was most 
strongly marked. He was active in the 
work of the Baptist church and served as 
deacon in the congregation of which he was 
a member. 

Nathaniel W. Broughton, whose name 
introduces the initial paragraph of this re- 
view, was reared in Alabama until fifteen 
years of age, when he accompanied his parents 
to Arkansas and with them came to Texas in 
1848. He is indebted to the public schools 
of those states for his educational privileges. 
During the civil war he entered Company 
C, Seventh Texas Infantry, under Captain 
E. T. Broughton, his brother, and partici- 
pated in the battles of Port Hudson, Ray- 
mond, where he was wounded, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, afterward under 
General Johnston in his retreat across north 
Georgia, and later with General Hood's 
forces in the battles around Atlanta and at 
Franklin, Tennessee, where he was severely 
wounded while on the enemy's breastworks. 
His brigadier-general, Granbury, and divis- 
ion commander, General Pat Cleburne, both 
fell in this gallant charge. True and faith- 
ful to the cause he espoused, Mr. Broughton 
was a brave and devoted soldier, and his 
war record is one of which he need never 
feel ashamed. 

After the war he spent one year in Smith 
county, then went to Kaufman county, 
whence he came to Comanche county in 
1875, locating on his present farm. In con- 
nection with his son John he owns three 
hundred and twenty acres of rich land, of 
which one hundred and forty acres are 
highly cultivated. Their home is a sub- 
stantial residence, their barns are commo- 



dious and their orchard is one of the finest 
in this section of the state, comprising four 
acres, which has been planted to apples, 
peaches, plums, grapes, prunes, apricots, 
blackberries, currants and almonds. Mr. 
Broughton was one of the pioneers in fruit 
cultivation in this part of Texas and has 
made it a profitable industry. 

Mr. Broughton was married November 
29, 1846, in Washita county, Arkansas, to 
Flora Neal, a native of Chambers county, 
Alabama, and a daughter of Joseph and 
Esther (Craft) Neal, the father dying in 
Alabama and the mother in Arkansas. 
Seven children have been born of this union, 
namely: Ed. T.,of Eastland county, Texas; 
Joseph N., of De Leon; John, who is his 
father's partner; Priscilla, wife of E. R. 
Griffith, of Taylor county, Texas; Nathaniel 
W., of Comanche county; David James; 
Benjamin; and Mary and Dempsey, both 
deceased. Of this family John was born in 
Smith county, August 21, 1854, and in 
1874 married Susie Lee, daughter of H. B. 
and Mary A. (Windham) Lee. They have 
two daughters, Flora M. and Mary S. 

In his political adherency Mr. Broughton 
is a Democrat and has voted with the party 
since supporting Breckenridge; prior to that 
time he affiliated with the Whig party. He 
has served as justice of the peace, but has 
never been an office-seeker. Himself, wife 
and five children are members of the Bap- 
tist church and he belongs to the Masonic 
fraternity. 



EP. BIFFLE. — Comanche has many 
well-to-do and successful farmers, 
who have accumulated what they 
have of this world's goods through 
individual effort. Among this class the 



596 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



name of the subject of this notice is entitled 
to a place. His desirable farm joins the 
corporation limits of De Leon, where he is 
industriously enj^aged in the prosecution of 
his noble calling, and is meeting with far 
more than ordinary success. 

Mr. Biffle was born in Wayne county, 
Tennessee, February 19, 1835, upon a farm 
where he was reared, and was educated in 
the district schools of the neighborhood. 
His parents were Valentine and Margaret 
(Payton) Biffle, the former a native of Ten- 
nessee and the latter of Kentucky. They 
were married in the former state, and to 
them were born ten children. William, the 
oldest, became a prominent and wealthy 
planter, owning a large number of slaves, 
but was a Union man, and on the breaking 
out of the civil war moved north and freed 
all his slaves. On the close of that struggle 
he returned to his Tennessee home and died 
there. Maria is the widow of T. T. Chris- 
tian, who was a captain in the Confederate 
army. Mary wedded John Nichols, a mer- 
chant of Tennessee. Catherine married R. 
A. Nichols, also a merchant. Susan is the 
wife of Samuel Cressno. Johnson died 
leaving a number of children, three of his 
sons being Methodist ministers. Wilson 
resides in Missouri. Nathan is a Methodist 
minister of Jack county, Texas. Ursula 
first wedded William Wilson, and after his 
death James Stockard; she also is now de- 
ceased. Margaret died at the age of sixteen 
years. Henderson P., of this review, is 
next in order of birth. John came to Texas 
in 1865, and was assassinated in Titus 
county. The entire family held their re- 
ligious membership in the Methodist church, 
in which the father was a most active worker 
and served as class-leader for many years. 
He was a prominent slave-owner, and was 



well and favorably known throughout the 
community where he made his home. His 
death occurred in 1855. 

Jacob Biffle, the paternal grandfather of 
our subject, was born in Germany, and after 
his emigration to the New World aided the 
colonies in their struggle for independence. 
Later he became one of the pioneer settlers of 
Maury county, Tennessee, but previous to 
that time lived upon rented land in South 
Carolina. He became a wealthy farmer 
and large slave-owner of Maury county, and 
one of the leading members of the Methodist 
church. He passed away in Tennessee, in 
1847. In his family were eight children, 
namely: Valentine, John, Elizabeth, Millie, 
Ivatie, William, Jacob and one that died in 
infancy. 

On attaining his majority, Henderson P. 
Biffle went to Missouri, locating first in 
Newton county, but later removed to Mc- 
Donald county, where he was married and 
began his domestic life upon a farm which 
he owned there. In 1866 he became a 
resident of Kimball, Bosque county, Texas, 
where he rented land for three years and 
then purchased a tract of wild land, which 
he continued to improve and cultivate until 
1875, when he sold out and came to Co- 
manche county. Here he bought one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of timber land, which 
has all been fenced, and now one hundred 
and ten acres are under cultivation and 
yield a ready return for the care and labor 
expended upon them. All of the buildings 
and improvements are such as can be found 
upon the model farms of the state. 

In 1862 Mr. Biffle enlisted in the Sixth 
Missouri Cavalry, under General Joe Shelby 
and in the regiment commanded by Colonel 
Coffee, and took part in many hotly con- 
tested engagements. At the battle of 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



59? 



Prairie Grove, Arkansas, he was captured 
witli many others and taken to Springfield, 
Missouri, where after a short time he was 
paroled but was never exchanged. When the 
war was over he resumed farming and came 
to Texas, as before stated. Mr. Biffle led 
to the marriage altar Miss Mary Brewer, a 
lady of a most excellent family, who was 
born in Tennessee, September 12, 1841, 
and is the daughter of George and Eliza 
(Sims) Brewer, also natives of Tennessee, 
where their deaths occurred when Mrs. 
Biffle was very small. She was reared by 
her grandparents, George and Martha 
Brewer, who took her to Arkansas. They 
were members of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian church. 

To our subject and his wife were born 
ten children: John W., a farmer of Baylor 
county, Texas; Mary, wife of Wilson Allen, 
a Methodist minister of the same county; 
William, an agriculturist of Comanche 
county; Emily, wife of H. Huffman, a black- 
smith, of De Leon; George I., who obtained 
a good common-school education through 
his own perseverance, and is now engaged 
in school-teaching and the work of the 
Methodist ministry; Charles, a farmer; 
Frances and Marvin, both at home; and 
Elizabeth and Margaret Lee, who are still 
attending school. 

For three or four generations the Biffle 
family have been prominently identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal church, south, 
and our subject devotedly adheres to that 
faith. He has for many years served as 
steward of the church, and has also been 
class-leader and trustee of the church prop- 
erty. Mr. and Mrs. Biffle can look with 
pride upon their interesting family of chil- 
dren, who have closely followed in their 
footsteps and are all faithful members of the 



same denomination. Politically, our sub- 
ject affiliates with the Democratic party, 
but has never taken any active part in po- 
litical affairs. 



^ i* DOSS MILLER is numbered among 
^ the most prominent and successful 
/• 1 farmers of Comanche county. He is 
a representative of the progressive 
spirit of the age which has given to America 
pre-eminence along many lines and which 
has produced in Texas the rapid develop- 
ment that within the last few decades has 
placed it on a par with the states along the 
Atlantic coast whose settlement antedates it 
many years. He has justly earned the 
proud American title a self-made man and 
has achieved marked success as the result 
of enterprise, business ability and capable 
management. 

The American branch of the Miller fam- 
ily is of Scotch-Irish descent, the first emi- 
gration to this country being about 1700, 
landing at Hartford, Connecticut. They 
were William and Oliver Miller, from North 
Ireland. A son of the former, also named 
William, was born at Hanover, Pennsylva- 
nia, and about 1760 was married to Sarah 
Cooper, of that state, but a native of Eng- 
land. This couple moved to North Caro- 
lina, settling near the narrows of the Yad- 
kin river, and during life they had nine chil- 
dren, — Israel, Jacob, John, William, Isaac, 
Sarah, Oliver, Nancy and Phebe. Israel 
married Mary Henderson, of Georgia; Jacob 
married Miss Shaw, of Long Cane, Abbe- 
ville, South Carolina; John was united in 
marriage to Nancy Henson, of the old 
North state; William married Hannah 
Walker, of Greenville, South Carolina; Isaac 
I married Miss McFee, of middle Tennessee; 



598 



HIS TOR r OP TEXAS. 



Sarah was married to Mr. Croffour, of North 
Carohna; Oliver was married to Philip Ward, 
of North Carolina; Nancy to John Ferguson, 
of Abbeville, North Carolina; and Phebe 
was never married. 

Edmund Miller and his brother Tillman, 
sons of Israel and Mary lu-c Henderson, 
married t,he twin sisters, Louisa and Luna 
Fowler. Edmund made his home near 
Greenville, South Carolina, and had six chil- 
dren, as follows: Israel, who married Nancy 
Hudson; Archie Lee, who married Nancy J. 
Smith; Mary Ann, who married W. S. 
Smith; Louise C, who became the wife of 
John Abb. Smith; Edmon B., who married 
Lou C. Gregg; and \V. S., who took for his 
wife Kesiah B. Walker. Edmund Miller 
was a leading planter and extensive slave 
owner and became very wealthy. In poli- 
tics he was a Democrat and was a promi- 
nent member of the Baptist church. His 
death occurred in South Carolina at the age 
of ninety-seven. 

Archie Lee Miller was born and reared 
in South Carolina and was a leading farmer 
of that state. In 1S57 he removed to De 
Soto county, Mississippi, where he died 
January 24, 1 870. For many years he 
served as justice of the peace, discharging 
his duties with the utmost fidelity. He was 
a peace-loving man and always counseled ar- 
bitration rather than litigation. His polit- 
ical support was given the Democracy, and 
he had the high regard of all. His church 
relationship was with the Baptist denomina- 
tion. His wife was a daughter of John D. 
Smith, an extensive planter of South Caro- 
lina, who married a daughter of Colonel 
Bockman, of Revolutionary war fame. Mrs. 
Miller, also a consistent Baptist, died in 
September, 1883. She was the mother of 
nine children: Roland, who died at the age 



of thirteen; J. Doss; Louisa, wife of S. J. 
Casselbury; E. B., a Baptist minister of 
Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Gerald, who mar- 
ried H. Brown, of Memphis, Tennessee; 
A. L., a railroad man of Walnut Springs, 
Texas; Emma F., wife of T. Harper, of 
Mississippi; Jeff D., a soldier in the United 
States army at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. ; 
S. A., wife of M. Humphreys, of Missis- 
sippi; and Thomas W., who died at the age 
of nine years. 

J. Doss Miller was born in South Caro- 
lina, September 27, 1848, and was reared 
on his father's farm and attended school but 
very little. When he had arrived at man's 
estate he was married, June 7, 1870, and 
then started out in life for himself. He 
owned a farm in Mississippi, which he oper- 
ated until he came to Texas in the fall of 
1885. Purchasing two hundred and fifteen 
acres of wild land in Comanche county, he 
has since been numbered among its promi- 
nent agriculturists and to-day is the owner 
of more than six hundred acres, of which 
over three hundred acres are under a high 
state of cultivation. He erected a commo- 
dious frame residence, substantial outbuild- 
ings and placed the entire farm under fence. 
It is one of the best improved ranches in 
the county. He is raising Holstein and 
other good grades of cattle and is extensive- 
ly engaged in raising hogs, while the sale of 
his pork and lard is a material source of in- 
come. Fruit-raising claims his attention, 
and he has a fine young orchard containing 
many different varieties of fruits. He has 
exhibited at fairs the finest pears ever raised 
in Texas, also has most excellent varieties 
of grapes, peaches, plums and berries. Mr. 
Miller is a man of broad capabilities and 
has not limited his efforts to one line of un- 
dertaking, but has also engaged in the real- 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



599 



estate and loan business, his investments 
having brought him a handsome return. He 
is sagacious and far-sighted, strictly honor- 
able in all his dealings, and his success 
demonstrates what can be accomplished 
through determined effort. 

Mr. Miller married Miss Bettie Rv Whit- 
ley, an intelligent and estimable lady, 
daughter of Deveraugh Whitley, a promi- 
nent planter of Mississippi. She died in 
that state, August 12, 1875, a consistent 
member of the Baptist church, and many 
friends mourned her loss. She left two 
children: Nora, wife of J. W. Chambers, a 
farmer; and Carroll C. , who married Mrs. 
Nora Wilson and is also an agriculturist. On 
the isth of February, 1876, Mr. Miller was 
again married, his second union being with 
Miss Bosilla Norris, a daughter of J. H. 
Norris, a planter of North Carolina, who 
also was a member of the Baptist church. 
Two children were born of this union, but 
one died in childhood. The other, John 
C, is upon the home farm. The mother of 
these children died September 13, 1878. 
She, too, was a faithful member of the 
Baptist church. On the 13th of February, 
1879, Mr. Miller wedded Miss Everett Stew- 
art, a daughter of J. N. B. and Sarah E. 
(Matthews) Stewart, both natives of Ten- 
nessee. Her father was first a planter of 
Tennessee and later of Mississippi, where 
he is still living, at the ripe old age of sev- 
enty-si.x years. He is an ardent Democrat, 
but has never been an office-seeker. Her 
maternal grandfather, Isaac Matthews, was 
a prominent and wealthy farmer of Tennes- 
see, where his death occurred. Five chil- 
dren grace the last marriage of our subject, 
namely: Donnie, Iva, Dawson, Sallie J. and 
Oran. 

Mr. Miller is above the average size, is 



pleasant and agreeable in manner, a good 
conversationalist, enterprising and progres- 
sive, and fully alive to the inter^ts of the 
Lone Star state. Both he and his estima- 
ble wife are sincere and earnest Christians, 
faithful members of the Missionary Baptist 
church, while politically he affiliates with 
the Democratic party. 



>Y*OSEPH B. SMITH, a resident of Vic- 
■ tor, Texas, and a leading and intlu- 
«1 ential agriculturist of Erath county, 
is eminently worthy of representation 
in this volume, and the work might well be 
considered incomplete were there a failure 
to direct specific attention to his life and its 
accomplishment. Having for many years 
been identified with the development and 
progress of this section of the state, he is 
numbered among its honored pioneers and 
important factors in the material welfare of 
the community. 

A native of Macon county. North Caro- 
lina, Mr. Smith was born September 19, 
1839, a son of Saul and Talitha (Dobson) 
Smith, both natives of North Carolina, 
where their marriage was celebrated. The 
grandfather, Samuel Smith, was also born 
in the same state. Although too young for 
service in the war of the Revolution, he was 
near a number of the battle-fields and heard 
the booming of the cannon as the armies 
met in deadly conflict. He was a farmer by 
occupation, and in his later life he came with 
one of his sons to Texas, living in Rusk 
county until his death, which occurred at 
the advanced age of ninety-three years. 

Saul Smith, the father of our subject, 
came to the Lone Star state in 185 1, taking 
up his residence in Smith county, where he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



purchased wild land and made a farm. Four 
years later he sold his property, and in 1855 
became a resident of Parker county. Sub- 
sequently he lived in different parts of the 
state, his death occurring at Mineral Wells, 
in Palo Pinto county, May 16, 1884. While 
a resident of Menard county he was engaged 
in merchandising, and at various times in 
his life he followed farming and the ma- 
chinist's trade. He was a Democrat in 
politics, and took a prominently active part 
in public affairs, serving for many years as 
county clerk in North Carolina and as jus- 
tice of the peace in this state. He was a 
well-read man, who kept informed on all 
the questions of the day, and was a valued 
citizen of any community in which he made 
his home. Of the Methodist church he was 
an active and consistent member, and few 
men have a more familiar knowledge of the 
Bible than did he. He married Miss Dob- 
son, daughter of John Dobson, of North 
Carolina, who was also a leading member 
of the Methodist church and an exhorter. 
His occupation was that of farming. His 
death occurred in Alabama, at the age of 
eighty-five. Mr. Smith, father of our sub- 
ject, also died at the age of eighty-five, and 
his wife died in Smith county in 1853. 
They had thirteen children, namely: Eliza, 
who was four times married, her husbands 
being in the following order: C. Thomas, 
R. S. Patton, John R. Witt and F. N. 
Roach; Lucian D., of Hood county; John 
and Samuel, both deceased; Tullius B. , who 
was killed by the Indians in Menard county, 
Texas; Catherine, wife of N. R. Wilson; 
Sarah, wife of Dr. G. P. Barber; Joseph 
B. ; Raleigh, of California; Brookline, de- 
ceased; Louisiana, wife of N. R. Wilson; 
Charles, who died in childiiood; and one 
who died in infancy. 



Joseph B. Smith spent the first twelve 
years of his life in the state of his nativity, 
and then came with his parents to Texas. 
He acquired a good practical education at 
home, being thus fitted for the responsible 
duties of life, and at the age of sixteen be- 
came identified with the stock business, 
which he has since followed. In i860 he 
brought his stock to Erath county and has 
gone from place to place in order to provide 
excellent grazing for them. In i860, while 
he was in Eastland county with his cattle, 
a band of Indians in ambush shot him in the 
knee with an arrow and the spike remained 
in his leg for twenty-five years. It was 
then removed and is now in his possession. 
His companion at the time, Goldston Flan- 
agan, was killed and scalped, but with the 
arrow in his leg Mr. Smith started to run and 
soon distanced his pursuers, fifteen in num- 
ber. This accident, however, left him 
lame and made an additional difficulty in 
his path to success, but with a resolute 
purpose he has continued his labors until he 
is now the possessor of a handsome com- 
petence. 

When Mr. Smith first came to the county 
there was no land on sale, the government 
survey's not having been made at the time. 
In 1870 he pre-empted the land where he 
now lives, securing one hundred and sixty 
acres, to which he has added until he now has 
four hundred acres. Few of the settlers were 
then engaged in farming, the greater number 
being engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Smith 
erected a house and soon began the develop- 
ment of a farm. His home is a commodious 
and substantial residence, in the rear of 
which are good outbuildings for the care of 
grain and stock. These in turn stand in the 
midst of well-tilled fields, he having one 
hundred and forty acres under a high state 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



601 



of cultivation. There is also an excellent 
orchard, which was planted by him. He is 
one of the extensive stock-raisers of the 
county, and raises a greater number of hogs 
than any other man in this section of the 
state, he making a specialty of the Berkshire 
breed; and in addition he is also raising 
Jersey cattle, and has a jack. During the 
period of the civil war he frequently had to 
join his neighbors in raids against the In- 
dians. 

Mr. Smith married Melzorie Blair, a 
lady of intelligence and good family. She 
was born in Alabama, a daughter of Charles 
Blair, of Georgia, who removed to Collin 
county, Texas, in 1854, but after raising one 
crop there went to Parker county, where he 
aided in the establishment of Blaur's Fort. 
He lived in Eastland county for many years 
and also has been a resident of other locali- 
ties. For some time he was engaged in 
sheep-raising in Kimball county and is now 
making his home with a son in Erath 
county. His children are: Sarah J., Nancy, 
Melzora, Delphia, Charley, Owen, Adeline, 
Mack and Floyd. The parents were mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith had an interesting 
family of seven children, but the eldest, Lou, 
is now deceased. She married J. S. Bailey, 
and died January 20, 1894, leaving four 
children, who find a good home with our 
subject. Texas is the second of the family; 
Nevada is the wife of R. Clifton; and Lola, 
Frank, Raleigh and Jerome are yet at home. 
There were also two children that died in 
infancy. Mr. Smith was formerly a Demo- 
crat, but for eight years has supported the 
Populist movement. Socially he is con- 
nected with the Masonic fraternity, and 
religiously his wife is associated with the 
Baptist church. 



,V^ENJAMIN HARVEY FLINN is a 
B/"^! representative of one of the hon- 
J^^J ored pioneer families of Erath 
county and has made his home in 
central Texas during the greater part of the 
time since his early childhood days. He 
was born in Gilmer county, Georgia, Janu- 
ary 9, 1856, a son of Enoch and Nancy 
(Searcy) Flinn. His father was born in 
Spartanburg, South Carolina, January 6, 
1822, and is a son of Paul Flinn, who was 
probably a native of South Carolina. The 
great-grandfather of our subject was a 
native of Scotland and on emigrating to 
America took up his residence in South 
Carolina. Mrs. Flinn, the mother of our 
subject, was a native of North Carolina and 
a daughter of John Searcy, who was born in 
the same state. Her grandmother was of 
Holland descent. 

Enoch Flinn accompanied his father on 
his removal to Rutherford county. North 
Carolina, where the latter spent his last 
days. Enoch afterward went to Georgia, 
where in 1853 he married Miss Searcy and 
then followed farming and carpentering in 
that state until 1859, when he emigrated to 
Texas, locating in Weatherford, Parker 
county. The following year he came to 
Erath county, settling on Berry's creek, a 
mile and a half from where Bluff Dale now 
stands. He embarked in stock-dealing, but 
the Indians were so troublesome that many 
of the stockmen were forced to leave their 
homes and defend themselves and their cat- 
tle from the savages. For four years Mr. 
Flinn was with the frontier scouts, and in 
the summer of 1867 he sold his stock, re- 
moving to Carrollton, Arkansas, where he 
conducted a hotel and also engaged in busi- 
ness as a contractor. After a time he left 
his family and went to California, where he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



remained for a year and a half. He then 
returned to Texas, where he was joined by 
his wife and children. Purchasing an im- 
proved farm on Richardson creek, he has 
since carried on agricultural pursuits, and is 
recognized as one of the leading farmers of 
the community. 

Mr. and Mrs. Flinn were the parents of 
eight children, of whom Benjamin is the 
eldest. The others are Sarah Elizabeth, 
wife of J. L. Armstrong, of Hood county; 
John P., of BlufT Dale; Alice, who died at 
the age of three years; Emma, who married 
George L. Gullage and is now deceased, as 
is her husband; Nettie Ellen, wife of James 
Choate; Frank P. and Lillie. The mother 
was a member of the Christian church and 
in that faith died June 8, 1881, at the age 
of forty-seven years. Mr. Flinn belongs to 
the Missionary Baptist church and to the 
Masonic lodge of Bluff Dale. While in Ar- 
kansas he served as magistrate for four years 
and in Hood county held the same office for 
six years, discharging his duties with 
promptness and fidelity. 

Benjamin Flinn was reared in Texas and 
Arkansas and in the common schools ac- 
quired a good practical education. After 
attaining his majority he engaged in clerk- 
ing and bookkeeping, and after coming to 
Texas followed farming and school-teaching, 
continuing in the latter profession until 1890, 
when he came to Bluff Dale. Here he has 
followed various pursuits and is now most 
acceptably filling the office of magistrate, to 
which position he was elected in 1888. He 
is impartial in his office and his career is 
alike creditable to himself and those who 
chose him for office. His political support 
is given the men and measures of the De- 
mocracy. 

Mr. Flinn was married February 3, 1886, 



to Miss Belzora E. Keahey, a native of 
Erath county and a daughter of E. J. and 
M. O. (Hamilton) Keahey. They have 
three children, but Byron Herbert died at 
the age of eighteen months. The others 
are Mabel O. and Ethel E. Mrs. Flinn is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
Mr. Flinn is a valued and honored member 
of Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 724, F. & A. M., 
which he joined on its organization, and 
since that time he has held the office of sec- 
retary. 



K^^ EV. HENRY JEFFERSON BUL- 
I /^T MAN, a retired Baptist minister 
M . F and one of the prominent farmers 
of Hamilton county, Texas, was 
born on the 2d of March, 1828, in Upton 
county, Georgia, but when an infant was 
taken by his parents, George Franklin and 
Lucinda (Grubbs) Bulman, to Madison 
county, Alabama. Thomas Bulman, his 
grandfather, with a brother, came to the 
United States from England before the 
Revolutionary war, in which he participated. 
He located in Virginia, where he was first 
married and by that union had two children, 
— Elizabeth and George Franklin. For 
his second wife he wedded Mary Grubbs, 
and to them were born seven children, 
namely: Jane, Martha, Matilda, Susan, 
Harriet. Sarah Ann and Benjamin Heze- 
kiah. The grandfather, who was a mem- 
ber of the Primitive Baptist church, died in 
Alabama, in 1856, on his seventy-seventh 
birthday. 

In Madison county, Alabama, our sub- 
ject spent the days of his boyhood and 
youth, remaining under the parental roof 
until he had attained his majority, when he 
left home and operated rented land for one 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



year, but since that time has always owned 
a farm. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
pany E, Thirty-seventh Tennessee Infantry, 
which company was formed of men from 
Alabama. In the latter part of 1863 our 
subject was captured and held a prisoner 
for four months. For a time he was kept 
at Stephenville, Tennessee, then at Nash- 
ville, and later at Louisville, where he suc- 
ceeded in making his escape. He then 
joined General Meade's command, with 
whom he served during the remainder of the 
war. He saw much hard service, partici- 
pating in the battles of Fishing creek, Shi- 
loh and Murfreesboro. 

After hostilities had ceased he made his 
home in Alabama until February, 1867, 
when he removed to Kaufman county, 
Texas, where he made his home for one 
year. After a year then passed in Hill 
county, Mr. Bulman went to Bosque coun- 
ty, where he purchased two hundred acres 
of land. On selling out he came to his 
present place, in the spring of 1871, pur- 
chasing six hundred and forty acres on the 
Leon river, twelve miles from Hamilton, 
and there lived in a tent for a time, but 
during the same year erected his present 
residence. He now owns three hundred 
acres, of which one hundred and twenty-five 
are under a high state of cultivation. 

Mr. Bulman was married November 16, 
1848, to Emily Honey, daughter of William 
and Rhoda (Martin) Honey. In 1884 she 
was called to her final rest, at the age of 
fifty-four years. They became the parents 
of five children — George William, Rachel 
Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Thomas Jefferson 
and James Lafayette, all of whom are now 
deceased with the exception of the eldest. 

On the 26th of April, 1885, Mr. Bulman 
was again married, his second union being 



with Mrs. Martha Ann Franklin, widow of 
Charles Franklin, by whom she had two 
children — James William and Ada Jane. 
She is the daughter of James and Elizabeth 
Wann. Four children blessed this second 
union, — Permelia Ann, Henry Jefferson, 
John Huff and Lucinda. 

Mr. Bulman has one of the finest farm- 
ing tracts on the bottoms of the Leon river, 
located near the Bulman bridge, which was 
named in his honor, and the place is well 
improved with excellent buildings and a 
good system of water-works. Although 
nearly threescore years and ten, our subject 
is still in a good state of health, owing 
largely to his temperate habits through life, 
although he experienced all the hardships 
and trials incident to the pioneer. In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat, and served as county 
commissioner and justice of the peace from 
1874 until 1880. From early childhood he 
has been a devoted member of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church, and during his long 
residence in Hamilton county has been act- 
ively identified with it in a ministerial capac- 
ity, filling appointments in that and Coryell 
counties until 1892, since which time he 
has lived retired. He may well be termed 
a pioneer minister of that church in this 
section of the state, and has ever been a 
faithful worker in the Master's vineyard. 



eDWARD AINS WORTH. — From 
the earliest period of American 
history one of the strongest and 
most valued elements in the Amer- 
ican nationality is that furnished by the 
mother country, — England. The " merrie 
isle" furnished to the United States the set- 
tlers who founded New England and were 
the chief promoters of civilization in the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



New World. From that tune the represent- 
atives of Great Britain have been import- 
ant factors in the progress of this country, 
and in our subject we have a representative 
of that land who has come to the new world 
and identifying himself with its interests is 
now numbered among the valued citizens of 
the Lone Star state. 

Mr. Ainsworth, of Comanche county, 
was born in Yorkshire, England, August 17, 
1840. Thinking that he might better his 
condition on this side of the Atlantic he 
crossed the water in 1864 and from New 
York, where he landed, made his way to 
Will county, Illinois, where he enlisted in 
the Union army and became a teamster. 
He was attached to the army of the Cum- 
berland until the close of the war, after 
which he returned to the city of New York, 
spending two years there. He then em- 
barked for his native land, where he ar- 
rived in due course of time, and soon after 
he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- 
beth S. Tidwell, a lady of culture and re- 
finement. 

In 1870 he sailed with his bride for this 
country and during a short period made his 
home in New Jersey. In 1874 he removed 
to Texas and is now residing some twelve 
miles northwest of Comanche, where he 
has carried on agricultural pursuits. He is 
one of the extensive landowners of this 
locality, his possessions aggregating one 
thousand acres of choice land. He has 
placed forty acres under cultivation and the 
well tilled tract yields him good harvests, 
supplying the needed grain for his own use 
and for the stock. The remainder of his 
farm is being used as pasture land for his 
mules, which he is breeding in large num- 
bers. His entire tract is under fence and 
is well supplied with water, there being 



numerous tanks situated at various points 
on the farm. The home is a cosy, pleasant 
cottage, surrounded by a beautiful lawn, 
dotted here and there with fruit and orna- 
mental trees. The barns and outbuildings 
are substantial and commodious, furnishing 
shelter for a large number of stock. There 
are good granaries, the latest improved ma- 
chinery and all the accessories and conven- 
iences found upon a model farm, and the 
Ainsworth home is one of the most desira- 
ble in the county. He has a herd of some 
forty Cashmere goats in addition to his other 
stock. 

Mr. Ainsworth takes little interest in 
political affairs, preferring to give his atten- 
tion to other matters. He is, however, a 
deep thinker, a man of scholarly tastes and 
keeps well informed on matters of general 
interest. His career is that of a self-made 
man. He came to this country without 
capital and depending entirely upon his 
own exertions has steadily and persistently 
worked his way upward, overcoming the 
obstacles in his path by determined effort, 
and by good management and resolute pur- 
pose acquiring the success which he so 
justly deserved. 



at 



H. Mcculloch.— The sub- 
ject of this biographical sketch is 
a veteran of the civil war, has 
long been a resident of Texas, 
and for twenty years has maintained his 
home at his present location in Erath county, 
where he is ranked as a prominent and en- 
terprising farmer. 

Mr. McCulloch claims Mississippi as the 
state of his nativity, his birth having oc- 
curred there April 15, 1840; but he was 
reared in Alabama and Arkansas, his par- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



605 



ents removing to the former state when he 
was two years old, and later to Arkansas. 
He is a son of James and Mary (Blakely) 
McCulIoch, the father a native of North 
Carolina and the mother of Tennessee. 
James McCulloch was a son of Isaac Mc- 
CulIoch, a Revolutionary soldier, who at 
the close of the war of independence settled 
in North Carolina and subsequently took up 
his abode in Alabama, where he died. The 
McCullochs, as the name suggests, are of 
Irish descent. James McCulloch was four- 
teen years old at the time the family re- 
moved to Alabama, which was then a fron- 
tier state, where he grew up on a farm amid 
rude surroundings, remote from schools and 
with few advantages, and there he spent 
eighteen years of his life. In 1839 he went 
to Mississippi, in 1841 returned to Ala- 
bama, in 1843 to Arkansas. In the latter 
state he lost his wife, and in 1859 he came 
to Texas, locating in Red River county, 
where he passed the remainder of his life. 
In 1 860 he married for his second wife Mrs. 
Mary Wilkins, who survives him and is still 
a resident of Red River county. He passed 
all his life on a farm and brought up his chil- 
dren to farming pursuits, and at the same 
time was interested in a higher and better 
work, — planting seeds in other fields and 
preparing for other harvests. Mr. McCul- 
loch was converted and joined the Baptist 
church in 1848. The ne.xt year he began 
to preach and from that time until his 
death he was in the active work of the min- 
istry, having under his charge at the same 
time from two to four churches. Scores 
were brought into the church through his 
ministry. His children are all church mem- 
bers and occupying honorable and useful 
positions in life, and there is not a blot on 
the character of any of them. At the close 



of his busy, useful life, still eager to labor 
on in the service of his Master, he was sub- 
missive and his last words were, "If it is 
the Lord's will that I shall die, I am 
willing. " 

The subject of our sketch came with his 
father to Texas in 1859 and remained a 
member of the home circle until 1872, the 
time of his marriage. \\' hen the war be- 
tween the north and south was inaugurated 
he was not slow to show his colors and 
prove his loyalty to the cause he believed to 
be right and just. We find him in 1861 
enlisting as a member of Forrest's battalion. 
He was mustered in at Memphis, Tennes- 
see, went from there to Hopkinsville, Ken- 
tucky, for winter quarters, and continued in 
that command until after the battle of Fort 
Donelson, where no less than one half of 
his regiment was captured. He was among 
those who escaped and went to Huntsville, 
Alabama. The captain of his company re- 
turned to Texas and raised a regiment, was 
joined by those who were left of Forrest's 
battalion, young McCulloch included, and 
thus was formed the Twenty-third Texas 
Cavalry. This command was on duty in 
Louisiana and Texas, aided in driving Banks 
down Red river and in that hotly con- 
tested fight at Yellow Bayou. At the close 
of the war Mr. McCulloch was at Richmond, 
Texas, where he received an honorable dis- 
charge, and from there he returned to his 
home in Red River county. In all his ser- 
vice, arduous and dangerous as it was, he 
was neither wounded nor captured. 

Mr. McCulloch's return home from Rich- 
mond, a distance of three hundred miles, 
was made on foot. He resumed work on 
the farm and also did odd jobs elsewhere, 
cutting wood along Red river and working 
some at the carpenter trade. A few years 



600 



HIS TORT or TEXAS. 



he was engflged in the grocery business. 
Next he farmed, served as deputy sheriff and 
tax collector, and again resumed farming. 
In 1876 he disposed of his possessions in 
Red River county and came to Erath coun- 
ty. Here he bought a tract of wild land, 
opened it up, and after a few years traded 
it for the farm he has since owned and oc- 
cupied, — one hundred and ten acres. Later 
he purchased an adjoining seventy acres of 
improved land, thus increasing his holdings 
to one hundred and eighty acres, of which 
one hundred and fifteen acres are under 
cultivation. He raises the usual crops 
raised here, and his farming and stock-rais- 
ing are carried on not unlike that of his 
prosperous neighbors. 

In 1872 was consummated Mr. McCul- 
loch's marriage to Miss Kate Benson, who 
was born and reared in Mississippi, daugh- 
ter of George R. Benson and niece of 
Stephen H. Darden, the latter at one time 
comptroller of Texas. Her father was a 
prominent planter in Mississippi. On com- 
ing to Texas he settled first in Red River 
county and later removed to Fannin county, 
where he died in October, 1892. He reared 
a family of three children: Theodore, a 
farmer of Erath county; Eugene, a farmer 
in the Indian Nation; and Mrs. McCuIloch. 
Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch have twelve chil- 
dren, besides two that died in infancy. 
Those living are James, Betty, Mary, Mag- 
gie, Georgia, Willie, John, Annie, Shelby, 
Edgar, Ray and Wea, — all of whom are at 
home except two, — James, who is engaged 
in farming in Coryell county, Texas; and 
Maggie, wife of Ed. Flanagan, a farmer. 

Mr. McCulloch has never wavered in his 
support of the Democratic party. He has 
always taken a laudable interest in public 
afifairs, has served on juries since coming 



here, — petit and grand juries, — and in all 
the relations of life, both public and private, 
has shown himself to be a man of the strict- 
est integrity and one worthy of the high es- 
teem in which he is held by his fellows. 
Both he and his wife arc identified with the 
Missionary Baptist church. 



^"^NOCH NEHEMIAH PRICE, one 
B I of the leading and representative 
^^^ agriculturists of Hamilton county, 
first opened his eyes to the light in 
Rapides county, Louisiana, February 29, 
1848, and is the son of William Washington 
and Lounzie (Parish) Price, both natives of 
Louisiana. The father spent his entire life 
engaged in carpentering and died of yellow 
fever in October, 1854, at the age of thirty- 
eight years. The mother, who long survived 
him, passed away at the home of our subject, 
March 12, 1893. She was born in 1818, 
and was the daughter of Enoch Nehemiah 
Parish, for whom our subject was named. 
He was a native of New York but emi- 
grated to Louisiana at an early day, and 
there wedded Mary Tally, by whom he had 
five children, — Lounzie, Enoch, Emily, 
Mary Ann and Martha Jane. The paternal 
grandfather, William Price, was born in 
North Carolina, and after his removal to 
Louisiana married Alevia Frazier, and they 
became the parents of eight children— Jo- 
seph, Rece, William, Mary, Rebecca, Sarah, 
Fountain and John. 

Mr. Price, whose name introduces this 
sketch, is next to the youngest in a family 
of six children, the other sbeing: William 
Drury; Hugh Emory, born November 19, 
1842; Lewis Neal, born September 19, 1845; 
Elizabeth and Rece. At the age of six 
years he lost his father, but his mother kept 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



607 



her family together, and brought them to 
Texas, locating in Leon county, on Trinity 
river, October lO, 1864, where his mother, 
brother Hugh and our subject at first pur- 
chased eighty acres of land, but added to 
this until they had six hundred and forty 
acres, one hundred and twenty of which 
were under cultivation. In September, 1874, 
they all came to Hamilton county, where 
they bought three hundred and twenty acres 
of unimproved land, on which Hugh is still 
living. In April, 1878, our subject removed 
to the place where his brother, Lewis N. , is 
now residing and there engaged in the farm- 
ing of eighty acres until July, 1882, when 
he removed to his present farm. In the 
previous February he had purchased five 
hundred and nine acres of S. M. Edwards' 
heirs, erected his comfortable dwelling the 
same year, and now has seven hundred and 
thirty-eight acres, sixty-five of which have 
been placed under the plow. The improve- 
ments which we see to-day have been ef- 
fected by his industry and good manage- 
ment, and he has an excellent grade of stock 
upon the place. The buildings are neat and 
substantial, and with their surroundings 
present the picture of the complete country 
home, where peace and plenty abound. 

On the 7th of September, 1877, Mr. 
Price married Miss Paulina Nippirt, who was 
born in Panola county, Texas, in July, 1856, 
and was the daughter of George and Bar- 
bara (Wesley) Nippirt. After a brief mar- 
riage life the wife passed away, February 
17:^1^79, leaving one daughter, Elizabeth, 
who was born January 27, 1878, and is now 
at home. Mr. Price was again married Sep- 
tember 29, 1887, his second union being 
with Mrs. Rosa McCaleb, widow of J. K. 
McCaleb, and daughter of Thomas and 
Sarah ( Shipman ) McNealy. Mrs. Price 



was born March 14, 1861, in O'Brien county, 
Tennessee, and died on the iith of March, 
1892. By the second marriage there were 
two children: Sarah Louanza, born No- 
vember II, 1888; and William Drury, who 
was born November 28, 1890, and died May 
25, 1892. 

The Price men are numbered among the 
most successful stock dealers of Hamilton 
county. The family held their cattle and 
property in common until 1880, when they 
moved their cattle to Fisher county, Texas, 
and shortly afterward disposed of that 
branch of their business. They then di- 
vided their land, each son engaging in farm- 
ing for himself. Previous to the year 1892 
our subject had always voted the Democratic 
ticket, but since that time has been a strong 
Republican. He is widely and favorably 
known, and by all is held in the highest 
esteem. 



©:■' 



STIGLER, a respected citizen 
and representative farmer of Erath 
county, Texas, dates his birth in 
Jackson county, Georgia, in the 
year 1845. When very small he accom- 
panied his parents from Georgia to Alabama, 
where he was reared on a farm and had but 
few educational advantages. 

Mr. Stigler is of German origin. Many 
generations ago some representative of the 
Stigler family left Germany and came to 
America, locating in the Old Dominion, 
where they and their descendants figured as 
useful and honored citizens. During the 
Revolutionary war this family was well rep- 
resented in the patriotic ranks. Abel Stig- 
ler, the father of our subject, was born in 
Virginia, while the mother, ncc Cynthia 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Miller, was a native of Georgia. Previous 
to the late civil war Abel Stigler carried on 
farming operations successfully and was in 
good circumstances, but he, like many other 
southern men, was practically broken up by 
the adverse fortunes of that sanguinary 
struggle. In 1881 he came to Texas, 
accompanied by his aged companion, and 
together they spent the closing years of life 
at the home of their son T. L. Here the 
father died in 1890, and the mother in May, 
1 894. She was a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church. Their family was com- 
posed of the following named members: 
J. Harvey, a veteran of the late war, died 
in Tennessee in 1894; William J., also 
a veteran of this war, died in Arkansas 
in 1890; John L. was killed at the battle of 
Cedar run; Elizabeth, wife of John Rose, 
died in Arkansas; T. L. , the subject of this 
review; Robert A., who died in Tennessee 
in 1870; Elijah S., who died in Tennessee 
in 1890; Newton J., a farmer of Coleman 
county, Texas; Andrew M., a farmer of 
Vandalia county, Texas; and Sarah C. , who 
died in 1870. Thus only three are left of 
this large family. 

T. L. Stigler remained with his father, 
assisting in the farm work, until 1863, when 
he enlisted in the Confederate service and 
went out as a private in Company E, Twenty- 
fourth Mississippi Infantry, Walthall's bri- 
gade. General Bragg in command. His first 
service was at Lookout Mountain, and in 
the engagement at that place he fell into the 
hands of the federals and was taken to Rock 
Island, Illinois, where he soon shipped in 
the federal navy, and was there when the 
war closed. His active service in the Con- 
federacy was therefore of short duration, 
and he received no wounds. 

Returning home at the close of the war, 



young Stigler was without means or a sur- 
plus of good clothes, and he found his 
father and family financially embarrassed. 
However, he was wA the one to be dis- 
couraged by this condition of affairs. He 
went to work at once and soon replaced his 
old clothes with new ones. The following 
year, 1866, we find him in Mississippi, em- 
ployed as overseer on a farm where free 
negroes were hired, and he remained there 
thus occupied until 1870, when he went to 
Tennessee and bought a farm, which he 
cultivated and upon which he resided until 
1876. In the meantime, in 1872, he mar- 
ried. In 1876, accompanied by his family, 
he came to Texas and took up his abode in 
Erath county, at first living on rented land, 
for at the time he came to this state he had 
no means with which to purchase property; 
but he was successful in his operations from 
the start, and in two years from the date of 
his landing here he had accumulated a con- 
siderable sum. Then, in 1882, he bought 
eighty acres of his present farm, the place 
upon which he has since maintained his 
home, and to his original purchase he has 
since added other land. He has eighty 
acres under cultivation, raises the ordinary 
crops of the locality, and has his farm well 
stocked. This is all valley land and is lo- 
cated between the mountains of Duffau and 
Paluxy. 

Mr. Stigler married Miss Kiddie A. 
Hatchett, a native of Tennessee, her birth 
having occurred in the year 1855. She is 
a daughter of James M. and Sarah (Wasley) 
Hatchett, both natives of Tennessee, and 
both died and are buried there. Mr. Hatch- 
ett was by trade a tanner and ran a tan- 
ery in early life, but later settled down to 
the quiet pursuits of the farm. Both he 
and his wife were members of the Mission- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



609 



arj'Baptist church. Their family comprised 
nine children, of whom five came to Texas, 
two of the five now being residents of Okla- 
homa, namely: John, of Oklahoma; Joel, 
middle Tennessee; Frederick, deceased; 
Hulda, wife cf R. L. Stanly, Tennessee; 
Mary, wife of Thomas Clippo, is deceased; 
Lovey J., wife of F. Carvery; Sarah, wife 
of John Moore, Oklahoma; Kiddie, wife of 
Mr. Stigler; and James C, Grayson county, 
Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Stigler have had 
ten children sent to bless their home, eight 
of whom are yet living, viz.: Molly A., wife 
of John Haley; James Earl, a school-teacher 
by profession; and the others, all at home, 
are John C. , Myrtle M., Nora B., Malla 
Floyd, Lonnie and Harvey. 

Both our subject and his wife are stanch 
members of the Christian church. For 
years he has figured prominently in local 
political circles. He was a Democrat until 
1882, when he severed his connection with 
the old party. The third party then re- 
ceived his support and he has been loyal to 
it ever since, serving as delegate to its con- 
ventions, district and state. He had the 
honor of helping to nominate Mr. Nugent 
for governor of Texas. Mr. Stigler himself 
has frequently been solicited to run for 
office, but thus far has not shown any desire 
for official preference and has declined all 
such honors. 



IHOMAS CRAIK PIERSON.— This 
prosperous and intelligent farmer, 
living on the old Pierson home- 
stead in Hamilton county, which 
is pleasantly situated on the Leon river, 
was born on the 21st of December, 1854, 
and is the son of J. H. Pierson, whose 



sketch appears elsewhere in this work. On 
attaining man's estate he was married, Oc- 
tober 26, 1876, the lady of his choice being 
Miss Lacy Genevra Smith, who was born 
in Bell county, Texas, January 29, 1857, of 
which county her parents, Gabriel and Lu- 
cinda (Pool) Smith, were among the early- 
settlers. Six children blessed this union, 
namely: Johnnie Emma, born April 16, 
1878; Stella May, February 24. 1880; 
Thomas Craik, January 17, 1882; Maggie 
Bell, November 23, 1884; Lelia Pool, who 
was born March 6, 1889, and died on the 
4th of June following; and Ocran Warren, 
born February 23, 1893. 

Mr. Pierson is one of the most substan- 
tial men of the community, having a fine 
farm, well improved, and supplied with all 
modern conveniences. He met with a pain- 
ful accident, which resulted in the loss of 
part of one foot, but although somewhat 
handicapped on this account still gives his 
personal attention to the management of 
his farm. A stalwart Democrat, he served 
as clerk of Hamilton county from 1882 
until 1886, and was deputy sheriff under G. 
W. Gentry from 1878 until 1882. He was 
reared in the Methodist church, and since 
1 88 1 has been connected with Rock House 
Lodge, F. & A. M. , in which he has taken 
three degrees. Mr. Pierson enjoys the con- 
fidence and regard of all who know him; 
and as an enterprising, progressive farmer, 
with ideas of his own, he has no superior in 
Hamilton county. 



HBNER CARROLL WOMACK, 
whose pleasant rural residence is 
adjacent to the town of Morgan, 
Bosque count}', and who has 
maintained his residence on this farm 



010 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



for more than a quarter of a century, is 
classed foremost among the most intelligent 
and prominent farmers of the county; and 
it is therefore a matter of pleasure to pre- 
sent to our readers a review of his career. 

Abner C. Womack was born in Simpson 
county, Mississippi, February 15, 1S35, and 
is a representative of a family long resident 
of America, although his ancestors were 
originally from Scotland. Seven brothers 
of the name came from the land of hill and 
heather to this country about 1670, and 
from them descended a large posterity that 
settled in various parts of the Union and 
figured prominently in every war that has 
been waged on American soil, from the 
Revolution down to the great civil strife of 
1861-65. The father of our subject, A. P. 
Womack, was born in Georgia in 1806, was 
reared in Louisiana and at the age of twenty 
was united in marriage to Miss Stacy Short. 
In 1850 they emigrated to Texas, locating 
in Polk county, where Mrs. Womack died 
the following year. She left a family of 
thirteen children, namely: Elbert W., Fe- 
dora, Samantha J., Abner C, Calvin G., 
Angelina, Henry C., Richard M., Julia A., 
Nancy, Sally, N. B. and Naomi. In 1S53 
the father of this family was again married, 
his second union being with Mrs. Telitha 
Furguson, by whom he had six children, 
namely: Jacob P., "Doc," Stacy, Thomas, 
Joseph W. and Mildred. The father of 
this family died January 16, 1894, at the 
home of his son, Abner. For many years 
he was an honored member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church and to the last cher- 
ished a loving faith in his Savior, dying in 
the full hope of immortal life. Politically 
he was a Republican from the time of the 
organisation of the part)'. 

Abner C. Womack was reared in Missis- 



sippi, remaining there until 1850, when he 
came to Texas, and in 1859 became a resi- 
dent of Bosque county. During the second 
year of the war he was conscripted and sent 
to Austin in the regular army. Subsequent- 
ly he was discharged and then entered the 
frontier service, where he was on duty most 
of the time until the close of the war. He 
settled on his present farm in 1872 and here 
owns a tract of one hundred and ninety-one 
acres of land adjoining the town. He now 
has one hundred and fifteen acres under 
cultivation and has kept pace with the de- 
velopment and progress that has been car- 
ried during these years. 

Mr. Womack was married May 9, 1861, 
to Miss Susan Howard, a native of Lavaca 
county, Texas, born April 26, 1845. Her 
father was Philip Howard, one of the most 
prominent men in the state in an early day, 
represented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. 
and Mrs. Womack have had ten children, 
seven of whom are living, namely: Mrs. 
Minta Ligon, Laura, Mrs. Sarah Belcher, 
Phillip S., Elbert D., William S. and Mark 
B. The three deceased are Adney, who 
died at the age of three years; Eugene, who 
died in infancy, and Mathew G. , who died 
at the age of sixteen years. 

Mr. Womack is a Republican. He cast 
his first vote for General Houston and again 
supported him in 1859. In 1861 he was 
one of the four men of his voting precinct 
who supported the Union ticket, and he has 
never since had cause to lose faith in the 
grand old party which then saved the coun- 
try, so that he is still identified with its in- 
terests and supports its candidates. He is 
a Mason in good standing, having united 
with the fraternit)' in Meridian in 1873, and 
afterward becoming a charter member of 
the Morgan lodge. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



611 



eDWIN THOMAS DABNEY, whose 
devotion to those interests which 
tend to produce the best citizen- 
ship has made him a valued resi- 
dent of the community, and whose well 
directed agricultural pursuits have classed 
him among the prominent farmers of the 
community, was born in Christian county, 
Kentucky, January 12, 1849, a son of El- 
der Edwin Winston Dabney, an honored 
pioneer of Texas, who was born in Louisa 
county, Virginia, in 1821. His father, Al- 
bert Gallatin Dabney, was born in 1799, 
and was a representative of a prominent 
family long resident in Virguiia. The orig- 
inal American ancestors were French, and 
the name was first spelled D'Aubigne, the 
same as the celebrated author of the His- 
tory of the Reformation by Luther, but 
with the passing of years it has been angli- 
cized into its present form. The grand- 
father married a Miss Catlett, who also be- 
longed to a leading family of the Old 
Dominion, and from that state Mr. Dabney 
removed with his family to Hopkinsville, 
Kentucky. 

Elder Dabney was reared in Virginia 
and Kentucky, and was married in Hick- 
man county, of the latter state, to Miss 
Hannah G. Dabney, a cousin, whose father 
was Isaac Dabney. She was a worthy 
Christian lady, of many graces of character, 
and died in Austin county, Texas, July i, 
1895, at the age of seventy-eight years. He 
is now living in Belton, this state, aged 
seventy-five years; isa minister of the Chris- 
tian church and has been a zealous and 
faithful worker in the cause of his Master. 
He had ten children, whose names are as 
follows: Annie Eliza, Albert Gallatin, 
Emma Juliette, Smith and Robert Winston, 
deceased; and Hannah E., Edwin Thomas, 



Cornelius Isaac, John Bledsaw and Louisa 
Virginia, living. Louisa, the youngest daugh- 
ter, moved to Brown county, Texas, in 
1894, and is the wife of B. N. Brashear. 

The gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch was a child of only four summers 
when brought by his parents to Texas, and 
in Austin county he was reared to manhood, 
acquiring his education in select and public 
schools and in an academy. Since 1882 he 
has been identified with the farming inter- 
ests of Comanche county. He purchased a 
valuable tract of land, consisting of four 
hundred and twenty acres, and seventy 
acres have been planted in crops. There is 
an excellent dwelling there, on a natural 
building site, good barns, outbuildings and 
fences, a fine orchard and all the modern 
improvements which go to make up a model 
farm of the nineteenth century. Mr. Dab- 
ney is a progressive and successful farmer 
who through industrj', perseverance and 
capable management has reached prosper- 
ity. He also owns another farm, of four 
hundred acres, near by, with seventy acres 
planted in good products. 

He was married June 13, 1872, in Aus- 
tin, Texas, to Miss Nannie Gertrude Dick- 
enson, daughter of Allen W. and Sallie A. 
Dickenson, ncc Johnson, both natives of 
Orange county, Virginia. They have five 
children: Lucie Annie, Edwin Winston, 
Allen Dickenson, Nettie Catharine and Han- 
nah Gertrude. All the family are faithful 
members of the Christian church, and in its 
religious work, including the Sunday-school, 
Mr. Dabney has been very prominent. The 
cause of temperance also finds in him a 
warm friend, and he does all in his power to 
aid those movements which will promote 
the morality and welfare of the county. In 
politics he is a Democrat. He is a man of 



612 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



fine physique, weighing one hundred and 
ninct}- pounds, and in his manner is genial 
and frank, reliable and honorable, so that 
he has many friends and is a favorite with 



>Y'0HN HOGUE PIEI^SON, one of 
m the honored pioneers of Texas, who 
A J bore a prominent part in the devel- 
opment of the sections of the state 
in which he lived, was born April i", 1S17, 
in Morganfield, Union county, Kentucky, 
and came from an old southern family of 
Scotch-English origin. His great-grand- 
father, Robert Pierson, was born in Eng- 
land, and with his family and brother, John 
Pierson, Sr., and family, crossed the Atlan- 
tic to America in 1774, settling at Fort 
Cumberland, in Maryland. He and his 
people were connected with the Presby- 
terian church, and the family has furnished 
several preachers to that denomination. 
The paternal grandfather of our subject, 
John Pierson, Jr., was born in England, 
and when the yoke of British oppression 
became unbearable he joined Captain Rich- 
ard Dorsey's company of the First Battalion 
of Artillery, Continental troops, commanded 
by Colonel Charles Harrison, in the Revo- 
lutionary war. This company was assigned 
to Colonel Harrison's regiment by order of 
General Washington, May 30, 1778. The 
regiment was subsequently assigned to the 
state of Virginia under the act of Congress 
of October 3, 1780. Soon after the close 
of the Revolutionary war he settled in Ken- I 
tuCky, where he married Miss Elizabeth , 
Goodloe, whose mother belonged to the , 
Warren family. She was a lady of superior I 
education, and was prominent in social cir- I 



cles. Their children were John Goodloe 
Warren, father of our subject; Hosea All- 
mary, James Tilman, Willie and Benjamin 
Hogue. The maternal grandfather of our 
subject, Isaac Pennington, was of French 
descent, and it was his daughter Purity who 
became the mother of the gentleman whose 
name introduces this review. John Pierson. 
Jr., died about 1840. 

John Goodloe Warren Pierson at an 
early day left Kentucky, and with his fam- 
ily, consisting of his wife and three children, 
and accompanied by his brother, James 
Tilman, journeyed across the country to 
the Red river. He then proceeded up that 
stream for some distance, and from that 
year — 1824 — was prominently identified 
with the development of the state, which, 
however, at that time was under the rule of 
Mexico. He first joined Austin's colony, 
and later settled in the Nashville colony, 
Sterling C. Robertson, empresario, and he 
surveyor general. He was captain of a 
company under General Somervell in the 
campaign of 1842, to the Rio Grande. He 
was captured at Mier, Mexico, December 
26, 1842. Under an order of General 
Santa Anna that every tenth man be shot, 
and the victims to be those who drew black 
beans, he was the third to draw and was 
the first to get a white. Captains Eastland 
and Cameron, who drew before him, drew 
black beans. 

By his first wife he had three children, — 
Emeline, who became the wife of Johnathan 
C. Pool, now deceased; John Hogue, of this 
review; and Isaac, who died unmarried at 
the age of twenty years. After the death 
of his first wife Mr. Pierson married Eliza- 
beth Montgomery and they had three chil- 
dren: William M., Andrew V. B., and Eliza- 
beth, wife of Etheldred Tarver. The third 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



613 



wife of Mr. Pierson was Mrs. Narcissa 
Slater, widow of Thomas Slater and daugh- 
ter of Peter Cartright. Their children were 
Benjamin Almary, and Edmond Goodloe, 
both still living. He died at his home on 
Grimes' prairie, April 7, 1849, fifty-four 
years of age. Their mother, after the death 
of Mr. Pierson, became the wife of Thomas 
Roberts, and is living on the Brazos, at the 
advanced age of seventy-nine years. John 
Hogue Pierson was a supporterof the Democ- 
racy and took an active part in politics. 
He aided largely in opening this state to 
civilization through his work as a surveyor 
and through personal efforts. He was ap- 
pointed as Indian scout by Sam Houston 
and all the experiences of life on the wild 
frontier were familiar to him. On the night 
of August 26, 1836,. he was wounded 
severely, in a night attack by the Indians. 
He with four others had been following a 
raiding band of Comanches, but despairing 
of overtaking them turned homeward and 
camped on the bank of the Calette. That 
night the Indians made an attack from under 
the creek bluff, killed two, wounded two and 
one escaped unhurt. At this time, though 
only nineteen, he was first lieutenant in the 
ranger service. The killed were Robinson 
and Robinette; the wounded, Whitaker and 
Pierson; and De Orman was unhurt by bul- 
lets or arrows; but as he could not get his 
shoes in the night the cacti lacerated and tore 
his feet. His part of his father's property was 
the one-half of the Ruble headright, on the 
Brazos river, comprising twenty-two hun- 
dred and fourteen acres of land, all wild and 
unimproved. To that place he removed in 
August, 1 85 1, living under a tree until a 
house could be erected. In 1852 he went 
to Marlin, Falls county, where he engaged 
in merchandising until 1854, when he 



moved to his father's headright. League 
No. I, just below the falls of the Brazos. 

At the beginning of the war Mr. Pierson 
foresaw the result of the struggle and sold 
all of his negroes. In 1861 he enlisted 
with Terry's rangers, and was stationed at 
Bowling Green, Kentucky. On account of 
the wound received in 1836, from the ef- 
fects of which he still suffered, he was dis- 
charged in 1862. Upon his return he as- 
sumed the management of the property of 
Cornelius Moore and lived there until 1865. 
In 1862 he drove his horses to Hamilton 
county, on Neil's creek, and in 1865 he 
purchased of Judge McFarland eight hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land, located on the 
Leon river, in Hamilton county, and now 
the home of his son, Thomas C. He moved 
to this place in February, 1867, and opened 
a store, but did not long enjoy his new home, 
his death occurring on the 9th of June 
of that year. His widow continued her 
residence there until 1873. since which time 
she has made her home in the town of Ham- 
ilton. Indians were very troublesome in 
those early days, committing great depreda- 
tions, and stole from Mrs. Pierson some 
eight thousand dollars' worth of horses. 
On the 1 8th of October, 1838, was cel- 

[ ebrated the marriage of John Hogue Pier- 
son and Miss Nancy Hutchinson, daughter 

I of William and Sarah (Park) Hutchinson. 
Her grandfather, Robert Hutchinson, was 
born in England, and wedded Mary Hunter 
there, after which he crossed the Atlantic, 
taking up his abode in South Carolina. He 
afterward moved to Florida, where he died 
at the age of sixty. His children were Mar- 
garet, John, William, James and Jane. 
Robert Hutchinson was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. 
Pierson, Andrew Park, was born in Ireland 



014 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and there married Agues Simpson, an aunt 
of ex-Governor Simpson, of South Carolina. 
They were Protestants, the wife being an 
ardent Presbyterian. They reared their 
family in South Carolina, their children be- 
ing Mary, James, Nancy, Isabelle, Sarah, 
Elizabeth, Andrew and William. The 
brothers and sister of Mrs. Pierson were 
Robert, James, Andrew, and two who died 
in infancy, unnamed. A half-brother, Will- 
iam Evans, was born to the mother by her 
second marriage. Mr. Hutchinson died in 
1825, after which his widow went to Ala- 
bama and later to Mississippi, where she 
married James Evans, and shortly after 
died. 

Mrs. Pierson was born in Laurens dis- 
trict in South Carolina, June 5, 1823, and 
after her mother's death was reared by her 
eldest brother, Robert Hutchinson. In 
1837 the entire family came to Te.xas and 
located on the Brazos river. The children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Pierson areas follows: 
Warren Stroud, born December 22, 1839, 
died March 20, 1843. Emma Elizabeth, 
born October 2, 1844, "^'^d November 19, 
1881. She married Dr. Thomas H. Will- 
iams and after his death became the wife of 
Captain A. H. Watson, now a business man 
of Hamilton. Mary .\senath, born April 15, 
1848, died on the 27th of September fol- 
lowing. John Goodloe Warren, born July 
10. 1850, is now in the land business at 
Hamilton, Texas. Thomas Craik is repre- 
sented elsewhere in this volume. The sons 
were educated at the Texas Military Insti- 
tute, at Austin, Texas, the elder, J. G. W., 
having also attended the Solado College; 
and the daughter at Waco and Marlin. 

In 1 84 1 he and his wife became mem- 
bers of the Methodist church and were ever 
afterward consistent workers in its interests. 



He was also a Royal Arch Mason, uniting 
with the fraternity in Douglas, Texas. His 
life was upright and honorable in all partic- 
ulars, devotion toduty was one of his marked 
characteristics, and he had the warm re- 
gard and esteem of all who knew him. He 
came of a family that was long and promi- 
nently connected with the history of this 
country, and he, like other representatives of 
the name, was always an advocate of what- 
ever would promote its interests, and took 
an important part in making it the prosper- 
ous, habitable region that it is to-day. His 
widow is the only one of the older members 
of her family now living. She resides at 
her home in Hamilton and is familiarly and 
lovingly known as '• Grandma Pierson." 
She is now seventy-four years of age, and 
possesses a remarkable memory for dates 
and facts, and is authority on all events that 
have transpired within her knowledge. We 
are indebted to her for the data for this family 
record, without which this volume would I)e 
incomplete. 



eMIL E. PRESCHER.— Amongthe 
citizens of Bosque county who are 
of German birth is the gentleman 
of whom this narrative is written. 
He was reared in his native land, and there 
learned the traits of economy and frugality 
which have been the source of his present 
competency. Many of the best citizens of 
the state are his countrymen, and they al- 
most invariably merit and receive the esteem 
and respect of the community to the same 
degree that he does. 

Mr. Prescher was born on the 20th of 
October, 1863, to Julius and Anialie (Leuner) 
Prescher, and was the third in their family 
of twelve children. It was in 1884 that he 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



615 



crossed the Atlantic to America, and for a 
short time was a resident of San Antonio, 
Texas, but later removed to Bosque county. 
He now resides seven miles east of Clifton, ! 
where he owns two hundred and twenty- 
seven acres of farming land, eighty-seven of 
which has been placed under a high state of 
cultivation, and upon the place is a good 
orchard. 

Mr. Prescher was married in the father- 
land, October 5, 1884, the lady of his choice 
being Miss Emilie Kotte, and the same year 
sailed to the New World. Four children 
bless their union, namely: Paul, Ernest, 
Martha and William. The parents are true 
and sincere Christian people, faithful mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church. In 1892 Mr. 
Prescher was naturalized, and now exercises 
his elective franchise in support of the men 
and measures of the Republican party. Pos- 
sessing the esteem and respect of the entire 
community, he may well be ranked among 
the honest and representative German citi- 
zens of Bosque county. His honor and in- 
tegrity are unimpeachable, his word being 
considered as good as his bond. 



'HOMAS J. SCOTT, one of the | 
most energetic and progressive citi- i 
zens of Comanche county, was 
born in the city of Houston, Texas, 
October 14, 1838, the state being at that 
time a republic, and is a son of Moses and 
Elizabeth D. (Pamplin) Scott, the former a 
native of South Carolina and the latter of 
Virginia. The marriage of the parents was 
celebrated in Mississippi, and in May, 1837, 
they crossed the Sabine river into Texas, 
stopping first at Fort Tinnan, in what is 
now Brazos county, but was then known as 
Montgomery's Colony. The entire colony 



made their homes either at Fort Parker or 
Fort Tinnan, on account of the hostile In- 
dians. The red men attacked the former, 
killing twenty-one of the inmates, while 
eighteen escaped to Fort Tinnan, but three 
were taken prisoners, namely: Nancy A. 
Parker, who later married an Indian chief; 
Mrs. Plummer, who after a number of years 
returned to her people; and the little son of 
the latter, who died in captivity. 

Mr. Scott remained in the vicinity of the 
fort for some time, but later took his family 
to Houston, where our subject was born, 
and there remained for a year. Returning 
to Brazos county, he purchased land, which 
he developed into a good farm, and there 
engaged in the stock business for eight years, 
at the end of which time he took his stock 
to Grimes county. Selling out in 1850, he 
removed to Leon county, where he bought 
land and engaged in the improvement of his 
farm until his death, in 1858. For thirteen 
years he served as class-leader in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, but later in life be- 
came a member of the Missionary Baptist 
church, to which his wife also belonged. 
To them were born five children, — Jacob, 
Thomas J., Moses, Susan and David. Two 
of the sons were in the Confederate service 
during the civil war. The mother died in 
1864. She was the daughter of William 
Pamplin, who was a member of a prominent 
Virginian family, but he spent his last days 
in Tennessee. Previous to her marriage to 
Mr. Scott she was the widow of a Mr. Bates, 
by whom she had six children, — William, 
Fanny, Elvira, Mathew, McCajor and Em- 
mett. These children were cared for by 
the father of our subject in the same man- 
ner as if they were his own. 

Mr. Scott, whose name heads this sketch, 
attended the common country schools dur- 



616 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



ing his boyhood days, and early became fa- 
miliar with farming and stock-raising, which 
he has followed throughout much of his life. 
On the 1 3th of October, 1864, he was joined 
in wedlock with Miss Nancy Toby, who was 
born in Leon county, Texas, and is the 
daughter of George W. Toby, of New York. 
As a young man her father came to Texas, 
was here married and settled in Leon coun- 
ty, where his death occurred. He had 
three children, — Nancy, Maria and George 
W. Nine children have been born in the 
family of Mr. and Mrs. Scott: Charles A., 
of Leon county; George M., of Lamkin, 
Comanche county; Dena, wife of James H. 
Wamble, a farmer; Walter M., who has 
charge of his father's store; and Jack C, 
Maria, Virginia, .\melia and Idella, all at 
home. 

On the 4th of October, 1861, Mr. Scott 
enlisted in the Fifth Regiment of Texas In- 
fantry for six months, and on the close of 
that term re-enlisted in the Twenty-second 
Texas Infantry, under Colonel B. B. Hub- 
bard, and was consigned to Walker's divis- 
ion in the Trans-Mississippi department, 
serving mostly in Arkansas and Louisiana. 
He took part in many skirmishes and in 
several hotly contested battles, including 
those at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, but 
was never wounded nor captured. The 
regiment surrendered and was disbanded at 
Hempstead, after which our subject re- 
turned home. 

In 1879, Mr. Scott purchased a farm in 
Brazos county, where he made his home 
until 1884, and then went to Bosque coun- 
ty, there engaging in the cattle and sheep 
business. It was the following year that 
he came to Comanche county, locating at 
Lamkin, where he engaged in blacksmith- 
ing for two years. The next five years 



were devoted to farming on the Leon river, 
and in 1891 he removed to his present farm 
of two hundred and seventy acres, which 
he has greatly improved, and now has the 
entire tract under fence and eighty acres of 
the amount are highly cultivated. He has 
erected good and substantial buildings, and 
his place is now one of the model farms of 
the locality. He gives his attention to all 
branches of stock-raising, having Percheron 
horses, Sampson, Durham and Jersey cat- 
tle. Pig-bone, Gunnie and Berkshire hogs, 
and a premium mammoth jack; and he also 
raises chickens. In February, 1896, he es- 
tablished a general store at Farmers' 
Chapel, near Nell's gin, on the Comanche 
and Gentry mill road, which is in charge of 
his son, and our subject also conducts a 
blacksmith shop at that point. He is a 
first-class mechanic, able to do almost any 
kind of work in that line, and in earlier 
days devoted considerable attention to car- 
pentering. 

Mr. Scott and his estimable wife are 
earnest members of the Missionary Baptist 
church, in which he serves as deacon, and 
socially is a Master Mason. He always 
supported the Democratic party until 1890, 
but has since joined the reform forces, with 
the hope of seeing better times, and is 
therefore now a Populist. He is a straight- 
forward, upright business man, who gains 
the confidence and esteem of all with whom 
he comes in contact. 



ORLANDO COLUMBUS COL- 
LETT, a representative farmer 
living near Pottsville. Hamilton 
county, was born in Caldwell 
county. North Carolina. His parents, James 
Hamilton and Jane (Stewart) Collett, were 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



also natives of the same county, the birth 
of the former occurring December lo, 1806, 
and the latter October 31, 181 1. Their 
marriage was celebrated December 15, 
1829, and to them were born the following 
children: Spangler, who was born Septem- 
ber 18, 1830, and died September 28, 1834; 
Margaret Orilja, who was born March 22.' 
1834, and died in 1S86; Orlando C, of 
this review, who was born August 31, 1837; 
Harriet Elizabeth, November 25, ' 1840; 
Mary Ann, who was born February 4, 1843,' 
and died August 6, 1893; Rachel Co'rdeha,' 
born April 21, 1845; Jane Amelia, June 29' 
1847; Charles Alexander, July 14, 1849'; 
James Hamilton, August 24, 185 1'; Sarah 
Caledonia, October 15, 1853; and John 
Hugh, June 13, 1856. The earthly career 
of the father of these children was ended 
December 6, 1893. 

In May, 1861, our subject laid aside 
personal interests joining the Confederate 
service asa member of Company F, Twenty- 
sixth North Carolina Infantry, but after the 
seven days' battle of the Wilderness he was 
transferred to Company E, Fifty-eighth 
North Carolina Infantry, and participated 
m all the engagements with his regiment 
except when scouting or in the hospital. 
Twice he was hit by a ball but was not seri- 
ously wounded. He was numbered among 
the gallant and brave boys who wore 
the gray. 

When hostilities had ceased Mr. Collett 
returned to his North Carolina home, but in 
March, 1869, came to Texas, locating first 
in Dallas county, where he rented land for 
four years, after which he came to Baptist 
Cove. Here his father pre-empted one 
hundred and sixty acres, eighty of which our 
subject now has under cultivation, com- 
prising one of the richest tracts of land in 



617 

the county, where he is numbered among 
the leading and progressive agriculturists. 

On the isth of January, 1861, Mr. Col- 
lett was joined in wedlock with Miss Susan 
Bristol, who was born in Burke county. 
North Carolina, November 28, 1840, and 
was the daughter of Benedict and Elizabeth 
Graham (McCall) Bristol. Five children 
blessed this union, namely: James Colum- 
bus, who was born November 2, r86r, and 
is now living in Dickens county, Texas; 
Charlton Helloeize was born June 21, 1866,' 
and died August 22, 1869; Augustus Birdsy 
was born September 7, ,867, and died 
December 22, 1887; Mary E., born March 
25, 1869; and William Orlando, born Feb- 
ruary 1,1871. The loving wife and mother 
passed away on the ist of April, 1871, after 
which his parents came to live with our 
subject. 

Politically Mr. Collett votes independ- 
ently, casting his ballot for the man whom 
he thinks best qualified to fill the position, 
and has efficiently served as constable in 
Hamilton county. Since the fall of 1865 
he has been identified with the Missionary 
Baptist church, is a man of the strictest in- 
tegrity, and enjoys the confidence a;id re- 
spect of all who know him. 



/Y\ "• ^'NEAL, deceased, was for 
## I many years one of the leading 
V\/^ citizens of Erath county. His 
identity with the state dated from 
his boyhood and from the year Texas was 
admitted to the Union. As a representative 
of a family that has long figured conspicu- 
ously here and as one who by his own nerve 
and valor was useful in protecting the 
frontier settlers in times of Indian raids, it 
IS of special importance that a memoir of 



(318 



illSrORT OF TEXAS. 



W. H. O'Neal be incorporated in this j 
volume. 

Mr. O'Neal was born in Tennessee No- 
vember 19, 1835, son of George \V. O'Neal, 
a native of Tennessee. George W. O'Neal, 
imbued with a spirit of emigration, left his 
old home in Tennessee in 1845, and, accom- 
panied by his family, sought a new home in 
the new state of Texas, landing in due time 
in Titus county. He and his family lived in 
Titus county until late in the '50s, when 
they came to Erath county. Following are 
the names of his children: Robert, C. M., 
W. H., George R., J. S., I. S., Jane, Sally, 
Margaret and Nancy, and of this large 
family seven are still living, and in Erath 
county, occupying useful and honored posi- 
tions in life. At the time of their emigra- 
tion to this state the subject of this sketch 
was a boy of ten years. He grew up in 
Titus county and followed farming there a 
few years before coming to Erath county, 
which was about 1858. He had married in 
1855 and brought his wife with him, the 
other members of the O'Neal family also 
coming to Erath county at this time. Their 
first settlement here was on Cow creek, but 
the Indians soon became so troublesome 
that life there had to be abandoned,— in 
short, the red men ran the O'Neals out. 
They then resided in Dublin until 1866, 
when our subject went to Armstrong creek 
and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, which he opened up to farming. 
When he first came to the county he engaged 
in the cattle business, and on his removal to 
Armstrong creek he took with him the stock 
he had left, most of his cattle having been 
stolen by the Indians. He carried on both 
farming and stock-raising there until 1877, 
when he rented his homestead and went to 
Stephens county, ranging his cattle there 



and greatly increasing his operations. In 
the fall of that year he returned to Erath 
county and located on the farm now owned 
and occupied by his widow, near Highland, 
and in 1878 he sold his Armstrong creek 
farm. From that time on up to his death, 
which occurred July 24, 1884, he gave his 
attention to the improvement and cultiva- 
tion of this place, carrying on diversified 
farming and raising only enough stock for 
the support of his farm. His purchase here 
included three hundred and twenty acres, 
but he afterward sold half of it. 

During the late war Mr. O'Neal belonged 
to the home guards, and had many fights 
and exciting experiences with the Indians. 
In 1866 he was in battle with the red men 
near Dublin, where he distinguished himself 
by his courage and won lasting gratitude 
from the settlers. In this fight were eighteen 
Indians arrayed against only a few white 
men. The arrows flew thick and fast, some 
of them piercing Mr. O'Neal's clothes, but 
fortunately the whites all escaped uninjured. 
Mr. O'Neal shot and killed one Indian. It 
was not until 1870 that the Indian raids 
here entirely ceased. Soon after the close 
of the war, about 1866 or 1867, the subject 
of our sketch was one of a party that went 
to New Mexico prospecting for gold. On 
the Pecos river they overtook some emigrants 
who were surrounded by Indians and at 
their mercy. Mr. O'Neal and his com- 
panions at once took in the situation, drove 
the red men back and made it possible for 
the movers to proceed in safety. Mr. 
O'Neal's last years were spent in quiet on 
his farm, enjoying the comforts of home 
and happy in the companionship of his wife 
and daughter. In his death the community 
sustained the loss of one of its most cour- 
ageous men and best loved citizens. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



619 



Mrs. Mary O'Neal, widow of this es- 
teemed pioneer whose life we have just out- 
lined, is a native of Texas, born in Shelby 
county, September i6, 1839, when Texas 
was a republic, her parents being Evan and 
Matilda Shoemaker. Evan Shoemaker, who 
was of Alabama birth, early in life went to 
Tennessee and while yet a young man came 
to Texas, landing here in 1835. By trade 
he was a blacksmith, but much of his life 
was spent in agricultural pursuits. Not long 
after his arrival here he was married in 
Shelby county. Later he moved to Titus 
county, where he maintained his home for 
many years, and where he died in 1863. 
He was a man in whose personality were 
combined many of the sterling traits of 
character that distinguished the brave pio- 
neers of this state, and his early experiences 
were not unlike those of many other fron- 
tiersmen. He fought under Sam Houston 
in the Mexican war, when Texas gained her 
independence as a republic. When a young 
man he united with the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which his wife was a devoted 
member. They had six children, namely: 
Elizabeth, wife of H. Daflren; Mary O'Neal; 
Martha J., who died at the age of twelve 
years; James, who died when eight years 
old; Joel, a farmer on Armstrong creek; and 
Stephen, whose residence is unknown by 
the other members of the family. 

While Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal were never 
blessed with any children of their own, they 
adopted a little girl, Minnie L. Lookingbill, 
whom they took at the age of sixteen 
months, gave her their name, reared her as 
their own child and made her their heir, re- 
ceiving in return for their loving care the 
kindness and affection of a dutiful daughter. 
She was born August 17, 1877, and is now 
the wife of W. T. Grisham, their home be- 



ing on the farm with Mrs. O'Neal. Mrs. 
O'Neal is a most estimable lady, possessing 
more than ordinary business ability and ex- 
ercising the best of judgment in conducting 
her affairs, and is held in high esteem in the 
circle in which she moves. 



>T^ W. BOLTON.— In the number of 
■ Alabama's native sons who have found 
A J homes in Texas is included this gen- 
tleman, who to-day is classed among 
the practical, progressive agriculturists of 
Hood county. 

He was born in Jackson county, of the 
great " Cotton state, " December 20, 1839, 
a son of Severe and Missouri (Rutherford) 
Bolton. His father was born in Kentucky, 
and at a very early day went to Alabama 
with his father, Evan Bolton. The mother 
was born in Jackson county, where her 
father, James Rutherford, took up his abode 
in pioneer times, removing to Alabama from 
east Tennessee. In the usual manner of 
farmer lads our subject spent the days of 
his childhood and youth, aiding in the la- 
bors of the old homestead until his marriage. 
In the meantime, however, he joined 
the southern army at the commencement of 
the war, enlisting on the 28th of April, 
1 861, as a member of Company I, Seven- 
teenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry He 
participated in the battles of Fishing creek. 
Stone river, Perryville and Chickamauga, 
and was then with General Longstreet 
through the campaign in east Tennessee. At 
the battle of Chickamauga he was captured, 
but while being taken to the north he suc- 
ceeded in making his escape, but was cut 
off from his command and for several 
months was attached to General Pope's 
command of secret scouts. In January, 



&20 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



1863, he joined his own company in Ten- 
nessee, and in the following May was sent 
to Richmond under Beauregard, participat- 
ing in the engagements in front of Peters- 
burg and being in constant service until the 
surrender, at which time he was with Gen- 
eral Lee's forces. At the battle of Stone 
river he was wounded through the arm, 
which disabled him for active duty for three 
months. At Duvall's Bluff he was wounded 
in the face and was then granted a thirty- 
days' furlough. In 1862 he was commis- 
sioned first lieutenant and during the last 
year of the war had command of his com- 
pany. He was a brave and valiant sol- 
dier, ever true to the cause he espoused, 
and his military record is one of which he 
need never be ashamed. 

When the war was over Mr. Bolton re- 
turned to Alabama and engaged in farming 
there until 1870, when he sought a home in 
Texas, locating on the Brazos river in Jan- 
uary. For four and a half years he lived 
on that farm, and then went to Hill county, 
whence he later removed to Lampasas 
county. After three years spent in that 
county and one year in Bell county, he was 
live years a merchant in Coryell county, as 
junior partner of the firm of J. M. Clements 
& Company. He next went to Dallas, 
where he resided two years, then to Fort 
Worth, where he was a resident two years, 
engaged in railroading. In 1893 he came 
to Hood county, and with the capital ac- 
quired through his own labors he purchased 
his present farm of one hundred acres, of 
which fifty acres is now under a high state 
of cultivation. 

Mr. Bolton has been twice married. On 
the 28th of February, 1867, he was joined 
in wedlock with Mi.ss Rhoda R. Starkey, and 
they had three children, but only one is now 



living, Delia, wife of G. F. Egle, who is 
living near Fort Worth. The others were 
Franklin, who died in infancy, and Joe K., 
who died at the age of six months. While 
residing in Hill county, Texas, the mother 
of these children died, in 1877. In Lam- 
pasas county Mr. Bolton was again married, 
his second union being with Mrs. Mary 
Duval, a native of Robertson county, Texas, 
and a daughter of Lewis Harris, one of the 
pioneer settlers of that county. Three chil- 
dren were born by this marriage, — Willie 
C, Jessie S. and Anis. 

Mrs. Bolton is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and is an estimable 
lady, whose many excellencies of character 
have gained her a large circle of friends. 
Mr. Bolton is a member of Paluxy Lodge, 
No. 393, F. & A. M., and of the Farmers' 
' ' Grange. " Politically he is connected with 
the People's party. Straightforward in all 
business dealing and honorable in all life's 
relations, he has the respect of all with 
whom he has come in contact. 



eLDER LOUIS BROCK has been 
prominently identified with the 
moral and material development of 
Comanche county, and is numbered 
among its valued citizens. His life is ex- 
emplary, and his influence is felt for good in 
the community where he makes his home. 

He was born in North Carolina, Decem- 
ber 21, 1842, and his parents, Hubbard and 
Martha (Hardeson) Brock, were natives of 
the same state. The grandfather, Thomas 
Brock, of North Carolina, was of German 
descent and served in the patriot army dur- 
ing the Revolutionary war. He was a 
noble man, deeply interested in religious af- 
fairs, and his last days were spent in Geor- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



621 



gia. Hubbard Brock was reared to farm 
life, and on leaving North Carolina went to 
Georgia, and later to Alabama. He married 
Martha, daughter of Harmon Hardeson, a 
prominent farmer of North Carolina. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject was 
also an earnest Christian man, and one of 
Louis Brock's earliest memories is of going 
to church with him. One of his sons, Joshua? 
became an eminent minister of the Baptist 
church. Hubbard Brock was also a mem- 
ber of the Baptist church, and lived the 
quiet life of a fanner. He was born in 
1 8 1 1 , and died in Franklin county, Alabama, 
in 1 87 1. His wife is now living with a 
daughter in Arkansas, at the advanced age 
of eighty-three years. Their children are 
Mary A., widow of William Stone; Louisa, 
wife of Lucius Chapel, of Alabama; Hep- 
sey, deceased; Louis, subject of this sketch; 
Henry, who served in the late war, and is a 
farmer of Erath county; Elizabeth, widow 
of James Davis; Daniel, who died at the 
age of twelve; Harriet, wife of Joseph 
West, an Arkansas farmer; and Amanda, I 
deceased wife of James Rollins. ' | 

Our subject was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the common schools. In 
the fall of 1862 he joined the Fifth Alabama 
Cavalry under Colonel Patterson, the regi- 
ment being attached to the Army of the 
Tennessee. He remained at the front until 
the close of the war; and participated in 
many skirmishes and battles, but was never 
wounded nor captured. When hostilities 
had ceased, he returned home, having re- 
ceived his discharge and parole at Pond 
Springs, Alabama, May 21, 1865. 

Mr. Brock was soon after married and 
began hfe for himself. His possessions con- 
sisted of some clothing and one mule, but 
he has been industrious and energetic, and 



has been blessed with a comfortable prop- 
erty. He carried on a rented farm until 
1873. when he came to Texas, reaching 
Comanche county in February. Here he 
rented land, and in connection with its cul- 
tivation carried on a blacksmith shop. In 
October he pre-empted one hundred and 
sixty acres, his present farm, and erected a 
home. He now has three hundred and six- 
ty-seven acres, of which seventy- five acres is 
highly cultivated, while the commodious 
residence and excellent orchard add to the 
value and desirabihty of the place. He also 
has a good farm six mileseast of Comanche, 
and in his business efforts has prospered. 

Elder Brock wedded Miss Mary E. 

Creamer, who was born in Georgia, April 

23. 1845. a daughter of Josiah Creamer, 

of South Carolina. Her father was a farmer,' 

who in 1 87 1 came to Comanche county,' 

being now numbered among its prominent 

agriculturists. Mrs. Brock is the second in 

a family of seven children, and the five yet 

I living are residents of Texas. Our subject 

and his N\'-ife have been blessed with nine 

children, eight yet surviving, namely: Josiah 

H., a farmer; Martha M., wife of W. B. 

Denton; John L. and James S., who follow 

farming; Henry C, William F., Sadie C 

and Dilla M. 

Elder Brock is an advocate of Democ- 
racy, but has never sought office. He was 
reared amid Christian influences, and in 
May, i860, was converted. In October 
following he united with the church, and 
has since been an active, earnest worker in 
Its interests. In the fall of 1873 he began 
preaching, and after coming to Texas in the 
fall of 1873 was licensed to preach. Three 
years later he was ordained as a minister by 
Rev. William Bates and E. B. Featherstone 
at the Union Baptist church. He helped to 



622 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



organize the Union church, became its first 
pastor, and thus served for six years, never 
missing but two appointments during that 
time. He has aided in organizing a number 
of churches and has been the pastor of Cool 
Spring church, Sardis church, Baggett 
church, and now has charge of Friendship 
and Liberty churches. He has solemnized 
many marriages and officiated at many bap- 
tisms. He never asks for financial aid from 
churches, but by his farming interests has 
gained a means of livelihood and has given 
his services freely to the cause of the Master, 
a faithful and earnest worker in his vine- 
yard. 



>T^OHN W. MOSS is one of the most 
■ prominent and progressive agricult- 
A 1 urists of Erath county, and in con- 
nection with general farming is also 
engaged in horticultural pursuits. The suc- 
cess of his business career is attributable 
entirely to his own efforts and shows that 
Prosperity, though a fickle goddess, may be 
won by persistent purpose and dauntless 
energy. 

Mr. Moss was born in Wilson county, 
Tennessee, on the 27th of September, 1837, 
descending from an old Virginian family. 
His grandfather, however, became one of 
the pioneer settlers of Tennessee, in which 
state William Moss, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born November 21, 1788. He 
married Sarah McDaniel, who was born in 
the same state in 1806, while her people 
were from North Carolina. They became 
parents of ten children, seven of whom 
reached adult age, while five are yet living. 
During his early life William Moss engaged 
in running a fiatboat on the river and 
later turned his attention to farming, which 



he continued to follow throughout his re- 
maining days. He died November 14, 1869, 
at the age of eighty-two years, and his wife 
passed away on the 6th of December, 1882. 
Mrs. Moss was twice married, her first 
union being with Walter Carr, by whom she 
had one son, Matthew Carr, who is now a 
resident of Erath county. 

At the parental home John W. Moss 
was reared to manhood, and in field and 
meadow had ample training in the work of 
the farm. The pursuits of this quiet life 
were interrupted, however, in September, 
1 86 1, by his enlistment in the Confederate 
service, as a member of Company F, 
Twenty-eighth Tennessee Infantry, which 
was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. 
He participated in the battles of Fishing 
creek and Corinth and was in many skir- 
mishes between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. 
He was in the battle of Murfreesboro in 
1862 and was then transferred to a cavalry 
command known as Steam's Fourth Ten- 
nessee Regiment. They followed Sher- 
man's army from Atlanta through the Car- 
olinas, and his brigade acted as escort for 
Jefferson Davis from Charlotte to the Sa- 
vannah river. 

When the war was ended Mr. Moss re- 
turned to Tennessee, and on the loth of 
October, 1865, was consummated his mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Sanders, a native of 
Sumner county, Tennessee, and a daughter 
of Thomas and Mary (Mitchener) Sanders. 
Her father was a native of Kentucky and 
died when Mrs. Moss was only four years 
old. The young couple began their domes- 
tic life in Tennessee, where they continued 
to make their home until the 15th of Sep- 
tember, 1872, when they came to Texas, 
locating in Honey Grove, Fannin county. 
The journey to this state was made by 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



G23 



teams and consumed four weeks. For a 
)'ear our subject rented land and then re- 
moved to Whitesboro, Grayson county, 
where he resided for three years, when he 
came to Erath county. His possessions at 
the time of his arrival here consisted of two 
wagons, four horses and twenty dollars in 
money. With this small capital he began 
life at his new home, determined to win 
success if hard labor and honorable dealing 
could accomplish it. For four years he 
worked a rented farm, and then, in 1880, 
purchased sixty-four acres of wild land. 
His work thereon was to clear a tract and 
plant a peach orchard, and he now has one 
of the finest peach orchards in the entire 
county, his fruit being unexcelled in size 
andqualityand thus commanding the highest 
market price. Mr. Moss now has one hun- 
dred and thirty-one acres of fine land under 
a high state of cultivation, and his farm 
with its improvements is a monument to 
his energy and thrift. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moss had a family of ten 
children, as follows: William T. , who 
married Emma Hall; Matthew C, who 
married Elathia Whitacre; Sally B., wife of 
H. H. Tudor; James M., who wedded Alice 
W. Whitacre; Susie May, Nancy W., John 
Calvin, Edgar Wright, and Mary Estelle, 
all at home; and Georgia, who died in in- 
fancy. The parents are consistent members 
and active workers in the Church of Christ; 
and Mr. Moss has served as one of its 
deacons. He was also a school trustee for 
a number of years and has done most effect- 
ive service in the interests of education, 
which finds in him a warm friend. He is a 
public-spirited and progressive citizen and 
gives a stalwart support to all measures 
which have for their object the general 
welfare. 



>pj»OHN DYER.— Among the promi- 
■ nent and progressive citizens of 
A 1 Meridian, whose advent into the 
state dates back to 1854, is the ge- 
nial and pleasant gentleman above named, 
who is now serving as tax collector of 
Bosque county. He is one of those quiet, 
unassuming gentlemen of the true southern 
type, whom it is a pleasure to meet. He 
has resided in the state for over forty years 
and has the confidence and esteem not only 
of his official colleagues but also of all with 
whom he has dealings. His official career 
extends over a period of ten years, during 
which time the affairs of his office have 
been carried on in a strictly business-like 
and methodical way, showing conclusively 
that a master hand is at the helm. 

Through care and honorable business 
transactions, outside of his official capacity, 
Mr. Dyer has accumulated a competency, 
sufficient at least to guarantee himself and 
family their evenings of life in peace and 
prosperity. He has associated himself with 
and is one of the directors of the Lone Star 
Commission Company, for the handling of 
live stock. This company was organized 
and incorporated in Texas in the year 1894, 
with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri, 
with branch offices at Chicago and at other 
important cities of the country, having large 
stock-yards, fts capital stock is one hun- 
dred thousand dollars, and from its incep- 
tion it has done a safe, conservative and 
constantly increasing business. It is well 
known among stock dealers, not only in 
this but also in surrounding states. The 
directors and managers are as follows: 
E. G. P. Kellum, of Valley Mills, Texas, 
president; F. Kell, of Clifton, Texas, vice- 
president; M. N. Baker, of Hamilton, Texas, 
secretary; S. D. Felt, of I\ansas City, Mis- 



624 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



souri, treasurer; A. Wheeler, of Waco, 
Texas; John Dyer and J. S. Rizer, of Merid- 
ian, Texas; A. Y. Reeder, of Amarillo, 
Texas; and R. A. Riddels, of Kansas City. 

Our subject is a Georgian by birth, born 
in Cherokee county, August 19, 1849, and 
is a son of Simpson C. and Sarah A. (Bell) 
Dyer, the former a native of Kentucky and 
the latter of Georgia. The father is now 
deceased, having died in August, 1876. Mr. 
Dyer, of this review, was the seventh in a 
family of ten children and accompanied his 
parents to this state in 1854, locating first 
in Hill county. From early boyhood he 
has been actively engaged in the cattle busi- 
ness, buying, feeding and shipping, and in 
the year 1895 handled about three thousand 
head. He has also farm property, consist- 
ing of six hundred acres, fifteen miles east 
of the city of Meridian, nearl}' all of which 
is under cultivation. 

Mr. Dyer was married in Louisiana, on 
the 6th of June, 1866, the lady of his choice 
being Miss Marie F. Wootten, a native of 
Georgia, and five children have been born 
to them who are now living, — Lucile, 
Ernest H., Alma Pearl, Camille and Ruda- 
sill. Eugene W., the eldest child, died 
April 14, 1895. The family hold their re- 
ligious membership in the Baptist church. 
Mr. Dyer was elected tax collector on the 
Democratic ticket in November, 1886, and 
has been constantly in office since that 
time, giving general satisfaction. 



eLDERJOHN C. R. LOCKHART 
has devoted the greater part of his 
life to gospel work, untiring in 
his labors in the interests of Chris- 
tianity, and has been instrumental in bring- 
ing many souls into the Master's vineyard, 



and wherever he is known he has the love 
and respect of all in the highest degree. 
Such a life is a benediction to those who 
come under its influence, and long after he 
shall have been called to the home beyond 
his memory will be cherished in the hearts 
of those to whom he brought the hope of 
immortality. 

Elder Lockhart was born in Jones county, 
Georgia, on the 3d of May, 1823, and is a 
son of William and Marthia (Finney) Lock- 
hart, both natives of the same state and of 
English descent. They spent their entire 
lives in Georgia, but during the early child- 
hood of our subject removed from Jones to 
Talbot county. There John acquired his 
literary education and made his home until 
1859, when he removed to Covington county, 
Alabama. Subsequently he took up his 
residence in Butler county, where he made 
his home for ten years. Before leaving his 
native state, however, he entered the min- 
istry and began the labors which have 
resulted in so much good to his fellow men. 
He was baptized and became a member of 
the Baptist church in 1839, and in 1841 
was licensed to preach, serving one congre- 
gation for a year. In 1846 he was ordained 
by Elders R. H. Daniels, T. B. Cooper and 
D. J. Apperson, and at once entered upon 
the active work of the ministry. He was 
given charge of the congregation in David- 
son, Georgia, where he remained for ten 
years, and was very successful in his minis- 
terial work there. For fourteen years he 
carried on his labors in Alabama, severing 
his connection with the ministry of that 
state in 1871, when he came with his family 
to Texas. After a year spent in Navarro 
county he removed to Limestone county, 
whence he later removed to Dallas, Texas, 
where he had charge of the Big Spring 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



625 



Baptist church for one year, although he 
continued his residence there for three years, 
preaching all the time for different congre- 
gations. From Dallas he came to Erath 
county, locating at Bluff Dale, and through 
the succeeding five years supplied several 
pulpits. After removing to Hood county he 
preached for three years in High Tower 
valley and then went to Parker county, 
making his home near Weatherford, where 
he continued his ministerial labors until 
coming to his present farm in Erath county, 
in 1883. Since then he has been supplying 
regular charges and at the same time has given 
his personal supervision to his farm, which 
comprises ninety acres of valuable land, all 
under a high state of cultivation. 

Mr. Lockhart has been thrice married. 
In 1 84 1 he wedded Miss Caroline Stearns, 
and to them were born three children, — 
William H. H., Zachariah and one who 
died in infancy. The mother passed away 
in 1847, and for his second wife our subject 
chose Mrs. Sarah Martha (Bates) Esom. 
Of this marriage were born eight children, 
as follows: John T., Savanna J., Joseph 
P., Anna and Ella, twins, Mary, Carolina 
B. and Laura. Mrs. Lockhart was called 
to the home beyond this life, and Elder 
Lockhart was united in the holy bonds of 
matrimony with Lucretia Driver, in 1864. 
The children of the third marriage were 
Jesse A., Elizabeth, Vilula, David, C. R., 
Sallie, R. P., James G., Charles R., Julia 
A., Samuel H. P., D. B., George E. and 
Benjamin O. Twelve of these children are 
living. 

To give a summarized account of the 
labors of Elder Lockhart would require a 
measurement for the influence that never 
dies, but goes on through all time. His 
work has been largely in the evangelization 



field, and his labors have made the world 
better. At one time, in payment for an 
eight-days meeting, he was given money 
and goods to the value of eighty dollars, — 
a fact which shows that his services were 
most highly appreciated. During his min- 
istry he has baptized eleven hundred per- 
sons and has received into the church about 
twenty-five hundred. He baptized one 
hundred and thirty-si.x into one church 
alone, and has baptized fifteen men who 
have become preachers of the gospel, eleven 
of whom were converted under his preach- 
ing. Por fifty-two years he has given his 
labors to his holy calling, carrying the "glad 
tidings of great joy " to all classes of people. 
Through all these years he has been 
blessed with most excellent health, and to a 
remarkable degree retains the vigor of his 
youth. He speaks with wonderful power, 
has the closest attention of his auditors, and 
the word of truth has sunk deep into many 
hearts where in due time it has brought forth 
abundant harvests of good works. He has 
the respect of all the humble and great, the 
rich and the poor; and the needy, the dis- 
tressed and the unfortunate receive his 
sympathy, his aid and assistance, — his help- 
ing hand being ever extended to such. In 
the field of politics he is often seen, advo- 
cating the principles of the Populist party, 
of which he is a stanch advocate. 



^^T-;^ AMP E. RICHARDS.— There are 
1^^^ numerous fine farms in Bosque 
\ . r county which will compare favora- 
bly with any others in the state as 
regards production and also as regards the 
improvements which have been made upon 
them. Many of these places are owned by 
men comparatively young in years, who 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



started in life with but little more than an 
unlimited amount of energy and persever- 
ance, and who are succeeding to an eminent 
degree in building up a comfortable home 
in the Lone Star state. As a representa- 
tive of this class of agriculturists, great 
pleasure is taken in presenting the name of 
the subject of this notice, whose farm is 
pleasantly situated six miles south of Clifton. 

Mr. Richards first opened his eyes to the 
light in Trinity county, Te.xas, on the iith 
of November, 1859, at the home of his 
parents, William and Catherine (Birch) Rich- 
ards, the former a native of Alabama and 
the latter of Kentucky. Their family com- 
prised seven children, of whom our subject 
is the youngest. The earthly career of the 
father was ended December 21, 1893. 

In the early '60s Mr. Richards, of this 
review, came to Bosque county, where he 
now owns a valuable farm of one hundred 
acres, eighty of which has been placed under 
cultivation, and it is one of the model places 
of the county, which attests the supervision 
of a careful and painstaking owner. On 
the 15th of November, 1883, Mr. Richards 
was joined in wedlock with Miss Emma 
Phillips, a native of Texas, and to them 
have been born eight children — Pierce, Ol- 
lie, Berty, Clarence, Oscar, Guy, Carl and 
Walter. Our subject takes no active inter- 
est in political matters other than as a stanch 
advocate of good local government, his 
time and attention being strictly devoted to 
his farm interests. 



HOMAS BROWN, one of the most 

successful farmers of Comanche 

county, who has been identified 

with the interests of this locality 

since 1874, was born in North Carolina, 



May 30, 1844, ^nd 's descended from good 
old Revolutionary stock. His grandparents 
were John and Tena (Waggoner) Brown, 
and the former aided the colonies in achiev- 
ing their independence. They spent their 
entire lives in North Carolina and lie buried 
in John Brown cemetery. They had ten 
sons, — Adam, Henry, Thomas, George, 
Jacob, Joel, James, John, William and one 
who died in childhood. 

Joel Brown, father of our subject, was 
born in North Carolina, reared on the old 
homestead farm and after attaining to man's 
estate married Elizabeth Waggoner, a 
cousin, and daughter of John and Polly 
Waggoner. They became parents of ten 
children, namely: Mary, Louisa, Christina, 
John, who was killed in the civil war at 
Manassas Junction, Thomas, Susan, Nancy, 
Martha, Elizabeth and Dinah. The mother 
of this family died at the age of forty-five, 
the father at the age of fifty-two years. 
He was a farmer by occupation and in his 
political views was a Democrat. 

Thomas Brown of this sketch was reared 
under the parental roof and early formed 
habits of industry and energy that have 
been important factors in his business life. 
At the age of nineteen he entered the south- 
ern army in the First North Carolina Bat- 
talion of Sharpshooters, serving for two years 
and participating in the battles of Peters- 
burg, Richmond and the engagements in 
the valley of Virginia under General Early. 
He was on detached service for a time and 
then did special duty. 

When the war was over Mr. Brown re- 
turned home and on the 7th of May, 1865, 
married Frances Sparks, a native of North 
Carolina and a daughter of Daniel Sparks, 
who was born in the same state and was a 
son of John and Rose Sparks, his father of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



627 



English and his mother of Irish descent. 
Daniel Sparks married Kizziah Holloway, a 
native of North Carolina and a daughter of 
Daniel and Mary (Woodruff) Holloway. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Sparks were born five 
children, Jane, John, William, Frances 
Brown and Daniel. The father died during 
the early childhood of Mrs. Brown and the 
mother died at the home of her daughter. 
May 9, 1892, at the age of sixty-seven 
years. Both were earnest Christian people, 
devoted to the right. 

In 1874 Mr. Brown came to Te.xas, mak- 
ing the journey with teams and wagon. He 
now has oae of the best farms in this sec- 
tion of the state, owning a tract of four hun- 
dred and ten acres of rich land, of which two 
hundred acres are under a high state of cul- 
tivation. Among the improvements on the 
place are a comfortable home, substantial 
barns and outbuildings, an orchard and well 
kept fences. The owner is regarded as one 
of the most progressive agriculturists of the 
community, and by his well directed efforts 
and capable management he has secured a 
handsome competence. In politics he is a 
Populist and believes in " free silver " and a 
high protection on sugar, wool and other 
commodities which are home-grown and are 
a necessity in very family. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have ten children 
living, namely: Mary, William, Eliza, John, 
Keziah, Susan, Bolivar, Boone, Lee and 
Maggie. They also lost three who died in 
infancy. They have now nine grandchildren. 



>Y'AMES berry SMITH, who has 

fl been a resident of Comanche county 

A 1 since 1876, and dates his residence 

in Texas from 1841, was born in 

arroU county, Tennessee, November 2, 



1 83 1. The grandfather of our subject, 
Howell Smith, was a native of Kentucky 
and of English and Irish descent. Mitchell 
Smith, the father of our subject, was born 
in Kentucky and there spent the days of his 
boyhood and youth. When twenty-six 
years of age he married Matilda Berry, who 
belonged to one of the highly respected old 
southern families, a daughter of William 
Berry, who was born in Kentucky and was 
of German lineage. He died in Lincoln 
county, Tennessee. The parents of our 
subject lived in Carroll county, Tennessee, 
until 1 84 1, when they emigrated to Texas, 
settling in Red River county, where they 
made their home for five years and then 
came to Hopkins county, where the father's 
death occurred in 1884, when he reached 
the age of eighty-three years. He was a 
farmer and stock-raiser by occupation, was 
a Democrat in politics, and in his religious 
affiliations was a Methodist. His wife died 
on the family homestead in Hopkins county 
in 1864. She, too, was a consistent mem- 
ber of the Methodist church and reared her 
children in that faith. The members of the 
family were Allen M., Martha, Mary A., 
James Berry, John Wesley, Thomas M., 
Jefferson S., Maria Jane and Joshua S. 
Four of the sons were soldiers in the late 
war. 

The subject of this review was a child of 
ten years when with his parents he came to 
Texas. He was reared on his father's 
ranch, and attended the public schools, but 
has also learned many valuable lessons in the 
school of experience. During the war he 
served in the Sixteenth Texas Infantry, be- 
ing a member of Company K, commanded 
by Captain A. B. Minta, while the regiment 
was commanded by Colonel Waterhouse. 
He was in the quartermaster's department 



628 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana until the 
close of the war, and when hostilities had 
ceased returned to Hopkins county, where 
he remained until 1867, when he went to 
Collin county for a four-years residence 
there. His next home was in Grayson coun- 
ty, where he remained until 1876, when he 
came to his present farm. He has now a 
valuable property of four hundred and 
eighty acres, of which one hundred and 
twenty-five acres are under a high state of 
cultivation, while an orchard covering an 
acre and a half, together with many modern 
improvements and accessories of conven- 
ience, make this one of the valuable farms 
of the county. 

Mr. Smith was married January 11, 
1855, to Miss Ellen Hoffman, an estimable 
lady, whose culture and many excellent 
traits of character have gained her many 
friends. She was born in Sabine county, 
Texas, a daughter of Dave Hoffman, an 
honored pioneer of Sabine county and a na- 
tive of Alabama, of German parentage. He 
came to Texas in 1834 and was largely en- 
gaged in the warfare against the Indians, 
having many narrow escapes and being a 
participant in much hard service. He mar- 
ried Eliza Rebecca Campbell, who was born 
in North Carolina and was of Scotch extrac- 
tion. They had ten children, namely: Ann, 
Marcella, Irene, Mary, Archibald, David 
M., Henry, Ellen, Smith and Wolf Allen. 
Archibald was a soldier in the Mexican war. 
The father of this family was an extensive 
and prominent dealer in land and stock, and 
in his political associations was a Democrat. 
The mother was a member of the Baptist 
church and was a consistent Christian wo- 
man. Her death occurred in 1859. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Smith are Robert 
Early; David Osro; Anna Berry, James 



Rice, Maggie Louisa, A. J., Mack, John H. 
and Maud Lee. They also lost two chil- 
dren: Pleasant Allen, who died at the age 
of six years; and Mary Ida, who died at the 
age of four. 

In his political belief Mr. Smith is a 
Democrat and a strong advocate of "free 
silver." He and his family are widely and 
favorably known, are popular and highly 
esteemed people, and their hospitable home 
is a favorite resort with manv friends. 



^y^AVID CROCKETT HENDRIX, 

I la worthy representative of the 
/f^^_^ farming and stock-raising interests 
of Hamilton county, pitched his 
tent within its limits in the fall of 1868, 
purchasing at that time one hundred and 
sixty acres. He now has a valuable tract 
of forty-eight hundred acres, of which two 
hundred and fifty have been cleared and 
placed under a high state of cultivation. 
His comfortable home was erected in 1881. 
He has watched the development of the 
resources of the state with the interest 
which every intelligent man feels in regard 
to the section of the country where he has 
spent the best years of his life, and should 
feel satisfaction in the thought that he has 
been no unimportant factor in bringing it to 
its present condition. He experienced all 
the trials and difficulties of frontier life, but 
is now enjoying the reward of his labors, 
being surrounded by all of the comforts and 
many of the luxuries of life. 

Mr. Hendrix was born in Pickens county, 
South Carolina, December 26, 1840, and is 
a son of John Bayliss and Julia (Hunt) Hen- 
drix, also natives of that state, where their 
marriage was celebrated. The former was 
of Scotch-Irish extraction, and the latter of 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



629 



English descent. In their family were six 
children: David C, Abraham, Rosaline. 
Relia Ann, Elmina and Mary Jane. From 
South Carolina the parents removed to 
Oktibbeha county, Mississippi, and in 1859 
went to Prairie county, Arkansas. The 
father later became a resident of Texas, 
where his death occurred in August, 1893, 
at the age of seventy-eight years. 

David Hendrix, the grandfather of our 
subject, was a native of South Carolina, 
where he married Miss Hill, by whom he 
had five sons and two daughters, namely: 
George, Moses, Abraham, Bennett, JohnB., 
Susan and Elizabeth. All lived to be old 
and remained in South Carolina with the 
exception of Bennett and John B. The 
grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, and 
in politics was a Democrat, as was also the 
father of our subject. One son, Moses, 
served in the Confederate army during the 
civil war. Lacy Hunt, the maternal grand- 
father, died when our subject was a small 
boy. He was also born in South Carolina, 
was married there, and had seven children, 
— Esley, Julia. John, Pilot, McDuffy, Orphy 
and Rosa. 

While living at home with his parents, 
in Arkansas, the civil war broke out, and 
Mr. Hendrix of this review joined Company 
G, Fifth Arkansas Infantry, in March, 1861, 
and became a member of Claiborn's divis- 
ion, with which command he remained un- 
til the last year of the war. At Murfrees- 
boro he was wounded by a piece of shell, 
and for about a month was in the hospital. 
Near Corinth, Mississippi, he was again 
wounded, this time in the right thigh by a 
ball, and was in the hospital then for a 
month. He was next wounded near Browns- 
ville, Arkansas, by a ball passing through 
his left leg, and at the same time was taken 



prisoner, but managed to escape. He was 
stationed at the mouth of the White river 
in Arkansas at the close of the war, after 
which he returned to his home, but in the 
fall of 1865 came to Texas, where his uncle, 
Bennett Hendrix, was engaged in black- 
smithing, and three years later located upon 
his present place. 

On the 3d of May, 1867, was celebrated 
the marriage of Mr. Hendrix and Mrs. Sarah 
Griffith, who was born in Marion county, 
Tennessee, and is the daughter of Charles 
and Susan (Gray) Price. In her native 
state, in September, 1857, she wedded 
Amos Griffith, by whom she had two chil- 
dren: Susan Irene, born October 26, 1858, 
married John Livingston; and Jesse Frank- 
lin, born February 8, 1862, married Cora 
McCain, and is now living in Stephens 
county, Texas. Mrs. Griffith came to Texas 
soon after her first marriage, locating first 
in Hamilton county, but during the war 
made her home in Bell county. By her 
union with our subject she has become the 
mother of five children: Zelia Ann, born 
February 8, 1868, died July 10, 1872; an 
infant daughter, born December 12, 1874, 
died a few days later; Malinda Adline was 
born March 26, 1872; Corda Belle was born 
April 12, 1876; and David Crockett was 
born March 10, 1879. 

Mr. Hendrix always supported the Dem- 
ocratic party until 1896, since which time he 
has been a Populist, and served as com- 
missioner from 1890 until 1894. For 
twelve years he has held his religious mem- 
bership in the Christian church, has been a 
Mason since joining Gatesville Lodge in 
1870, and at Gatesville two years later be- 
came an Odd Fellow. He served as dele- 
gate to the grand lodges held at San Antonio 
in 1 891 and Dallas in 1892, and is one of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the charter members of Hamilton lodge. 
Few men during the civil war saw more ar- 
duous service or were more brave on the 
field of battle than Mr. Hendrix, and al- 
though wounded three times it seemed that 
he had a charmed life, as his comrades fell 
thickly around him while he was spared. 



>^ WASH McCULLUM is one of the 
■ popular and esteemed citizens of 
m 1 Comanche county, well deserving of 
representation in this volume, whose 
province is to record the life work of the 
representative citizens of central Texas. He 
was born in Floyd county, Georgia, Octo- 
ber 19, 1853. and his parents, J. O. and 
Hannah (Garner) McCulIum, were born, 
reared and married in South Carolina. The 
father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and 
throughout life followed farming. In 1861 
he joined the Fifth Alabama Battalion under 
Stonewall Jackson, and served for four years 
in defense of the Confederacy. At the bat- 
tle of Fredericksburg he was wounded and 
left on the field for dead. Reviving, he was 
captured by the Union troops and held a 
prisoner until Lee's surrender, suffering all 
the hardships of prison life. 

The war over, he returned home to find 
much of his property had been destroyed. 
In 1876 he removed from Georgia to Co- 
manche county, Texas, where he died July 
25, 1895. He was a stalwart Democrat, 
and in religious belief his wife was a Meth- 
odist. Her death occurred October 24, 
1894. They had seven children: John, a 
soldier of the late war, now a farmer of 
Eastland county, Texas; Amanda, wife of 
Jo Cashia; Mary, wife of T. P. Buckholter, 
a farmer; W. D., of Cave Springs, Georgia; 



J. W. ; Samuel, a farmer of Erath county; 
and one who died in childhood. 

Our subject was reared to farm life, and 
in his youth received but meager school 
privileges, but through practice, experience 
and observation has become well informed. 
At the age of nineteen he left his parents' 
home and came to Comanche county, Texas, 
where he has since resided. He was vari- 
ously employed until 1874, when he joined 
a ranging company in the state service, and 
for three \-ears was engaged in active duty 
on the frontier against the Indians. In 
1876 he returned to Georgia and induced 
his father to remove with his family to this 
state. In 1878 he began farming for him- 
self on rented land, and three years later 
bought a tract of timber land, which he soon 
began transforming into a good farm. His 
realty possessions comprise four hundred 
acres, of which one hundred and fifty-five 
acres is contained in well-tilled fields. On 
the place is a good orchard, a commodious 
frame residence and substantial outbuildings, 
and the farm, situated nine miles east of 
Comanche, is a desirable property. Mr. 
McCullum is also engaged in stock-raising. 

In 1878 he married Miss M. J. Banner, 
who was born in Virginia in 1856, a daugh- 
ter of J. \V. Banner, of that state, who 
came to Texas in 1871, and after spending 
a year in Collin county removed to Co- 
manche county in 1873. Here he devel- 
oped a farm on which he yet resides. He 
was a Confederate soldier during the late 
war, and is a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church. His wife, who also be- 
longed to that church, died January 18, 
1883. They had eight children, namely: 
Jeff, Charles, Jacob, William, Winnie, M. 
J., John and Amanda. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Cullum have five children, — Jack, John, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



681 



James, Minnie and Charlie, and lost one in 
infancy. The parents are consistent mem- 
bers of the Primitive Baptist church, and 
Mr. McCullum is a stalwart Democrat. 
Both are highly esteemed, and their friends 
throughout the community are many, while 
the cordial hospitality of their home is ex- 
tended to all. 



EUGH C. FOSTER.— Among the 
prominent and prosperous farmers 
and stock-growers of central Texas 
stands Hugh C. Foster. He has 
been closely identified with the growth and 
prosperity of this section of the state for a 
number of years, and during this time the 
family name has become well and favorably 
known. 

Mr. Foster first saw the light of day 
October 13, 1844, in Jackson county, Ala- 
bama, and is a son of Thomas B. Foster 
and Eleanor itcc Cowen. The latter 
was a native of Tennessee, while the 
former was born in Virginia and traced his 
genealogy back to the first families of the 
Old Dominion. Hugh C. was the fifth born 
in their family of eleven children, was reared 
to farm life in his native state, and was yet 
in his 'teens at the time the Civil war came 
on. Of southern birth and education, he 
naturally espoused the Confederate cause, 
and in 1862 we find him enlisting as a pri- 
vate in the Fifty-fifth Alabama Infantry, of 
which he was a member until the close of 
the war. He was with his command at 
Vicksburg four months and during forty- 
seven days of that time was in the ditches. 
While there he was taken prisoner, but was 
at once paroled, and at another time, at 
Chattanooga, he fell into the hands of the 
federal soldiers. 



At the close of the war Mr. Foster re- 
turned to his home in Alabama, where he 
remained, engaged in farming, until 1869, 
the date of his emigration to Texas. On 
landing in this state he first located near 
the city of Austin, where he spent some fif- 
teen years in farming and stock-raising. He 
removed to Comanche county in 1883 and 
settled on his present farm, about twenty 
miles northwest of Comanche, where he 
owns a valuable tract of land, three hundred 
and seventy-five acres in extent, which has 
under his well directed efforts been devel- 
oped into one of the finest farms in the 
community. One hundred acres of its soil 
have been furrowed and refurrowed and 
brought under a high state of cultivation. 
On a beautiful building site stands the resi- 
dence, surrounded with ornamental trees 
j of natural growth, and also fruits of various 
kinds, including a family orchard, and 
among other improvements are substantial 
and convenient outbuildings for stock and 
poultry. 

Mr. Foster chose for his life companion 
Miss Josie Jones, whom he wedded in Travis 
county, this state, September 10, 1873, and 
has since presided over his home. She is a 
native of Texas and a daughter of Robert 
Jones, one of the pioneers of the Lone Star 
state, the date of his arrival here being in 
1851. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have a family 
of eight children, their names in order of 
birth being as follows: Ella, Robert, Alonzo, 
Walter F., Effie, Addie, Gussie and Hugh 
M. Also they have an infant son not yet 
named. 

Mr. Foster has always been a supporter 
of the Democratic party and its principles, 
and socially he affiliates with the Masonic 
order, Sipe Springs Lodge, No. 537, A. F. 
& A. M. For a number of years he has 



032 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 



served on the school board of his district, 
and is recognised as a friend to education 
and to all measures and enterprises which 
have for their object the advancement of 
the best interests of his community. 



IHOMAS R. PENINGTON, one of 
the prominent and progressive farm- 
ers of Comanche county, is a native 
of Illinois, his birth having occurred 
in Knox county, that state, November 13, 
1834. His parents were Wesley and Mar- 
garet (McCallester) Penington, both of whom 
were natives of Kentucky and are now 
deceased, the father having passed away in 
1867, while the mother was called to the 
eternal home in 1862. They were married 
in Vincennes, Indiana, and after some years' 
residence in Illinois they removed to Mis- 
souri, settling in Polk county, where thSy 
continued to make their home for two years. 
They then started southward and for a num- 
ber of years were residents of Te.xas. They 
then returned to Missouri, and after the 
mother's death the father subsequently 
again came to the Lone Star state, living in 
Comanche county for a time and spending 
his last days in Washington county. 

The subject of this review was reared in 
his parents' home and early became familiar 
with all the duties that fall to the lot of the 
agriculturist. Since that time he has con- 
tinued his labors in the fields and is now the 
owner of one of the fine farms of Comanche 
county. He resides on his father's old 
homestead, situated about six miles north of 
the city of Comanche, and there owns two 
hundred and twenty-seven acres of land, one 
hundred of which are under a very high 
state of cultivation. The richness of the 
soil and the careful attention which he pays 



to his crops brings him a good yield. He 
also has a very fine peach orchard of three 
acres, and his farm stock is graded, his cat- 
tle being of the Jersey breed. He is pro- 
gressive, keeping abreast with all the im- 
provements of the day, and is an energetic, 
wide-awake business man, whose success is 
well deserved. 

Mr. Penington has always taken a deep 
interest in educational matters and does all 
in his power for the advancement of this 
cause in his community. For fifteen years 
he has been an efficient and valued member 
of the school board and has labored untir- 
ingly to raise the standard of schools in this 
locality. He and his family are consistent 
members of the Christian church, and in 
politics he affiliates with the Populist party. 

Mr. Penington was married in the year 
1865, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Frances Jane Whitaker, a native of Texas. 
Ten children have been born to them, 
namely: Margaret, Matilda, William H., 
Ollie, Maud, John E. , Thomas. Claude, 
James and Beulah. 



ISAAC MOORE is numbered among 
Hood county's leading citizens, be- 
ing prominently connected with its 
agricultural and milling interests, 
and few men are better known or more 
highly respected in central Texas. He is 
also a representative of that patriotic band 
of men who, reared in the south and true 
to its principles and its teachings, went 
forth in its defense at the time of the civil 
war. He ever loyally upholds his princi- 
ples and what he believes to be right, and 
all who know him respect him for his ster- 
ling worth. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



633 



Mr. Moore is a native of Grayson county, 
Virginia, born November 28, 1831, a son of 
James and Lydia (Hanks) Moore. Tfie 
Moores were an early colonial family and 
the grandfather of our subject, William 
Moore, was probably a soldier in the Revo- 
lution. James Moore was a native of Surry 
county. North Carolina, and when he had 
arrived at years of maturity married Miss 
Hanks, who was born in Virginia and was 
a daughter of Joshua Hanks, who was also 
born in the Old Dominion and aided the 
colonies in the struggle which brought to 
this country her independence. James 
Moore was also found in the military serv- 
ice of his native land, taking part in the 
second war against England. He was a 
farmer by occupation, following that pur- 
suit throughout his business career. About 
1843 he removed with his family to the 
Cherokee purchase in Georgia, where he 
spent his remaining days, his death occur- 
ring at the age of sixty-five years. His wife 
reached the advanced age of ninety-eight, 
and her father was one hundred and two 
years old at the time of his death! In the 
family were eight children, seven of whom 
reached adult age, while three are yet living. 
Isaac Moore was reared on the old home- 
stead and through the winter months at- 
tended the public school, while in the sum- 
mer season he aided in the labors of the 
fields. When he had reached man's estate 
he started out in life for himself, and as a 
companion on the journey he chose Miss 
Caroline Barton, the marriage being cele- 
brated January 27, 1853. The lady is a 
native of South Carolina and a daughter of 
Joseph and Morning (Cannon) Barton. The 
young couple began their domestic life in 
Georgia and after three years removed to 
Alabama, setthng in Marshall county, where I 



Mr. Moore engaged in farming until the 
commencement of the war. 

Feeling that the call to duty on the field 
of battle should be answered by all loyal 
sons of the south, he enlisted, in 1862, as a 
member of the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, 
and served with the Army of the Tennessee. 
Among others he participated in the battles 
of Nashville, Parker's Cross Roads, Racine, 
Strawberry Plains, and at the last named 
was wounded in the right shoulder. While 
serving on detail duty he was captured and 
taken as a prisoner of war to Camp Chase, 
in Ohio, where he was confined for nine 
months and twenty days, or until the close 
of the war. 

When hostilities had ceased he returned 
to Alabama and followed farming in that 
state until his removal to Texas in 1869. 
Coming to Hood county he settled on an un- 
improved tract of land on Pony creek, and 
to-day is the owner of three hundred and 
forty-eight acres of land, of which one hun- 
dred acres has been transformed into rich 
and fertile fields that yield a good return for 
his labor. In the early days the settlers ex- 
perienced much trouble with the Indians, 
but all that is now passed and Hood county 
is the home of a contented, prosperous 
people and is a monument to the thrift, en- 
terprise and progressiveness of such men as 
Mr. Moore. 

To our subject and his wife was born a 
daughter, Margaret Jane, but when she was 
five years of age she passed away. Their 
kindness and generosity, however, has 
prompted them to care for two orphans and 
therefore the home has not been ch:ldless. 
These were Amanda Lane, who became the 
wife of J. P. Jackson; and Robert Sexton, 
of New Mexico. 

Mr. Moore is an esteemed member of 



034 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., and in 
politics he is an uncompromising Democrat. 
Both he and his wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and by all who 
know them are held in high regard. 



•^ J* W. BULL is numbered among the 
J pioneers of Erath county, dating his 
/» ^ residence here from 1859. He has 
always lived in the south and is a 
native of Grainger county, Tennessee, his 
birth having occurred on the ist of June, 
1 818. His parents were John and F. 
(Bean) Bull, the former a native of Mary- 
land, of English ancestry, while the latter 
belonged to one of the old families of east 
Tennessee. During the childhood of our 
subject his parents removed to Alabama, 
locating in Walker county, whence they 
afterward went to Marion county, in the 
same state. The father was a gunsmith by 
occupation, but followed farming for many 
years. He died in Alabama, at the age of 
sixty-three years, after which the mother 
came to Texas, her death occurring in Leon 
county at the age of seventy. They were 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
and were people of genuine worth. Their 
family numbered seven children, four of 
whom are still living. 

Our subject was reared on his father's 
farm in Walker and Marion counties, Ala- 
bama, and his education was acquired in 
the common schools. He lived with his 
mother and sisters until he was twenty-eight 
years of age, when he was married and 
went to a home of his own. In 1844 he 
wedded Miss Jane S. Easterly, a native of 
east Tennessee and a daughter of John 
Easterly, who was of Dutch ancestry. Mr. 



Bull turned his attention to farming in Ma- 
rion county, where he made his home until 
1853, wlien he came to Texas and opened 
up a farm in Leon county. He there owned 
and worked sixty acres of land until 1859, 
— the year of his arrival in Erath county, — 
when he took up his residence upon the farm 
where John Meek now resides. In the fall of 
1 86 1 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty 
acres of wild land and at once began its devel- 
opment, but through the next ten years his 
labors were often interrupted by Indian 
troubles, — a state of affairs which made 
frontier life in Texas fraught with much 
danger. Mr. Bull is now the owner of one 
hundred acres of land highly cultivated, and 
the rich returns derived therefrom afford 
him a comfortable income. 

By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bull 
there were the following children: R. V., 
of Stephens county, Texas; John E., who 
died at the age of twenty-three years; Solan 
A., who is living in Moore, Texas; J. E., 
of Oklahoma; George W., of Greer county; 
and Mary, wife of D. H. Smith, of Erath 
county. The mother of this family died in 
1883. The following year Mr. Bull mar- 
ried Mrs. Mitchell, a native of Arkansas, 
who was then living in Texas. She died 
November 17, 1885, leaving one child. Ai- 
mer. On the 1 8th of December, 1886, our 
subject wedded Mrs. Long, whose maiden 
name was Wilson. She was a native of 
Georgia and came to Texas in 1878. 

Mr. Bull is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and in his political views 
is a Democrat. During the late war he 
aided in defense of the frontier and at the 
battle of Concho was wounded in the thigh. 
He is a public-spirited, progressive citizen, 
deeply interested in the welfare of the com- 
munity and all that pertains to its progress. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



635 



BON. BALLARD WOHLFORD, 
who has served his district in the 
state legislature and has been 
prominently connected with the 
various enterprises and interests which have 
developed the resources and aided in the 
upbuilding of Hood county, is numbered 
among the honored and representative citi- 
zens of this section of the state. His identi- 
fication with all that tends to promote the 
county's welfare materially, educationally or 
morally, has been most commendable, and 
he is a citizen that Texas could ill afford to 
lose. 

Mr. Wohlford was born in Grainger 
county, Tennessee, November 23, 1849, a 
son of John Louis and Louisa (Coose) 
Wohlford. His father was born in Wythe 
county, Virginia, September i, 1826, a son 
of Jacob Wohlford, who lived in Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, during his childhood, and 
who was descended from German ancestry 
that located in this country prior to the war 
of the Revolution. The father of our sub- 
ject went to Tennessee when about twenty 
years of age and there married Miss Louisa, 
daughter of William Coose, a pioneer of 
Grainger county. Mr. Wohlford had learned 
the cabinet-maker's trade under the direc- 
tion of his father, and after removing to 
Tennessee he studied medicine. During 
the Mexican war he joined his country 
service and went as far as Buena Vista, 
participating in all the engagements in 
which his command took part. In 1859 he 
came to Texas, making the journey with ox 
teams and reaching. Grayson county after 
weeks of travel. He first took up his abode 
in Kaufman county, and in 1862 went to 
Ellis county, where he practiced medicine 
two years, when in 1864 he removed to 
Henderson county. He was not long per- 



mitted to enjoy his new home, however, for 
his death occurred that year. He left a wife 
and four sons, of whom our subject is the 
eldest, the others being John, of Stephens 
county; Robert, who died in Hood county, 
at the age of thirty years; and James, also 
of Stephens county. The mother removed 
to Johnson county, now Hood county, in 
1 866, and there married Robert P. Crockett, 
a son of the celebrated David Crockett, the 
pioneer whose bravery and courage have 
become a matter of history. The mother 
of our subject continued to live with Mr. 
Crockett until her death, which occurred in 
1888, at the age of fifty-seven years. 

Mr. Wohlford, of this review, accom- 
panied his mother to Texas and resided with 
her until her marriage to Mr. Crockett, 
when he went to Acton and attended school 
there for about two years. He was married 
November 5, 1871, to Miss Margaret Hiner, 
a native of Navarro county, Texas, and a 
daughter of James Hiner, deceased. Mr. 
Wohlford and his bride began their domes- 
tic life on a farm six miles east of Granbury, 
where in connection with general farming 
he engaged in stock-raising. He lived there 
for seven years, after which he purchased a 
place three miles from his first home. Here 
he has seven hundred acres of good land, of 
which three hundred and seventy-five acres 
is under a high state of cultivation. He is 
progressive in his business methods, enter- 
prising in all things and is recognized as one 
of the leading and influential citizens of 
Hood county. 

Nine children are included in the family 
of Mr. and Mrs. Wohlford, seven sons and 
two daughters, namely: Charles A., James 
L., Henry E'., W. B., E. N., J. B., Mar- 
garet L., Martha P. and John Milton. The 
home is noted for that gracious hospitality 



63(3 



HISTORY OF TEX A3. 



for which the south is so justly celebrated, 
and their friends throughout the community 
are many. 

Socially Mr. Wohlford is connected with 
Acton Lodge, No. 285, F. & A. M., and has 
filled all the chairs. Both in principle and 
practice he has always been a strong tem- 
perance man and an earnest worker in the 
interests of that cause, laboring earnestly 
for its acceptance among all classes. He 
and his wife belong to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, south, and he is now serving 
as one of its trustees. He exercises his 
right of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Democratic party, and in 
1893 he was elected to the legislature, prov- 
ing an acceptable and valued member of the 
house, where he served on a number of im- 
portant committees, including the commit- 
tee on land and land offices, mining and 
minerals, insurance statistics and history 
and county boundaries. He has the grasp 
of mind that enables him to reach far be- 
yond the exigencies of the moment and see 
the needs of the future. This made him 
an able state official, and his public career, 
as well as his private life, commanded the 
confidence and respect of all with whom he 
came in contact. 



>^ J. DAVIDSON, one of Erath coun- 
J ty's esteemed and influential citizens, 
/» 1 came to Texas from Mississippi, his 
native state. He was born in Nox- 
ubee county on the 26th of April, 1855, a 
son of W. P. and Frances (Kellis) David- 
son, the former a native of Alabama and 
the latter of North Carolina. Both were 
reared in Mississippi, and the father died in 
Noxubee county, while the mother spent 
her last days in eastern Texas. 



J. J. Davidson spent the first fifteen years 
of his life in the state of his nativity, and 
then came with his mother and her family 
to Texas, locating in Van Zandt county, 
where our subject continued to make his 
home until 1877, when he came to Erath 
county and pre-empted one hundred and 
sixty acres of wild land. The development 
of new land in the midst of a frontier region 
is an arduous task, but, undaunted by the 
hard labor before him, he began to clear 
and break his land, planted crops, and in 
course of time good harvests were gathered. 
He now has sixty acres under cultivation, 
from which he gathers the cereals needed 
for his own use and for his stock. He is 
one of the extensive stock-dealers of this 
section of the state, and his sales to the 
home markets add largely to his income. 
He is thoroughly versed in the best methods 
of raising cattle, and his practical, progress- 
ive ways bring excellent results. The boun- 
daries of his farm have been extended until 
he now owns five hundred and forty acres. 

On the 5th of January, 1875, ^^'r- David- 
son led to the marriage altar Miss O. A. 
White, a native of Te.xas, born in Van Zandt 
county, a daughter of Norton and Mary Ann 
(Young) White, who came to the Lone Star 
state from Alabama in an early day. Twelve 
children were born to our subject and his 
worthy wife, of whom eight are still living, 
namely: Edgar E. , W. F., E. C, A. S., 
John A., James K. , Roy C. and Jerome 
Kearby. Their mother is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and presides 
with grace over her home, while bestowing 
upon her children the tenderest care. Mr. 
Davidson affiliates with the Populist party, 
and in 1892 was elected to the ofiice of 
county commissioner, in which he served 
for one term with great earnestness and 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



fidelity to duty. He is a public-spirited 
and progressive man, deeply interested in 
all that pertains to the welfare and upbuild- 
ing of the county which he makes his home. 



K^/^^\ F- DANIEL, late ©f Bosque coun- 
I I ty, Texas, was for a number of 
^^^ years one of the respected and 
well-known farmers of the county. 
He was born in Alabama August 23, 1823, 
and died on his farm near Morgan, Texas, 
July 22, 1890, at the age of sixty-seven 
years. Mr. Daniel was descended through 
the agnatic line from Irish ancestors, his 
paternal grandparents having been natives 
of the Emerald Isle and having emigrated 
at an early day to this country and made 
settlement in Georgia. In Georgia James 
Daniel, the father of our subject, was born 
and reared. He married Miss Rebecca Mc- 
Danolds, and they became the parents of 
the following named children: James, 
Martha, D. F.^ Mary, Caroline, Henry, 
John, Edward and William. The senior 
James Daniel died and was buried at Canton, 
Georgia. He was a man of no little promi- 
nence in his day. He was for many years 
an ardent and active Democrat and for a 
period of sixteen years filled the office of 
county clerk. His religious creed was that 
of the Baptists. 

D. F. Daniel was reared near Canton, 
Georgia, when that part of the state was 
regarded as a frontier district and was 
inhabited chiefly by Indians. During the 
Mexican war he was a soldier under Generals 
Scott and Taylor and was a participant in 
the engagement at Vera Cruz. He remained 
in Georgia until his removal to Texas in 
1854, settling then in Hill county, where he 
continued his abiding place until 1879. 



At that date he removed to Bosque county 
and purchased 200 acres of land in the 
vicinity of Morgan, on which he established 
his home and to the cultivation and improve- 
ment of which he devoted his energies, 
meeting with fair success in his under- 
takings. Here he spent the remainder of 
his life and died. During the late civil war 
he served twelve months in the Confederate 
army, under General Magruder, his service 
being principally in Texas. He was a man 
of high moral and Christian character, and, 
like his father, was a consistent member of 
the Baptist church. Also he was an honored 
member of the MaBonic fraternity, and was 
buried by the order he loved, their beautiful 
and impressive ceremony being repeated 
over his grave. 

Mr. Daniel was married in Cherokee 
county, Georgia, December 24, 1849, to 
Miss Mary A. Dyer, a native of that county, 
born July 10, 1834, daughter of Simpson 
and Sarah (Bell) Dyer, natives respectively 
of Kentucky and Alabama. Mr. Dyer was 
one of the first settlers of Hill county, 
Texas, where he was for some years a 
prominent mill man, people coming from 
points west of him a distance of one hundred 
miles to have their grinding done. He died 
in 1876, at the age of seventy years. He, 
too, was a member of the Baptist church, 
and was an officer in the local organization 
to which he belonged. His widow still sur- 
vives him, has reached the advanced age of 
eighty-four years and has for some years 
past made her home with her children. 
The children comprising their family are as 
follows: Mary A., Martha, Edwin, Natty, 
Louisa, John, Desmony, Cash and Josephine. 
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel are blessed in the birth 
of four children, namely: James S. , who 
died at the age of twenty-three years; Wylie 



638 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



A., a resident of Cisco, Texas; William H. 
and Melvin L., with their mother at the old 
homestead in Bosque county. 



'^Y* S. DAWDY, a farmer and stock- 
J raiser of Erath county, was born in 
A 1 Hickman county, Tennessee, on the 
2d of February, 1840, a son of J. W. 
and Mary (Hartley) Dawdy. The father 
was born in Tennessee in 181 1 and was a 
son of John Dawdy, who was a pioneer of 
Kentucky, also of the Big Bend state. He 
wedded Miss Bartley, who was born in 
North Carolina in 181 1, a daughter of Sam- 
uel Bartley, also a native of North Carolina 
and a representative of one of the old fami- 
lies of the state, that came to this country 
in early colonial days. The parents of our 
subject were married in Tennessee, where 
the father followed agricultural pursuits un- 
til 1850, when with his family he removed to 
Arkansas, locating in Saline county, which 
was then a frontier region. He there opened 
a new farm and continued its cultivation 
and development throughout his remaining 
days. He passed away in 1864, respected 
by all who knew him. His wife survived 
him until June, 1875. They were parents 
of nine children, all of whom reached years 
of maturity. In his political views Mr. 
Dawdy was a stalwart Democrat, and in her 
religious faith Mrs. Dawdy was a Baptist. 

The subject of this review is so well and 
favorably known to the people of Erath 
county that he needs no special introduc- 
tion to our readers. He was almost eleven 
years of age when the family went to Arkan- 
sas, and upon a frontier farm in that state 
he was reared to manhood, early becoming 
familiar with all the hardships and difficulties 
which fall to the lot of the frontier as well 



as with the arduous labors connected with a 
new farm. He remained with his parents 
and gave his father the benefit of his serv- 
ices until twenty-three years of age. 

During the civil war Mr. Dawdy entered 
the southern army, enlisting as a member of 
Company K, Eleventh Arkansas Cavalry. 
He was with the western army and his serv- 
ice was principally along the Red river and 
in the region between that stream and Little 
Rock, Arkansas. He continued at the front 
until the close of the war, bravely sustain- 
ing the cause in which he so heartily 
believed. 

Returning to his home Mr. Dawdy was 
united in marriage with Miss Nancy J. White, 
on the 9th of December, 1866. The lady 
is a native of Arkansas and a daughter of 
W. W. and Elizabeth (Montgomery) White, 
the former born in Georgia on the 13th of 
December, 1822, while the latter was born 
in Arkansas on the 13th of March, 1825, 
her father, Thomas Montgomery, being one 
of the pioneers of that state. Mr. Dawdy 
and^his bride began their domestic life on a 
farm in Hot Springs county, where he pur- 
chased a partially improved farm, continu- 
ing its further cultivation until 1875, when 
he came to Texas. He spent the first year 
in Coryell county and the second year in 
Bell county. In 1877 he came to Erath 
county and purchased one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, upon which a few improve- 
ments had been made in the way of clearing. 
The arduous labor of making this cultivable 
was at once begun and so vigorously prose- 
cuted that within a few years the once use- 
less tract was made to yield a good return. 
Mr. Dawdy is very energetic and industrious, 
and has met with a well merited prosperity 
in his labors. He is now the owner of 
seven hundred acres of rich land, of which 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



039 



one hundred and seventy-five acresare under 
a high state of cultivation. He raises a 
variety of crops, but makes a specialty of 
vegetables and fruit, for which he finds a 
ready market in Thurber. 

Mr. Dawdy and his wife are members of 
the Christian church and are most estimable 
people, having the warm regard of all who 
know them. They are parents of seven 
children, si.\ of whom are yet living: Mary 
Elizabeth, born July 23, 1868, now the wife 
of J. W. Spurlock; Susanna, born December 
4, 1870, now the wife of Dr. William A. 
Fraks, of Tennessee; Louisa M., born April 
9, 1873, wife of J. B. Spurlock; William 
T., born July 25, 1S75, and married Dora 
Bridges; Sarah F., born April 7, 1878, wife 
of W. H. Shelby; and John W., born Jan- 
uary 28, 1883. 



HUSTIN MUSICK has been identi- 
fied with the interests of Hood 
county, Texas, since the fall of 
1882, and figures as one of its re- 
spected farmers and stock-men. As such, a 
review of his life is appropriate in this work, 
and is as follows: 

Austin Musick was born in Shelby coun- 
ty, Alabama, April 15, 1826, son of James 
and Harriet (Seale) Musick, the former a 
native of North Carolina and the latter of 
South Carolina. Early in life his parents 
settled in Alabama, where they passed their 
lives on a farm. Austin therefore was 
reared to farm pursuits, and he received his 
education in the common schools. His 
mother died when he was sixteen. At the 
age of nineteen he left home and started out 
in the world on his own responsibility. He 
rented a piece of land on the shares in Ala- 



bama and made one crop there, and then in 
the following December went to Louisiana, 
where for four years he worked for wages 
and cultivated rented land. While there he 
married, and afterward he settled on a farm 
in Union parish and followed farming there 
and in Moorehouse parish until his coming 
to Texas, which was in June, 1857, his first 
settlement here being in Jasper county. 
That year he rented a farm and the next 
year he purchased a tract of unimproved 
land. This he partially improved and sold, 
then bought and improved another tract, 
and was living on the latter place at the 
opening of the civil war. During the war 
he sold out and purchased a smaller place, 
to which he moved his family, and soon aft- 
er he entered the Confederate army, going 
out as a member of Company G, Thirteenth 
(dismounted) Cavalry. His service was 
chiefly in southern Louisiana. He was in 
the engagements at Ashton, Mansfield, 
Pleasant Hill and Jenkins Ferry, the last 
named in Arkansas, and from there he re- 
turned to Louisiana and thence to Texas, 
remaining in the service until the war 
closed. 

Mr. Musick continued to reside in Jas- 
per county until September, 1867, when he 
removed to Hill county and purchased a 
tract of wild land, to the improvement and 
cultivation of which he devoted his energies 
and where he resided until his removal to 
Hood county in the fall of 1882. The 
first year of his residence in Hood 
county he lived on rented land near 
Lipan. Then he bought three hundred 
acres of timber land, wholly unimproved, 
and at once set about the work of clearing 
away the forest and making a home. On 
this place he has since resided. Now he 
has fifty acres under cultivation, and in his 



640 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



farming and stock-raising is meeting with 
that success which his earnest efforts merit. 

Mr. Musick was married November 29, 
1850, to Miss Jane Merreil, a native of Lin- 
coln county, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
Benjamin Merrell, who settled in Louisiana 
when Mrs. Musick was a girl of twelve 
years. They have had six children, four of 
whom are still living: Henry, a farmer of 
Hood county; Malissa, wife of N. C. Addi- 
son, of this county; Sarah Ann, wife of 
Jonathan Brown, of Hill county; and J. A., 
of this county. 

Politically, Mr. Musick affiliates with the 
People's party. He is a man of broad views 
and keeps himself well posted on the issues 
of the day, and especially is he well informed 
on all matters pertaining to the interest of 
the farmer. For years he has maintained a 
membership in the Farmers' Alliance. Mrs. 
Musick is a member of the Missionary Bap- 
tist church. 



* | ^ ENRY MUSICK.— In the subject 
yf "% of this resume is found a self-made 
M . r man and one of the prominent and 
enterprising farmers of Hood coun- 
ty, Te.xas. 

Mr. Musick is a native of Louisiana, 
born October i, 1853, second son of Austin 
Musick, honorable mention of whom is made 
on another page of this work. In his in- 
fancy he was brought by his parents to the 
"Lone Star state," their settlement being 
in Jasper county. Leaving Jasper county 
in 1867 they moved to Hill county. He 
remained at the parental home until he ar- 
rived at the age of twenty-six years, after 
which he came to Hood county, that being 
in 1878. Here, on the Kickapoo creek, he 
purchased a small farm. His well-directed 



and honest toil was attended with success 
as the years passed by, and in 1883 he 
made another land purchase, this time two 
hundred acres of wild land, covered with a 
heavy growth of timber. To-day he has a 
fine tract of land, three hundred acres in 
extent, one hundred and twenty-five acres 
of which are under cultivation; has good im- 
provements upon his land and is comfortably 
and pleasantly situated. 

Mr. Musick was married July 26, 1877, 
to Miss Eliza Burkett, a native of Missis- 
sippi and a daughter of George Washington 
Burkett, of Jasper county, Mississippi. Their 
union has been blessed in the birth of nine 
children, one dying in infancy and the oth- 
ers being named as follows: John A., 
James R., Elizabeth J., Mary Eliza, Henry 
J., Martha I., Sarah L. and Joseph Mc. 

Fraternally, Mr. Musick is both a Mason 
and an Odd Fellow, and maintains a mem- 
bership in Charity Lodge, No. 565, A. F. 
& A. M., and Lipan Lodge, No. 298, I. O. 
O. F. Politically, he does not adhere to 
any of the numerous parties but is inde- 
pendent in his views and casts his vote for 
the man and the measure rather than the 
party. Both he and his wife are members 
of the Baptist church. 



HOMAS M. POOL, one of Bosque 
county's prominent and extensive 
stock-raisers and landowners, re- 
sides six miles southeast of the city 
of Clifton. He is the owner of two thou- 
sand three hundred and sixty-five acres of 
valuable farming land, four hundred and 
fifty of which are under a high state of culti- 
vation. Upon his place is a fine orchard, 
but he devotes a large portion of his landtg 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



641 



grazing, as he handles large numbers of 
cattle, sheep and hogs. 

Mr. Pool is a native of Milam county, 
Texas, the date of his birth being March i6, 
1849, and is a son of John C. and Caroline 
(Lane) Pool. He is the youngest of three 
children, and was about seven years of age 
when brought to Bosque county, where he 
was reared by his parental uncle, Judge L. 
H. Stretchfield, who is probably one of the 
oldest living pioneers in this section of the 
state. 

On reaching his majority, Mr. Pool 
started out in life for himself, and has been 
very successful as a farmer and stock dealer. 
His excellent business tact, coupled with his 
mdustry, enterprise and good management, 
are the only architects of his substantial and 
handsome fortune. On the 23d of Decem- 
ber, 1873, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Millie Cutbirth, a native of Texas and 
a daughter of Elijah Cutbirth, one of the 
old and respected pioneers of the state, who 
passed away in 1877. Her father was born 
in Tennessee, but the birth of seven of his 
ten children occurred in the Lone Star state. 
Mr. and Mrs. Pool have become the parents 
of ten children, four now deceased, namely: 
John C, who died February 10, 1890; 
Lowry T., who died September 20, 1877; 
Lillian P., who died December 9, 1879; 
and a son, who died in infancy. Those liv- 
ing are George R., William C, Herbert M., 
Tessie, Mary P. and Iva. 

Mr. Pool has been prominently identi- 
fied with political circles, being a stanch and 
substantial Democrat of the old school. In 
1886 and 1887 he served as county commis- 
sioner and has also been a member of the 
school board for many years, being at pres- 
ent a member of the board for district 
•No. 23. He has always taken a very active I 



part in educational matters, and gives his 
support to every worthy enterprise for the 
good of the community. Fraternally, he is 
associated with the Masonic order, holding 
his membership in Meridian Chapter, R. 
A. M. 



BRITZ BERTRAND, Clifton. 
Bosque county, Texas, is the 
name of one of those thrifty, push- 
ing and energetic German-Ameri- 
can farmers who have done so much for the 
improvement of Texas. Mr. Bertrand him- 
self is a native of the Lone Star state, but 
his parents were born in Germany, and he 
retains many of the best characteristics of 
his parental race. Our subject was born at 
Galveston, January 13, 1849, and is the 
oldest of a family of two children born to 
Michael and Helena (Crouse) Bertrand. 
His father came to America in the early 
'30s, located in Texas, and served creditably 
in the Mexican war. 

Mr. Bertrand, our subject, was set to 
learn the carpenter's trade, which he did; 
but it was in his nature to get near the soil, 
and for many years he has been identified 
with farming pursuits. During the war he 
was located in Colorado county, and for a 
series of years was engaged in teaming to 
Mexico. Some eight years ago he came 
into Bosque county, located three miles 
north of Clifton, and now resides on a ma"- 
nificent farm of four hundred and eighty-one 
acres, which is managed with something 
like old-world thrift and industry. He keeps 
eighty acres under active cultivation, and 
has an acre or more devoted to various kinds 
of fruit trees, — peach, plum and pear, — 
making a fine family orchard. He is an 
enthusiastic stockman, and his farm cattle 



04-2 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



are graded high with Jersey and Durham 
blood. 

Mr. Bertrand is a man of family and 
social standing. He was married to Miss 
Elizabeth Brader, November 23, 1878, and 
six children have come to bless this union. 
They bear the names of Thrasea, Adolph, 
Francis, Josephine, Paul and Hattie, and 
have done much to help their parents win 
the high position they occupy in the com- 
munity and in the business world. Mr. 
Bertrand and his family are members of the 
Catholic church, and are regarded as among 
the leading people of the county. 



^>^ OBERT M. HOLLAND.— There 

I ^Z is no class of biography that is more 
£ W interesting to read than that of an 
industrious, enterprising farmer's 
boy who has risen unaided to a position of 
affluence and comfort. Prominent among 
the men of Comanche county who have thus 
laboriously toiled onward and upward is the 
individual of whom this sketch is written. 
He is now a well-to-do farmer and stock- 
raiser. 

Mr. Holland was born in Macon county, 
Tennessee, on the 24th of April, 1849, and 
is the son of Stephen and Rebecca J. (Mar- 
shall) Holland, the former a native of Vir- 
ginia and the latter of Alabama. John 
Holland, the paternal grandfather, who 
served in the Revolutionary war, had set- 
tled in Virginia at a very early day. When 
eleven years of age the father left the Old 
Dominion, going to Tennessee, where he 
grew up and was married. On beginning 
the struggle of life for himself he started out 
as a farmer, and continued to follow that 
occupation through life. His political sup- 
port was ever given the Democracy. 



In 1874 the father came to Texas with 
the remnant of his family and located in 
Denton county, where he harvested one 
crop, but in the winter of 1874-5 settled in 
Comanche county, on a tract of wild land 
near De Leon, which he improved and cul- 
tivated until after the death of his wife in 
1 88 1. As his children had all married and 
left the parental roof, he broke up house- 
keeping, and now makes his home with 
them. His wife was a member of the Prim- 
itive Baptist church. Their family com- 
prised the following children: Sarah E. first 
wedded J. Y. Roark, and after his death 
William P. Ferguson, but both are now de- 
ceased; Charles W. was killed in the civil 
war; Nancy died in childhood; Robert M. 
is the next in order of birth; Henry died 
when young; Fred is a farmer of Comanche 
county; Mary E. is the wife of T. N. Ed- 
monson; Joseph is an agriculturist; Martha 
J. is the wife of Asa C. Sadberry, a farmer; 
and the youngest died in infancy. 

Mr. Holland, of this review, remained 
upon the home farm in Tennessee until 
twenty years of age, attending the common 
schools as opportunity was afforded, but at 
that time was married and started out in 
life for himself. He first rented land for a 
year in Collin county, Texas, and the fol- 
lowing year was passed in Denton county. 
In 1873 we find him a resident of Comanche 
county, where, after raising one crop upon 
rented land, he bought one hundred and 
sixty acres of wild timber land, half of which 
he cleared and developed, planted a good 
orchard and erected substantial buildings. 
In 1 894 he sold that property and purchased 
three hundred acres on which he now re- 
sides. At that time one hundred and 
twenty acres had been broken, and to this 
he had added twenty more, making one 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



643 



hundred and forty acres under a good state 
of cultivation. He lias a commodious and 
comfortable dwelling, and a fine orchard, 
and this desirable place lies four miles north- 
west of De Leon. He gives his entire time 
and attention to his farming and stock- 
raising interests, and has met with well- 
merited success. 

In 1869 was celebrated the marriage of 
Mr. Holland and Miss Sarah Roark, who 
was born in Macon county, Tennessee, in 
1849, and is the daughter of Reuben and 
Sirina (Brown) Roark. Her father, who 
was a farmer, died in Tennessee, after 
which sad event his widow came to Texas, 
in 1892, and found a pleasant home with 
our subject and wife until she, too, was 
called to her final rest in 1894. She held 
her ecclesiastical membership in the Primi- 
tive Baptist church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Holland have become the 
parents of four children: Willie J., who is 
married and is engaged in farming; Yancy, 
who died in childhood; Lulu T. , at home; 
and Stephen F., who died in childhood. 
The family are faithful members of the 
Methodist church, and hold a high position 
in the estimation of all who know them. 
Mr. Holland always casts his ballot in sup- 
port of the men and measures of the Demo- 
cratic party. 



at 



W. HICKEY.— There is no class 
of people on whom the prosper- 
ity of the nation more largely de- 
pends than upon the farmers, and 
it is therefore of the greatest importance 
that they are men of worth, of industry and 
faithful to the duties of citizenship. A type 
of this class is found in the gentleman 
whose name heads this sketch, and who for 



many years has been a prominent factor in 
the development of Erath county, thus 
bearing his part in transforming the broad 
prairies of Texas into rich and fertile fields. 

Mr. Hickey is one of the native sons of 
Tennessee. He was born in Marion county, 
on the 19th of September, 1822, a son of 
John and Sarah (Meek) Hickey. His par- 
ents were married in Tennessee, and during 
the early childhood of our subject removed 
to Henry county, that state, making the 
journey on a flatboat. Two years later 
they went to Gibson county, where in 1826 
the father died. The mother afterward 
went to McNairy county and was subse- 
quently married to John Bibb. The next 
home of the family was in Hardin county, 
same state, whence they came to Texas in 
1846, locating in Titus county, and later in 
Wood county, where Mr. Bibb died. The 
widow afterward came to Erath county and 
died at the home of her son, W. C. Bibb, 
in May, 1889, at the advanced age of 
ninety-one years. She was the mother of 
fifteen children, five of whom are still living. 
Her church relationship was with the Mis- 
sionary Baptist society. 

W. W. Hickey remained on the home 
farm until twelve years of age, when he 
started out to obtain an education and seek 
his fortune. * He worked for neighboring 
farmers and during three months in the year 
attended a subscription school. Thinking 
that he might have better opportunities on 
the frontier, he came to the republic of 
Texas, in March, 1844, taking up his abode 
in what was then Titus county, but is now 
Franklin county. His means consisted of a 
pony valued at about forty dollars, and fifty 
cents in money. He followed any pursuit 
that would yield him an honest living, en- 
in trading and manufactured saddle- 



644 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



trees. In this way he secured his start. 
He continued his residence in Titus county 
until 1 85 1, when he removed to Hunt 
county, where he lived for seven years and 
then came to Erath county, dating his resi- 
dence in Erath from 1858. His first home 
was near Stephenville, but after fifteen 
years he went to a farm on Alum creek, 
where he resided until 1889, when he went 
to California. After three months, how- 
ever, he returned to Texas, locating in Tom 
Green county, where he lived until 1891, 
when he erected his present residence. His 
farm and ranch comprise four hundred and 
fourteen acres, and he also has a tract of 
fifty acres in the suburbs of Dublin, and 
three hundred acres two miles west of him. 

Mr. Hickey has been twice married. In 
Titus county, in 1846, he was joined in 
wedlock with Miss Elizabeth Keith, her 
father a native of McNairy county, Tennes- 
see. They had four children, three of 
whom are yet living, namely: Christian 
Ann, the wife of A. P. Hickey, of this 
county; John S., who is living on the old 
homestead; and William M., also a resident 
of Erath county. The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1854, and our subject was again 
married in February, 1855, his second union 
being with Mary U. Caudle, a native of 
Kentucky and a daughter of Mark Caudle, 
who came to Texas in 1842. By the sec- 
ond marriage there were ten children, six of 
whom are living at the time of this writing 
in 1896, as follows: Martha J.; Amanda 
P., wife of Thomas Stafford, of Erath 
county; George Walter and A. B., who are 
also residents of the same county; Dora L. , 
wife of Dawson Blankenship; and Joseph O., 
who is located in Erath county. 

The parents are members of the Baptist 
church and the family is one of prominence 



in the community. Mr. Hickey, while re- 
siding in Titus county, served as justice of 
the peace one term, in 1846. During the 
civil war he enlisted in the state service for 
protection of the frontier of Texas against 
Indians, and after a year, when the com- 
pany was re-organized, he was appointed 
assistant quartermaster and commissary of 
the post. Being transferred to the Confed- 
erate army, he served therein until the close 
of the war, still on the frontier of Texas. 
He was commissioned first lieutenant of his 
company, and during the last year of the 
war he traveled through the country seek- 
ing supplies for the troops and animals and 
meeting all his own expenses! In all the 
relations of life he has been true to his duty 
as he has seen it, and in business a well de- 
served success has come to him as the re- 
ward of earnest industry. 



>Y*OHN C. HENSLEY is one of the 
■ popular citizens of Comanche county, 
A 1 whose genial, jovial manner and 
genuine worth has made him many 
friends. He was born January 10, 1846, in 
Gasconade county, Missouri, and descended 
from one of the most prominent families of 
that locality. His parents, William and 
Sarah (Cowan) Hensley, were also natives 
of the same state, and the Hensley family 
came from Tennessee, the Cowans from 
Kentucky. The father was reared in Mis- 
souri, and in early life followed farm work 
and rafting logs on the river. Soon after 
his marriage he went to Arkansas, where he 
developed a farm from the raw prairie, and 
about 1850 came to Texas, locating in Van 
Zandt county. He bought some good stock, 
a fine jack and forty brood mares. Soon 



His TORT OF TEXAS. 



645 



after he removed to Kaufman county, where 
he developed a farm and engaged in the 
stock business, but during the war, in which 
he served, he traded his stock for slaves and 
thereby lost heavily. He was in the army 
for three years, and on his return resumed 
farming, also raising cattle, horses and 
sheep. Removing to Brown county, where 
he lived ten years, and then resided in Mills 
county, four years, — until his death, in 1892. 
In politics he was a stalwart Democrat, and 
served as justice of the peace in some local 
offices, but v.-as not an active politician. 
While in Missouri and Arkansas he held a 
membership in the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church, and after coming to Te.xas, as there 
was no church of his denomination in the 
locality, he joined the Missionary Baptists. 
A religious man, he was deeply interested 
in all that pertained to advancing the moral 
interests of the young. His first wife died 
in Arkansas, and his second wife still sur- 
vives him, and is a resident of Mills county. 
There were four children of the first mar- 
riage, but two died in childhood, the others 
being our subject, and Annie, wife of J. T. 
Childers, a prominent farmer of Mills county. 
The children of the second marriage are 
Susan, Margaret, Elizabeth, Nancy, George 
W. and Joe. 

John C. Hensley was brought to Texas 
by his father when only four years old and 
early became familiar with the methods of 
farming and stock-raising. His school priv- j 
ileges were limited, but he has acquired a 
practical education through experience and 
observation. Whe" a young man he pur- 
chased land, and after his marriage began 
farming and stock-raising on his own ac- 
count, in Kaufman county, where he lived 
for four years. He then sold, removing to 
Hamilton county, where he purchased wild 



land and developed a farm. He also fol- 
lowed sheep-raising, but found this unprofit- 
able. In 1886 he sold his farm, removing 
to Hamilton for the purpose of educating 
his children. In 1888 he took some cattle 
and horses to Haskell county, and leaving 
them in charge of a man came to Comanche 
county, where he purchased his present 
farm of three hundred and twenty acres. 
He afterward bought more land, but gen- 
erously divided with his sons, although he 
still owns three hundred acres, all under 
fence, with one hundred acres highly culti- 
vated. He has made all the improvements 
in keeping with a model farm and now has 
a valuable and productive property. He 
also raises considerable stock and his well 
managed business interests yield to him a 
good return. 

Mr. Hensley married Amanda Easter- 
wood, who was born in Pickens county, 
Alabama, May 21, 1855, daughter of John 
B. and Eunice (Wilburn) Easterwood, the 
former a native of South Carolina, and the 
latter of North Carolina. Her father was 
an overseer in his early life, and afterward 
operated a mill and cotton-gin in Alabama. 
In 1857 he came to Texas, and some time 
later located in Henderson county, where 
he followed farming. He served for a short 
time in the Confederate army and died in 
1873. In religious belief he was a Method- 
ist. His wife also died in Texas. Their 
children were Clara J., Silas D., Lucinda, 
Clarissa, William, John T., Louis, Mrs. 
Hensley, Ira J., George, Francis M. and 
Chesley L. Mr. and Mrs. Hensley have 
two children: Silas O., at home; and Naomi 
A., who is married. 

Our subject and his wife belong to the 
Christian church. He has always been a 
stalwart Democrat, but never an office- 



646 



ti IS TORT OF TEXAS. 



seeker. His keen appreciation of humor 
and his genial manner make him a favorite, 
and his hospitable home, presided over by 
his estimable wife, is a favorite resort with 
many. 



HURELIUS KENNEDY. — Among 
the influential members of the farm- 
ing communityof Comanche county 
is this gentleman, who is entirely a 
self-made man in the truest sense of that 
word, having been the architect of his own 
fortunes. His birth occurred in Russell- 
ville, Kentucky, June 7, 1849, on the farm 
of his parents, Joe and Eliza (Kune) Ken- 
nedy, who were natives of Virginia and 
among the early settlers of that locaHty. 
They were Presbyterians in religious belief 
and in politics the father was a Whig. His 
death occurred in 1853, and his wife passed 
away in 1864. Eleven children constituted 
their family, of whom one died in infancy. 
The others are George, Margaret, Monroe, 
Elnora, Llewellyn, Pressly, Susan, Emily, 
Aurelius and Martha. Pressly located in 
Tarrant county, Te.xas, in 1869, but now 
makes his home in Grayson county. 

Our subject received only a common 
country-school education, and remained 
upon the farm with his widowed mother 
until her death. J. B. Grubbs was then 
appointed his guardian, and he lived with 
him until reaching his majority, when he 
started out as a farm hand, which occupa- 
tion he continued to follow until coming to 
Texas in 1870. He was similarly employed 
in Washington county, this state, for two 
years. In 1872 he was married and began 
the struggle of life upon a rented farm, but 
four years later came to Comanche county. 



where his wife owned a tract of wild land. 
He has since added to that place and now 
has two hundred and eighty-eight acres, 
sixty-five of which are under a high state of 
cultivation and improved with excellent 
buildings. Besides his own commodious 
residence and outbuildings he has a good 
tenant house upon the place. The farm is 
pleasantly situated two and a half miles 
west of Hazel Dell. On starting out in life 
he experienced many difficulties, but by per- 
severance and energy he succeeded in over- 
coming these, and is now the possessor of a 
valuable property, the just reward of his own 
labors. Since farming he has never had a 
failure of all crops, and has also been quite 
successfully engaged in stock-raising. 

In 1872 Mr. Kennedy led to the marriage 
altar Miss Narcissa Clark, who was born in 
Washington county, Texas, September 12, 
1856, and is a daughter of James and Eliza- 
beth (Pillon) Clark. Her father died when 
she was quite young and her mother is now 
the wife of William E. Copeland, of Milam 
county, Texas. She is a member of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church. In the 
family were four children: Lavina, wife of 
W. S. Wallace, of Washington county; 
Narcissa, the wife of our subject; Eliza A., 
wife of H. Goliher, of Burleson county; and 
William E., of Rockdale, Texas. 

Nine children honor the union of our 
subject and his wife, namely: Elizabeth, 
wife of Tom Hughs, a farmer; Mattie, wife 
of James Hughs, also a farmer; Minnie, Ida, 
Leslie, Sally, Edgar, Clark and Aaron. The 
mother is a devoted member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, south. Mr. Ken- 
nedy takes a commendable interest in all 
public affairs, votes the straight Democratic 
ticket, but cares nothing for political prefer- 
ment. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



647 



HLEXANDER WALKER, who is 
one of the prominent and well-to- 
do farmers of Erath county, Texas, 
and who has passed nearly twenty 
years at his present location, where he has 
developed one of the finest farms in all the 
country round, must assuredly be accorded 
attention as one of the representative agri- 
culturists of the county and as one well de- 
serving of biographical honors. 

Mr. Walker is a native of the "Old 
North state." He was born March 25, 
1842, third in the family of six children of 
John and Elizabeth (Roberts) Walker, both 
natives of North Carolina, the father a 
prominent farmer and one of the public- 
spirited citizens of the community in which 
he lived. In 1842, shortly after the birth of 
his son Alexander, John Walker moved 
with his family to Mississippi, where he pur- 
chased a tract of land, subsequently entered 
more land adjoining it, and opened up and 
improved a large farm. There for nearly a 
quarter of a century he lived and prospered. 
He was a man of many sterling qualities and 
stood high in the esteem of the people 
among whom he lived so long. He died 
there in August, 1865. Religiously, he was 
a Baptist, while his wife was a member of 
the Methodist church; both were devoted 
Christians and they reared their family in 
the fear of the Lord, teaching more by ex- 
ample than precept. Following are the 
names of their children: William A., a 
veteran of the late war and now a resident 
of Grayson county, Texas; Mary A., widow 
of John McKnight, has a family of five chil- 
dren and is a resident of Texas; Alexander, 
whose name graces this article; Elizabeth, 
wife of J. T. Burnett, a prominent farmer 
of Erath county; Nancy E., wife of Al. 
Dean, a Texas farmer; and Amanda M., 



wife of T. W. McClure, a farmer of Hill 
county, this state. 

Alexander Walker was taken in his in- 
fancy to Mississippi, and on his father's farm 
in that state passed his childhood and youth, 
his educational advantages being limited to 
the common schools of the frontier district. 
In the spring of 1 862, at the age of twenty, he 
enlisted in the Thirtieth Mississippi Infantry, 
was mustered in at Granada, that state, and 
at once went to the front. His service was 
in Tennessee, under General Bragg. At 
Chickamauga young Walker did his first 
fighting, and at the battle of Missionary 
Ridge nearly all his regiment, himself in- 
cluded, fell into the hands of the federals, 
and they were at once sent to Rock Island, 
Illinois, where they were held until June, 
1865, after the war was over. In referring 
to his confinement at Rock Island, Mr. 
Walker says that the first ten months spent 
there he and his comrades had plenty to eat 
and were well cared for, but during the rest 
of their imprisonment they were neglected 
and half starved. In June, 1865, the fed- 
eral government gave him transportation 
home. A short time after he arrived home 
his father died, and Alexander remained 
with his widowed mother until 1869. That 
year he married and came to Texas. His 
first location in this state was in Johnson 
county, where he had his abiding place and 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits nine 
years. In the fall of 1877 he came to his 
present location in Erath county and bought 
four hundred and forty-four acres of school 
land of Lavaca county, to the cultivation 
and improvement of which tract he at once 
devoted his energies with the result as seen 
to-day. The whole farm is now well fenced, 
one hundred and seventy acres are under a 
high state of cultivation, the beautiful and 



648 



Ht STORY OF TEXAS. 



commodious residence is attractive and in- 
viting from every point of view, and the 
other farm buildings, windmill and fine 
orchard are features not to be overlooked. 
Until recently Mr. Walker kept tenants on 
his land, but now with the assistance of his 
sons and some hired help he conducts his 
operations, finding this a better plan. During 
his early residence here he was engaged to 
some extent in the cattle business. Of 
recent years, however, he has found the 
raising of horses and mules more profitable 
and has given it his attention. 

Mr. Walker was married in 1869 to Miss 
Margaret E. Ramage, who was born in 
Mississippi in 1850, daughter of Josiah 
Ramage. Her father was of Kentucky 
birth, was one of the early settlers of Mis- 
sissippi, and was engaged in farming there 
for many years, his death occurring since 
the war. Mrs. Walker is one of a large 
family of children, their names in order of 
birth being as follows: J. H., a resident of 
Texas; Jane, wife of A. Kerr; Parilee; 
Samuel, deceased; J. L. ; Margaret E. ; 
Mary, wife of O. C. McClure; Ara, wife of 
L. E. Wickline; and Juel. The children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker are Thomas 
L., Allie, John, Bulus, Floyd R., Maud and 
Mabel, and all are living and at home with 
one exception, John, who died at the age of 
twelve years. 

Mrs. Walker's parents were members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, in which 
she was reared and to which she has ever 
given her preference, being one of its con- 
sistent members. Mr. Walker, while not a 
member of any church organization, is broad 
and liberal in his religious views, and is a 
generous contributor to the support of all 
worthy causes, his giving always being with- 
out ostentation. Of his political views and 



standing, it may be said that he has ever 
been a steadfast Democrat, but that he has 
never sought nor held office, having no de- 
sire for political recognition and feeling that 
his own private interests demanded his 
whole time and attention. It has been his 
ambition to strive to live an honest life and 
to deal fairly and honestly with his fellow 
men. That a man like Mr. Walker is highly 
esteemed by his neighbors and associates is 
a foregone conclusion. 



>^AMES A. MURRAY, M.D.— Among 
J the medical fraternity of Bosque coun- 
(% 1 ty we are pleased to m.ake mention 
of the above named gentleman. Al- 
though comparatively a young practitioner, 
he has already gained for himself a promi- 
nent place among the medical advisers of 
this section of the state, and has built up a 
large and constantly increasing practice at 
Walnut Springs. 

The Doctor is a son of Dr. Thomas J. 
Murray, a thorough and well-known practi- 
tioner, who was born in the state of Arkan- 
sas and emigrated to Texas over fifty-two 
years ago. He is now located at Glen Rose. 
Our subject is the eldest in the family of 
eight children. His medical studies were 
conducted under the able guidance of his 
father, who ranks among the able and suc- 
cessful physicians of the Lone Star state, of 
which our subject is a native, born in Hill 
county on the 25th of June, 1868. 

The Doctor received his literary educa- 
tion in the common schools, and his early 
life was devoted to agricultural pursuits, but 
later he chose the medical profession. He 
attended lectures at Vanderbilt University, 
of Nashville, Tennessee, and later at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. For a time he engaged in 




(^ 



^m^^md^. 




^M:^. 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



649 



practice at Chalk Mountain, Eratii county, 
Texas, but for the past year has been lo- 
cated at Walnut Springs, where he has 
established a lucrative and growing prac- 
tice. He is well and favorably known 
throughout Bosque and surrounding coun- 
ties, where he enjoys the respect of his fra- 
ternal brethren and the community at large. 



^y^ W. WILLIAMS, Sr., a resident 
1 ^ of Eulogy, Bosque county, Texas, 
£ is a highly respected and successful 

pioneer farmer who has been iden- 
tified with this county for the last twenty- 
five years. He was born in Tennessee, 
February i6, 1820, and was a son of Jesse 
Williams, who also was a son of Jesse 
Williams, a native of North Carolina. This 
family was among the earlier settlers of the 
south and played a prominent part in all its 
history. They shared in the dangers and 
glories of the Revolutionary struggle, par- 
ticipated in the war of 1812, rallied to the 
protection of their imperiled frontiers at 
every Indian outbreak, and followed the 
stars and bars in 1861-65. 

Our subject's mother was Elizabeth 
Winn, who was a member of an old and 
honored Virginian family. She was the 
mother of the following named children: 
Hill, Jesse, P. W., Martha A., Thomas, 
William B. and Maryetta. The husband 
and father died at the age of thirty-five. 
He was a farmer in his life work, a Demo- 
crat in his politics and a Baptist in his re- 
ligion. Mrs. Williams was a Methodist, and 
both were highly regarded in every way. 

Our subject was raised on a Tennessee 
farm, where he had to work hard and en- 
dure privations; but he can look back upon 
these years with thankfulness, for in them 



he learned lessons of honesty and industry 
that have stood him in hand all his life. 
As a young man he set himself to learn the 
saddler's trade, which has been a good friend 
to him. December 7, 1843, Mr. Williams 
was married to Miss Elizabeth Headstream, 
who has proved herself a good wife and 
mother through fifty-three years of married 
life. She was born in Hickman county, Ten- 
nessee, December 28, 1828, where she was 
raised and educated. Her father, J. P. 
Headstream, was of Swedish origin, and 
was a native of Stockholm, where he re- 
mained until he was sixteen. At this early 
age he struck out for the far West, and 
finally located in Tennessee, where he was 
married to Harriet Hassell, and they be- 
came, the parents of John Z. , James W.. 
Elizabeth (Williams), William, Mary Mar- 
garet, Felix, Martha and Harriet. He com- 
bined farming and saddlery, and did well. 
He died at the age of seventy years, a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church. 

Mr. Williams, our subject, came to 
Bosque county in 1869 and fixed his home 
on the farm where he now lives. He had 
come to Texas many years before, in 1843, 
first arriving in Dallas, where a farmer 
offered him six hundred acres of land in ex- 
change for a mare he had with him. He 
lived for a time in Dallas county and in 
Red Oak, and in 1869, as noted above, 
came to his present home. It contained 
about five hundred acres and he paid for it 
twelve hundred dollars in gold. He re- 
gards it as worth many times that amount 
to-day. 

Three of his children are now living: 
P. W. , Jr., Mrs. Abbie Hall and Thomas, 
who is in business in Bosque county. The 
deceased were named as follows: Harriet, 
Maryette, William B. , John Z. , Julia L., 



650 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Margaret, Jesse and Evarilla, which latter 
died at the age of fifteen years. 

Mr. Williams and his wife are members 
of the Methodist church. He is regarded 
as one of the wheel-horses of the Demo- 
cratic party in this county, is uncompromis- 
ingly devoted to the principles of his party, 
and his advice is often sought and often 
heeded. He is now seventy-five years of 
age, and is a striking example of a well- 
preserved and hearty manhood. 



<y^ W. WILLIAMS, Jr., is a resi- 
le W dent of Eulogy, Bosque county, 
J Texas, and has already made 

his mark as a thriving and push- 
ing young man. He has made himself a 
standing among the solid men of this part of 
the state, and is highly regarded. He is a 
son of P. W. Williams, Sr., whose sketch 
appears above. 

Mr. Williams, our subject, has had to 
make way against many obstacles, but has 
developed a broad and generous spirit that 
has won him many friends. He was born 
in Fannin county, Texas, October 5, 1846. 
In 1 870 he came into this county and bought 
a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, 
in company with his father, and it has not 
seemed necessary to divide it to this day. 
Seventeen years later our subject came upon 
his present farm, of which he is entire 
owner and which is justly regarded as one 
of the very best farms in this part of the 
state. It has good buildings on it, is 
thoroughly improved, and supports some 
very valuable stock, among them Cleveland 
Bays, Spanish Malta Jacks, a herd of Jer- 
sey cattle and other good stock, making the 
' ' Andrew Chapel farm " one of the most in- 
teresting and valuable in the county. He 



has a landed estate of about eight hundred 
acres, of which three hundred and fifty is in 
cultivation. 

Mr. Williams was married November i, 
1876, in Dallas county, to Miss Emma 
Winn. She was of a Tennessee family and 
the daughter of Philip and J. N. (Houser) 
Winn. Our subject has had three children: 
Myrtle, wife of Walker Riddle, and twin 
boys, Arthur and Luther, the babes. Mrs. 
Williams having died in 1878, our subject 
was married a second time, in January, 
1880, to Ann E. Wales, a native of Missis- 
sippi. Her parents were John and Rebecca 
Wales. By this marriage our subject has 
had four children, of whom three are still 
alive: Bettie A., John T. and Thomas. 
One child, Jesse, died a mere infant, at the 
age of six months. 

Mr. Williams comes of good old Demo- 
cratic stock, and holds himself loyal to the 
party. He is a popular man and a good 
citizen. 



u 



ILLIAM C. CRAWFORD, to a 
review of whose life we would 
now call attention, stands con- 
spicuously forward as one of the 
enterprising and leading farmers of Erath 
county, Texas, where he has attained to a 
notable degree of success in a material way. 
The history of the Crawford family in Texas 
traces back to the early pioneer days while 
Texas was yet under Mexican rule, every- 
thing in an unsettled condition and the 
people on the eve of declaring their inde- 
pendence as a republic; and both as a 
prominent citizen and a representative of a 
family thus early identified with Texas, it is 
eminently fitting that the life history of this 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



651 



gentleman be accorded due consideration in 
these pages. 

William C. Crawford was born in Shelby 
county, Texas, October 24, 1844, the son 
of a farmer and Methodist minister. His 
parents, William C. and Rhoda J. (Wat- 
kins) Crawford, were natives respectively of 
North Carolina and Alabama, and were 
married in the latter state. The senior 
Mr. Crawford was born in the year 1804, 
was "bound out" when a boy and learned 
the trade of tailor. For some years during 
his early manhood he spent all his leisure 
in study preparatory for the ministry, he 
having been converted and felt a call to 
preach the gospel, and in due time, in 1831, 
was admitted on trial to the Georgia Con- 
ference. Two years later he was trans- 
ferred to the Alabama Conference and sta- 
tioned at Pensacola, Florida, where he 
remained one year. About this time, on 
account of failing health, he sought a 
change of climate, Te.xas being his object- 
ive point. In January, 1835, he crossed 
the Sabine river into Texas and settled in a 
canebrake where the town of Shelbyville 
now stands. 

An event occurred soon after which 
metamorphosed the young preacher first 
into a lawyer and then into a statesman, and 
affixed his name to the Texas Declaration 
of Independence. It happened in this way: 
By appointment to preach at a certain 
house, Mr. Crawford took his wife on his 
horse behind him and started. Arriving at 
the house, he found the body of a murdered 
man and a crowd of people with a man in 
chains whom "Judge Lynch" was about to 
dispose of, although as yet he had not been 
tried for the murder. It was finally decided 
the man should have a trial. The mur- 
dered man was a member of an influential 



family, and his friends insisted that Parson 
Crawford, as they called him, should con- 
duct the trial of the defense in the absence 
of a lawyer, which Mr. Crawford did suc- 
cessfully and with much credit to himself. 
There was soon to be a convention at Wash- 
ington, and his fellow citizens decided upon 
Mr. Crawford as their delegate. This con- 
vention met in March, 1836. The course 
of the Romish priesthood of Mexico was 
strongly condemned in Texas, and at the 
convention a section was introduced into 
the constitution of the republic to disfran- 
chise all ministers and forever prohibit them 
from occupying any office of profit or trust 
in Texas; but through Mr. Crawford's ef- 
forts the section was modified so that it 
only excluded them from congress and ex- 
ecutive office. The same was engrafted in 
the state constitution in 1846. 

Three Methodists who were fond of sing- 
ing met at a certain house once a week for 
song service. After a few meetings they joined 
prayer with praise. People flocked to the 
house and it soon became necessary to seek 
larger quarters for their meetings. One 
night a large crowd had gathered, among 
them three local preachers, Crawford, En- 
glish and Martin, and Mr. Martin, after he 
had given an exhortation, called for mourn- 
ers, a number responding and being con- 
verted; and at a series of meetings in the 
neighborhood there were about two hundred 
conversions and additions to the church. 
The above incident is taken from Thrall's 
History of Methodism in Texas. 

Mr. Crawford lived to a ripe old age, his 
whole life replete with good works, and Sep- 
tember 3, 1895, from the home of his son, 
our subject quietly passed to his reward 
above. He was the father of a large family, 
now scattered, their names in order of birth 



G52 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



being as follows: Julia A., Mary E., Charles 
W., Sarah J., William C. , Texana, Luis 
F., Martha W., Louis A., Rhoda E., and 
Alice C. 

William C. Crawford, our immediate 
subject, passed his boyhood days on his 
father's frontier farm, brought up to honest 
toil and with but few advantages. He had, 
however, the influence of refined, Christian 
parents, and the home training was not lost 
on him. At the age of sixteen he left home 
and enlisted in the Confederate army, where 
he served four years. He was a member 
of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry, under 
Ed. Clark, ex-governor of Texas, and in 
Walker's division, under Kirby Smith, these 
forces operating in Arkansas and Louisiana. 
During these years young Crawford saw 
much hard service. Among the engage- 
ments in which he was a participant were 
those of Pleasant Hill, Mansfield and Jenk- 
ins Ferry, and he was in much skirmishing 
also; but, while often in the face of danger 
and never shrinking when duty called, he 
passed through the four years without being 
either wounded or captured. At the time 
of the surrender he was at Hempstead, 
Texas. 

Returning to Upshur county, where his 
father lived at the time, Mr. Crawford re- 
mained at home until his marriage, which 
event took place early in 1867. Then he 
rented land and farmed there. In 1875 he 
moved to Hill county, where he carried on 
farming operations on rented land until De- 
cember, 1885. At that date he came to 
Erath county and bought the farm upon 
which he has since lived, two hundred and 
five acres being his first purchase and sub- 
sequently adding to it two hundred acres 
more. This tract is part of the Lawhorn 
survey, and was partially improved by a Mr. 



Martin. Mr. Crawford cultivates one hun- 
dred and forty acres, uses the rest of his 
land for stock range, and is meeting with 
uniform success in his operations, the gen- 
eral appearance of his premises — the build- 
ings, well-cultivated fields, good stock, etc. 
— being indicative of the fact that intelli- 
gence is back of the labor here expended. 

Mr. Crawford was married January 17, 
1867, to Miss Martha J. Rap, daughter of 
John H. and Leah Rap. Her father came 
to Texas in the fall of 1862 and settled in 
Upshur county, and soon after entered the 
army, where he was killed. Mrs. Rap is 
still living, and makes her home with her 
children in Hill county. She is a member 
of the Methodist church, as also was her 
husband. The names of the children com- 
posing the Rap family are Martha J., Milla 
A., Albertine, Mary E., John N. and Ann 
L. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Crawford, we record that Alice, the eldest, 
died at the age of thirteen years; Wesley 
and John are engaged in farming, and are 
married and settled in life; Carroll J. is at 
home; William C, also at home; Minnie, 
wife of D. B. Kirk, a prosperous farmer; 
and Horace B., DeWitt, Mattie M., Freddie 
L. and Littleton H., all at home. 

Following in the footprints of their hon- 
ored parents, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are 
devoted members of the Methodist church. 
Politically, Mr. Crawford has always shown 
a deep interest in affairs both local and 
national and has given intelligent support 
to the Democratic party and its principles, 
but he has never aspired to official prefer- 
ment, nor has he ever held office. While 
his early educational advantages were 
meager, he made up in later life for those 
deficiencies by study, observation and con- 
tact with the world, thus acquiring a knowl- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



653 



edge that has enabled him to push forward 
in life and attain to the proud position he 
occupies among the representative farmers 
of his communit}'. 



eLDER JESSE J. JOHNSON, 
whose identification with the ma- 
terial and moral development of 
Comanche county has been most 
beneficial, was born in Georgia, December 
26, 1830, a son of P. C. and Matilda 
(Whatley) Johnson, natives of the same 
state. The grandfather, Bartholomew John- 
son, was a patriot in the Revolution, and 
our subject now owns a gourd in which he 
carried his powder during that war. Both 
he and his wife spent their last days in 
Georgia. She was a member of the distin- 
guished Cartwright family. 

In 1847 P. C. Johnson removed to Smith 
county, Texas, where he bought land and 
carried on a farm until 1859, when he sold 
and went to Brown county. The same 
year he started to Meridian for flour and 
other market supplies, and while on the 
way was killed by Indians in Bosque county, 
near the mountain which has since been 
known by the name of Johnson's Peak. He 
was accompanied by a nine-year-old son, 
whom they captured, and after keeping him 
three days made him leave their camp. 
After wandering around for a time he came 
across a herd of cattle, and thinking that 
the cows would go home he staid with them 
three days, having nothing to eat but rosin, 
which he obtained by chewing a certain 
plant! At length he was found by a Mr. 
Rough, but was so weak that he could not 
tell his name. He is still living, in Coman- 
che county. An attempt was made to over- 
take the Indians, but it was unsuccessful. 



The father of our subject was a farmer and 
stock-raiser. His wife died in 1893, and 
like her husband she was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. They had 
thirteen children: Robert W., who served 
in the Confederate army and is now de- 
ceased; J. J., of this sketch; V. D., who 
served in the war and died in 1866; Mary 
A., wife of Thomas Drapper, now both de- 
ceased; Elizabeth, deceased wife of James 
Biffell; Sarah J., wife of C. Singleton; Ma- 
tilda J., wife of F. M. Wood; Amanda, wife 
of Jackson Parker; Emma, wife of James 
Caswell, both now deceased; Edda, wife of 
R. Everett; P. C. , whose capture by the 
Indians is related above; and two who died 
in early life. 

Elder Johnson, of this review, was sev- 
enteen years of age when he came to Texas. 
He learned the methods of farming and 
stock-raising while assisting his father, and 
remained at home until his marriage, which 
occurred in Smith county, in 1851. He 
wedded Miss A. W. Ratliff, a lady of intel- 
ligence, born in Missouri, November 15, 
1834, a daughter of William and Susan 
(Allen) Ratliff, the former a native of Illi- 
nois and the latter of Virginia. They were 
married in Illinois, and came to Texas in 
1843, locating in Smith county. After the 
death of Mrs. Ratliff the father removed to 
Tarrant county, where he died in 1853. 
He belonged to the Methodist church and 
his wife was a member of the Baptist 
church. They had seven children, — Mary, 
Hester, Malinda, Arena, Gabriel, Lecy and 
A. W. , wife of our subject. 

Upon his marriage Mr. Johnson began 
farming for himself, and in 1859 purchased 
land in Brown county, where he engaged in 
farming and stock-raising until 1S62. He 
then entered the army, enlisting in Co- 



654 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



inanche county in Wilkes' cavalry regiment, 
which was assigned to the Trans-Missis- 
sippi department. At the battle of Arkan- 
sas Post the command was captured, but 
Mr. Johnson swam a bayou and succeed- 
ed in making his escape. He then reported 
to General Steele, and after a furlough 
spent at home joined the general's es- 
cort, serving with this command for two 
years. He was never wounded or captured 
in the four years of his service, yet his duty 
was often arduous and he faced many dan- 
gers. 

In 1866, Mr. Johnson located on the 
farm which has now been his home for 
thirty years. He has six hundred and 
thirty-seven acres of land, all under fence, 
and one hundred and fifty acres are highly 
cultivated. He has made many improve- 
ments, including the erection of a pleasant 
home and good outbuildings and the plant- 
ing of an excellent orchard. The home is 
surrounded by a fine oak grove and stands 
in a beautiful situation. In addition to his 
farm labor, Mr. Johnson is deeply inter- 
ested in church work. He was reared in 
the faith of the Primitive Baptist church, 
but in 1852 joined the Methodist church, 
and from that time has been a leader and 
earnest worker therein. In 1878 he was 
licensed and engaged in preaching four 
years, and in 1882 he was elected elder, 
being ordained by Bishop Key of the North- 
west Texas Conference. He has labored as 
a local preacher and now has charge of two 
appointments. 

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have but one 
child, Jesse M., who died at the age of three 
years, but they have given homes to four 
orphan children who came to them in in- 
fancy, and to nine others who have become 
inmates of their home at different periods. 



He provided them with good educational 
' privileges, fitted them for life's duties by his 
Christian counsel and all are now married 
and in homes of their own with the excep- 
tion of Mattie Starkey, a child of six years, 
who is still tenderly cared for by her foster 
parents. His early political support was 
given the Democracy, but hesoon joined the 
reform movement, voting with the Green- 
back party, and is now a Populist. 



^^ A. JACKSON is the owner of a 
•^^^hT good farm of four hundred acres 

Ys^J pleasantly situated five miles north- 
east of Stephenville, Erath county. 
He is justly regarded as one of the most 
enterprising and progressive agriculturists of 
the community, and his cultivable land with 
its excellent improvements gives indication 
of his care and supervision. He has one 
hundred acres under the plow, while much 
of the remainder is used as pasture land for 
his cattle, as he also carries on stock-raising 
in connection with general farming. Indus- 
try is the key that unlocks to the American 
the portals of success, and it is this quality 
that has made our subject one of the pros- 
perous residents of Erath county. 

The south has always been the home of 
Mr. Jackson, and he is a true southern gen- 
tleman, warm-hearted, true to his honest 
convictions and hospitable. He was born 
in Maury county, Tennessee, on the 6th of 
December, 1841, a son of Andrew and 
Nancy (HaysJ Jackson, who also were na- 
tives of that county. On the old home- 
stead farm he was reared to manhood, re- 
maining at home until eighteen years of age, 
when, with the bravery that marks the true 
soldier wherever he is found, he offered his 
services to the Confederate government and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



655 



went forth to battle for the institutions in 
which he so firmly believed. He enlisted 
in July, 1 86 1, and became a member of 
Company E, Third Tennessee Volunteer 
Infantry. He participated in the battle of 
Fort Donelson, and during the charge at 
that place captured one of the enemy, being 
the only one of his command to capture a 
Union man. At last the Confederate forces 
were obliged to surrender, and with others 
Mr. Jackson was taken to Camp Douglas, 
at Chicago, Illinois, where he was incarcer- 
ated until the fall of 1862, when he was ex- 
changed and at once returned to active 
service, and was in the battle of Chickasaw 
Bayou, participated in the bombardment of 
Port Hudson and the battle of Raymond, 
Mississippi, where he was seriously wounded, 
being shot through the thigh. This disabled 
him for further service, so severe was his 
wound, and by slow and weary stages he 
wended his way homeward. Something of 
his suffering may be imagined from the fact 
that when he was wounded he weighed one 
hundred and seventy-two pounds and when 
he reached home he weighed only fifty-eight 
pounds! For two years he was unable to 
engage in any kind of manual labor. He 
then engaged in farming in Mississippi until 
1876, when he came to Texas. 

Since 1877 Mr. Jackson has been a resi- 
dent of Erath county. He rented land for 
several years, and then, when his industry, 
careful management and perseverance had 
brought to him a handsome competence, he 
purchased a tract of wild land, comprising 
two hundred and eighty acres, which was 
heavily timbered. This was in 1881, and 
he at once began to improve and cultivate 
the property. Trees were cut down, the 
land was plowed and planted, and in course 
of time abundant harvests were garnered. 



As his financial resources increased he added 
to his land until he became owner of his 
present desirable farm of four hundred acres. 
The political support of our subject is 
given the Democratic party, and socially he 
is connected with the Masonic fraternity of 
Spring Hill, Tennessee. His religious be- 
lief is that of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
denomination, but his wife is a member of 
the Baptist church. The lady who now 
bears the name and shares the fortunes of 
Mr. Jackson was in her maidenhood Miss 
Emma G. Hurt, a native of Roanoke coun- 
ty, Virginia, and a daughter of Patrick Henry 
and Nancy (Dockwiler) Hurt, also natives of 
the Old Dominion and now residents of 
Obine Station, Tennessee. The marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, celebrated Octo- 
ber 31, 1873, has been blessed with ten 
children, nine of whom are yet living, 
namely: Maud Virginia, wife of Walter 
Kiker, of Erath county; P. C, Wren May, 
Andrew, Richard H., Joseph Hurt, Mark 
O., Mabel Clare, William Dawson and 
Anna White, who died at the age of sixteen 
months. 



J. DUNLAP is one of the honored 
pioneers of Comanche county, lo- 
cating here when the county con- 
tained only six or seven families, 
assisted in its organization and served as the 
first justice of the peace, during which time 
he performed the first marriage ceremony 
in Comanche county. He has since been 
identified with its growth and development, 
and is now numbered among the prominent 
and representative farmers. 

Mr. Dunlap was born in Madison county, 
Alabama, January 26, 1830, and was reared 
upon the farm of his parents, Samuel and 



656 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



Temperance (Bell) Dunlap, natives of South 
Carolina, where they were married. Robert 
Dunlap, his paternal grandfather, came to 
America from Ireland, his native land, and 
settled in South Carolina, where he became 
a prominent farmer, reared his family, and 
there died. The maternal grandfather, 
Elisha Bell, was of Scotch descent. From 
South Carolina he removed to Alabama, in 
1819, then a frontier country, and became a 
leading and popular citizen of that state. He 
was a slave-owner and by occupation a car- 
penter and farmer, while politically he was 
a Democrat and religiously a Presbyterian. 

The father of our subject also went to 
Alabama in 18 19, and in the midst of the 
wilderness developed a farm on which he 
spent his remaining days, dying in 1852. 
He was a prominent farmer and slave-owner, 
and was well and favorably known through- 
out the community. He was a consistent 
member of the Primitive Baptist church, 
while his wife was a Presbyterian. Her 
death occurred in 1866. They reared a 
family of si.x children, namely: Elisha, who 
died at the age of twenty-one years; Robert, 
who served in the late war and died in Ala- 
bama; Sarah, who married E. Davidson, 
and is now deceased; T. J., of this sketch; 
Davis, who enlisted as private in the Con- 
federate service, but retired as a lieutenant, 
and is now a resident of Dallas, Te.xas; and 
Francis, who also served in the late war and 
yet makes his home in Alabama. 

Mr. Dunlap, whose name introduces this 
sketch, remained upon the home farm in 
Alabama until he had attained his majority, 
and then, being married in February, 1851, 
he began the struggle of life for himself, for a 
few years farming the old homestead. In 
1854, however, he came to Texas, and for 
one season engaged in farming in McLennan 



county. He first came to this county in 
August of the following year, and in Octo- 
ber removed his family. In 1856 he helped 
to organize the county, which at that time 
contained not more than twenty voters. 
While serving as justice of the peace he mar- 
riedT. J. Holmsley and Betty Cunningham, 
the first couple married in the county. 
Both are yet living and are now the only 
residents who were here at the time of his 
arrival. At the regular election, Mr. Dun- 
lap refused to serve longer as justice of the 
peace, as public office had no charm for 
him. 

As a mechanic he worked throughout 
Comanche county at an early day, taking a 
job of any kind by which he could earn an 
honest living for his family. Before the 
land came into the market, he squatted on 
public land, made some improvements, in- 
cluding a cabin and outbuildings, and would 
then sell out. This he did on several oc- 
casions. In 1872 he purchased the land 
where he now resides, securing it from a 
squatter, and had the land filed in his own 
name, receiving his title from the govern- 
ment. The farm is situated six miles east 
of Comanche and comprises one hundred 
and sixty acres, of which one-half is now 
under cultivation, and all the improvements 
found thereon are the result of his own in- 
dustrious efforts. Since locating perma- 
nently in Comanche county, he has erected 
a few houses, but otherwise has given his 
entire attention to the cultivation and de- 
velopment of the soil. At first the Indians 
were quite friendly, but later became hos- 
tile, and our subject went on several raids 
in pursuit of them, but participated in no 
fights. 

In July, 1861, Mr. Dunlap enlisted in 
the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, was commis- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



657 



sioned third lieutenant and at the close of 
the war was the only commissioned officer 
left in his company. For two years he was 
with General Forrest in the Army of the 
Tennessee, and the following two years was 
under General Wheeler. He was in active 
service during the entire time, never receiv- 
ing a furlough, and never on sick leave. Of 
the one hundred and twenty-seven men who 
entered his company only twenty-eight re- 
turned! He was in many skirmishes and 
hotly contested battles, was never wounded 
or captured, and surrendered at Huntsville, 
Alabama. 

When hostilities had ceased, Mr. Dun- 
lap returned to his family, who were visit- 
ing in Alabama, and was unable to return 
to Texas until 1868, when he located in 
McLennan county, where two crops were 
harvested, but since that time he has been a 
permanent resident of Comanche county. 

In February, 1851, Mr. Dunlap wedded 
Miss Martha Duke, a native of Alabama, 
and a daughter of Stephen Duke, a prom- 
inent farmer and early settler of that state, 
where he died in 1869. Her mother, who 
bore the maiden name of Ditto, yet survives 
and lives in the old homestead in Alabama, 
at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. 
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunlap, three of whom died in infancy. 
The others are Samuel, a farmer of Coman- 
che county; Davis, a stockman and farmer 
of Crockett county, Texas; Mary E. , who 
died at the age of fifteen years; Sally, de- 
ceased wife of D. L. Hardin; William B., a 
mechanic of Comanche county; and Charley, 
a farmer. The wife and mother, who was 
a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
church, died in March, 1873. In October 
following, Mr. Dunlap was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Susan Osborn, a native of 



the grand old state of Georgia, and a daugh- 
ter of David Osborn, who died there. Her 
father was a farmer by occupation, and a 
member of the Missionary Baptist church. 
Two children were born of the second union: 
Mattie, wife of C. W. Butler, a farmer; and 
Elbert, at home. 

Mr. Dunlap and his estimable wife are 
members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
in which he is an active worker and attends 
all the associations held by that denomina- 
tion in the community. Originally he was 
was a Democrat, but about 1880 joined the 
Greenback party, and has followed along 
the reform line, being now a strong Populist, 
and the first to advocate that doctrine in 
Comanche county. 



,>^ C. LOUDERMILK.— The aggre- 
I /^ gate endeavor which produces the 
1 . P stability, prosperity and progress of 
any locality is made up of the ear- 
nest effort of individuals, who thus become 
important factors in the welfare of a com- 
munit}'. Our subject belongs to that class 
that forms the best citizenship of Texas, and 
is one of the valued residents of Comanche 
county. He was born in Union county, 
Georgia, November 5, 1842, and is there- 
fore fifty-four years of age. His father, 
George W. Loudermilk, was a native of 
Virginia, — the cradle of the American na- 
tion, — and his mother, whose maiden name 
was Polly McNutt, was born in Tennessee. 
They both belonged to prominent and influ- 
ential families of their respective states. 

Mr. Loudermilk of this review received 
but meager educational privileges in his 
youth, but in the school of experience has 
learned many valuable lessons; and through 
practical business life and through reading 



658 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



and observation he has become one of the 
well-informed farmers of this neighborhood. 
He remained at home through his childhood 
and youth until he was seventeen years old, 
when he went to Bartow county, Georgia. 
He entered the Confederate service, serving 
for three years as a private in the Thirty- 
si.xth Georgia Infantry. In 1871 he came 
to Texas, locating in Comanche county, 
where he purchased six hundred and twenty 
acres of raw timber land, which he immedi- 
ately began to transform into a productive 
farm. He now has one hundred and fifty 
acres under a high state of cultivation, the 
fields being planted with the various crops 
so well adapted to this region, while one 
acre constitutes a fine orchard, planted with 
grapes and fruit-trees. His farm is one of 
the best improved in this section of the 
county, and with its excellent buildings and 
its neat appearance well indicates the thrift 
and enterprise of the owner. In the rear of 
the commodious frame residence stand good 
barns and outbuildings for the shelter of 
stock and grain, a windmill and many other 
conveniences found upon the model farm in 
this latter part of the nineteenth century. 
His home is located in the midst of a beau- 
tiful grove of oaks, and is pleasantly situ- 
ated ten miles north of Comanche, on Rush 
creek. He has also purchased another 
tract of land a half mile west of his home, 
containing one hundred and fifty-six acres, 
of which seventy acres are highly cultivated. 
Mr. Loudermilk is likewise known as a 
leading stock-raiser. He has large num- 
bers of cattle, horses and hogs of good 
breeds, and is now making a specialty of 
raising the last named. No better farm or 
finer stock can be found in the county, and 
the owner may well feel proud of what he 
has accomplished in this direction. He has 



the distinction of being the first in Comanche 
county to build and use E. H. Rice's pig- 
tight combination fence, and is the sole 
agent for the sale and building of the same 
in the De Leon district. 

Before leaving the state of his nativity 
Mr. Loudermilk was united in marriage to 
Miss Julia Taylor, a lady of intelligence and 
good family. To them were born twelve 
children, as follows: Fannie, wife of Louis 
White; Sallie J., wife of Tom McGinnis; 
Cora ; Lula, wife of James Whitlock ; 
Robert; lana, wife of James Reed; Rillor 
Blance ; Martha Adline, wife of John 
Evans; Julia A., wife of John Read; and 
Leah May, besides two sons who died in 
infancy. Mr. Loudermilk is a member of 
the Christian church, and in that faith he is 
rearing his family. His political adherency 
is to the Populist party, but he is not an 
aspirant for political honors. He devotes 
his attention to his business, in which he 
has met with good success, and his friends 
and neighbors have for him the highest 
regard. 



* y ^ ENRY C. LOUDERMILK, who 
»''^k holds the responsible preferment as 
\ , * treasurer of Comanche county, 
Texas, is a veteran of the Confed- 
erate army, and a man who is held in the 
highest regard by the people of Comanche 
county, where he has maintained his resi- 
dence for more than a quarter of a century. 
Mr. Loudermilk claims the "Empire 
State of the South" as the place of his na- 
tivity. He is the youngest in the family of 
ten children of George W. and Polly ( Mc- 
Nutt) Loudermilk, and was born in Union 
county, Georgia, May 27, 1844. His father 
was a Virginian by birth and his mother was 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



659 



a native of Tennessee. They were for 
many years residents of Georgia, and it was 
on a farm in that state that the subject of 
our sketch was reared. When war be- 
tween the north and south was inaugurated 
he enhsted in the Eighteenth Georgia In- 
fantry, being among the first to respond to 
the Confederate call, and was in active serv- 
ice for a period of fourteen months, at the 
end of which time he was discharged in con- 
sequence of the loss of his right leg. Dur- 
ing the seven days' fight near Gaines' Mills 
in Virginia he was wounded, the wound ne- 
cessitating the amputation of his limb. Re- 
turning to Georgia, he continued his resi- 
dence there until 1870, when he took up his 
abode in the "Lone Star State." 

Ever since coming to Te.xas Mr. Loud- 
ermilk has been more or less interested in 
farming operations. His present farm is lo- 
cated some eleven miles northwest of the 
city of Comanche and comprises a fine tract 
of one hundred and sixty acres, one hundred 
and five acres of which are under a high 
state of cultivation, the rest being utilized 
for stock purposes. Among the improve- 
ments on this place is a fine orchard, one 
acre in extent and producing the choicest of 
fruit. 

For some years past Mr. Loudermilk has 
given his support to the Populist party, of 
which he is a stanch member. He. was in 
1886 elected treasurer of Comanche county, 
and served two years, and in 1S92 he was 
again elected to the same office, which he 
has since filled, and as the incumbent of this 
office has given general satisfaction to all 
concerned. 

Mr. Loudermilk is a man of family. 
May 17, 1875, in the state of North Caro- 
lina, was consummated his marriage to Miss 
Annie Forister, a native of that state and a 



most amiable and estimable woman. They 
are the parents of an interesting family of 
five children, namely: Alexander, Laura 
L., Eliza J., Arthur and Val. 



HOMAS J. COURTNEY is one of 
the leading and progressive agri- 
culturists of Comanche county. 
The prosperity and development of 
this vast prairie state is due to its farmers, 
and through coming years future generations 
will have reason to feel deeply grateful to 
those who transformed the wild land into 
beautiful homes and rich farms, thereby ad- 
vancing civilization with rapid strides. Mr. 
Courtney belongs to this class of represent- 
ative and valued citizens and is now the 
owner of one of the best farms of Comanche 
county. He took up his abode thereon in 
1887, becoming owner of a tract oi wild land 
of three hundred and eleven acres. Of this 
seventy-two acres has been placed under the 
plow and planted with good crops. Among 
the many improvements is a comfortable 
residence, in the rear of which stands a sub- 
stantial barn. Wells and tanks furnish an 
abundant supply of water for the stock, and 
the excellent pastures yield an abundant 
food supply for them. An orchard gives its 
fruit in season, and other improvements add 
to the value and attractive appearance of 
the place, and the Courtney farm is now 
one of the most desirable properties to be 
found in the counties. 

Mr. Courtney was born in Milam county, 
Texas, January 15, 1858, and belongs to an 
old Louisiana family. His grandfather, 
Jonathan Courtney, was of Irish lineage and 
became one of the early settlers of Louisi- 
ana. Isaiah Courtney, the father, was born 
in Baton Rouge, that state, and is numbered 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



among the pioneers of Comanche county. 
In his native state he was married to a Miss 
Springer, a cultured and intelligent lady, 
and subsequently removed to Milam county, 
Texas. Later the entire family went to 
California, and the journey, made overland, 
consumed twelve months. They traveled 
with a party under command of Captain 
Jack Cureton, and experienced many hard- 
ships and dangers, but also shared in many 
pleasures on that long trip. The father of 
our subject died in 189 1. He was a Dem- 
ocrat in politics and was a Baptist in relig- 
ious belief. After the death of his first wife 
he was again married and by his second 
union had two children, Amanda and 
William. 

The subject of this sketch spent his boy- 
hood days in his father's home, being reared 
to manhood on the farm in Texas and Cali- 
fornia. He acquired his education in the 
public schools and by reading and business 
experience, thus becoming a practical man 
of affairs. He came to Comanche county 
in 1873 and has since been identified with 
its interests, becoming especially prominent 
as a representative of agriculture in this sec- 
tion of the state. 

Mr. Courtney was married on the 4th of 
November, 1884, to Mrs. Maggie Jones, 
widow of S. M. Jones, who died leaving two 
children, Samuel E. and Nettie. The lady 
was born in Washington county, Texas, 
and is a daughter of E. A. and Eliza (Fos- 
ter) Elliott, the former now deceased, while 
the latter is still living. By the marriage of 
our subject and his wife there are four chil- 
dren, Harvey Reuben, who was born in 
Comanche county, Texas; Margaret Jane, 
Carrie May and Katie Irene. Mr. Courtney 
and his wife hold a membership in the 
Church of Christ, and he is deeply interest- 



ed in all that pertains to. the upbuilding of 
the community and to the uplifting of 
humanity, being a special friend to the 
cause of education, religion and temperance. 
His political support is given the Democ- 
racy. His honorable life and his frank and 
cordial manner have won for him the confi- 
dence of many, and his circle of friends is 
limited only by the circle of his acquaint- 
ances. 



,y^ETER MOODIE.— The prosperity 
I m and welfare of a city are due to its 
\ progressive and energetic business 

men, — ^men who keep the wheels of 
commerce in rapid motion and thus with 
each revolution add to the material welfare 
and substantial advancement of the com- 
munity with which they are connected. It 
is impossible for a man to live unto himself 
alone if he be engaged in any legitimate 
trade transactions, and he who successfully 
controls extensive business interests pro- 
motes the general prosperity while advancing 
his individual success. Mr. Moodie is recog- 
nized as one of the most prominent business 
men in Comanche county and the interests 
with which he is connected form an im- 
portant feature in the commercial supremacy 
of the county seat. Denied many of the 
privileges which are now the common lot of 
the youth of to-day, he has nevertheless 
improved every opportunity and has attained 
that honorable measure of success which 
crowns earnest, persistent labor and un- 
daunted perseverance. 

Mr. Moodie was born October 12, 1843, 
in Glasgow, Scotland, a land noted for its 
brave men and good women. His father, 
Robert Moodie, was a lowlander by birth 
and a successful veterinary surgeon by pro- 



HiSTORr OF TEXAS. 



fession. He married Elizabeth McDonald, 
who came of a good family of the highlands. 
Her people were prominent in the wars of 
Scotland, furnishing several chiefs who were 
renowned for their honor and valor. Mr. 
and Mrs. Moodie became the parents of 
seven sons and five daughters, Peter being 
the sixth in order of birth. The father and 
mother had both passed the seventieth mile- 
stone of life's journey when called to their 
home eternal, and were people who had the 
respect and esteem of all who knew them. 
They provided their children with good 
educational advantages, and early instilled 
into their minds lessons of uprightness and 
of industry, thus fitting them for the practical 
duties that come to all as they pass from the 
realm of childhood into that of mature life. 
In his youth Peter Moodie learned the 
stone-mason's trade and became an expert 
workman, being able to execute the most 
delicate details in connection with the trade 
with a nicety that enabled him to occupy a 
front rank among the most skilled workmen 
in his line. He served a five-years ap- 
prenticeship, and after working at his trade 
in his native land for a time he bade good- 
by to relatives and friends, and in 1864 went 
to Liverpool, England, where he took pas- 
sage on a steamer to Boston, Massachusetts. 
From there he went to Chicago, and later 
to Omaha, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and 
Fort Laramie, then the terminus of the 
Union Pacific railroad. He then proceeded 
by stage to Carson, Nevada, and on to 
Sacramento and Oakland, California, and 
later to Portland, Oregon. He next went 
up the Willamette river, in Oregon, and 
after some time spent on the Pacific coast 
returned eastward. From Omaha, Ne- 
braska, he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and 
subsequently to Quincy, Illinois, to Fort 



Scott, Kansas, and to St. Louis, Missouri. 
Later he resided for a time in Memphis, 
Tennessee, and in Louisville, Kentucky, 
returning thence to St. Louis, where he 
took a train on the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas railroad, in 1869, to Checotah, In- 
dian Territory. By stage and team he went 
to Heron, Robinson county, Texas, where 
he engaged in erecting railroad shops and 
railroad buildings for the Texas & Pacific 
Railroad Company. From that time on for 
a number of years he was one of the most 
prominent contractors and builders in cen- 
tral Texas and has erected many of the 
most substantial structures in this part of 
the state. He erected a number of elegant 
public buildings, including the court-house 
at Clairsville, Jasper, Rusk, Montgomery 
county, Crockett, the last costing sixty-five 
thousand dollars; the one at Granbury, 
which cost seventy-eight thousand dollars; 
the Comanche court-house, which was 
erected at a cost of seventy-five thousand 
dollars, and an eighty-thousand-dollar court- 
house at Shreveport, Louisiana. He has 
also built a number of jails and many private 
buildings, and was ranked among the most 
efficient contractors in the central portion of 
the state. 

Mr. Moodie came to Comanche in 1890 
built the courthouse here, in 1 890-1. He 
then turned his attention to other business 
enterprises and has been a most important 
factor in the commercial interests of the 
city. In 1893 a company was formed for 
the establishment of an oil-mill, which is now 
one of the leading industries of the place. It 
has a capacity of fifty tons per day and in 
1895 seven thousand tons of seed were 
brought to be utilized in the production of 
oil. Employment is furnished to fifty men 
during the busy season, and the business 



History of texas. 



is steadily increasing. The present officers 
of the company are H. R. Martin, presi- 
dent; T. C. Hill, vice president; and P. 
Moodie, secretary and general manager. 
This company owns and feeds between 
three and four thousand head of cattle, and 
Mr. Moodie is the individual owner of five 
hundred head. His powers as an organizer 
and controller of e.xtensive business interests 
is above the average, as he possesses excel- 
lent ability, forceof character and undaunted 
industry. 

Mr. Moodie was married in Marshall, 
Texas, in 1875, to Emily Hudson, a daugh- 
ter of James Hudson, deceased, who was 
one of the early settlers of Marshall. Four 
children were born of this union,. — Lizzie 
Mae, Maggie Louise, James Robert and 
Peter. Their mother died in 1887, and 
Mr. Moodie was married in November, 1892, 
to Miss Ridly Sanford, a lady of culture 
and refinement belonging to one of the old 
and prominent families of Georgia, where 
she was reared and educated. Her father, 
Theodore Gordon Sanford, was a leading 
and influential citizen and a relative of ex- 
Governor Sanford, also of General John A. 
Sanford, who served as attorney general of 
the state of Alabama for twelve years. 
Mrs. Moodie was reared in Milledgeville, 
Georgia, and by her marriage has one son, 
Theodore Sanford. In his political views 
Mr. Moodie is a stanch Democrat and in his 
social relations is a Royal Arch Mason. 



m. 



LLIAM J. MORRIS is a suc- 
cessful farmer of Bosque county, 
Texas, who receives his mail at 
Eulogy. He was born in Stewart 
county, Tennessee, April 15, 1839, and has 
been in the county for twenty-three years. 



His father was William Morris, also a native 
of Tennessee, but of Irish origin. He was 
reared to manhood in that state, and took 
Sally Pigram for his wife. She was of an 
old English family that had but recently 
come into Tennessee. To the parents of 
our subject, William and Sally Morris, were 
born fourteen children, of whom nine grew 
up to maturity: Lucinda, Susan, Maria, 
Sally, Jeptha, William J., Thomas, Jamie 
and Ben. Jeptha, William J. and Thomas 
were soldiers in the late war. Five are 
dead. The father died at fifty-six. He 
was a farmer all his life, a Populist, a Demo- 
crat, and a hard-shell Baptist, of which 
church he was a deacon. His wife, the 
mother of our subject, died at fifty. 

Mr. Morris, our subject, was raised in 
Stewart county, Tennessee, where his boy- 
hood and early youth were passed on a farm, 
and was trained by hard experiences for 
a life of honest labor. He had little op- 
portunity for schooling, but kept his eyes 
and ears open and has managed to learn 
much of life's meanings and uses. When 
the war broke out in 1861 he espoused the 
Union cause and enlisted in the Twenty- 
seventh Infantry of the Missouri troops. He 
was in the service five months, when he was 
taken down with severe and debilitating 
sickness, and was discharged from the serv- 
ice for serious disability. He betook him- 
self to Illinois and found a home in Mc- 
Donough county, where he lived for four 
years. But the cold north not agreeing 
with him he journeyed south, was one and 
a half years in Barton county, Missouri, and 
three years in Benton county, Arkansas, 
finally •' bringing up " in Bosque county, 
Texas. He was here at Kimball for five 
years, and then established himself at his 
present location. He bought fifty acres. 



His TORT OP TEXAS. 



and was the first settler in this neighbor- 
hood. Wolves, wildcats and other unpleas- 
ant animals were numerous and neighbors 
were far away. But he was industrious, 
attended strictly to business, and saved 
money, so that from time to time he was 
^ble to add to his original purchase until he 
now has a fine farm of two hundred and 
sixty acres, well cultivated; one hundred 
acres being under the plow and the remain- 
der closely cared for. He has, all his life 
been much interested in fruit, and upon this 
place he has many fruit trees, — two acres 
of apples, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, 
and all the small fruits being very abundant. 
His achievements in fruit show the possibili- 
ties of this country. 

Mr. Morris was married at the age of 
twenty-five to Miss Ann Robertson, a woman 
of much intelligence and a good family. 
Her parents, Richard and Elizabeth (Mc- 
Claney) Robertson, were from the state of 
Kentucky, but are both buried in Illinois. 
Our subject and his wife have seven chil- 
dren: O^ella Thompson, Rosetta James, 
Clara, Jeptha, John, Addie and one deceased, 
— Martha. He is a Republican and a mem- 
of the Christian church. In this church are 
also enrolled his wife, and three of his chil- 
dren. He is a man interested in education, 
religion, temperance and good morals. He 
is plain in speech and manners, but clear in 
his thought and firm in his belief, and is 
highly respected by his neighbors. 



IHOMAS C. WHITE, who is num- 
bered among the early settlers of 
central Texas, dating his residence 
from 1865, while since 1879 he 
has been identified with the interests of Co- 
manche county, is a native of Missouri, his 



birth having occurred in Lawrence county. 
His father, E. P. White, was born in Ten- 
nessee and belonged to one of the old and 
prominent families of that state, descended 
from Irish and German ancestry. He was 
reared and educated in Tennessee and after 
arriving at man's estate he married Miss 
Eliza Higdon, who was born in the same 
state. Soon afterward they removed to 
Missouri, locating in Lawrence county. Sev- 
eral years later Mrs. White died, leaving 
three children, J. L. , Martha A. and T. C, 
then an infant. The father afterward mar- 
ried Susan Berry, and to them were born 
twelve children. He removed to Benton 
county, Missouri, about the time of the 
close of the war and took up his residence 
near Warsaw, where he made his home 
until his death, which occurred when he 
was sixty years of age. He made farming 
his life work. In his political views he was 
a Democrat, and his religious belief was in 
harmony with the doctrine of the Christian 
church, in which he held his religious 
membership. 

The subject of this review was reared by 
J. B. Higdon, his maternal uncle, spending 
his childhood and youth in Lawrence and 
Jasper counties, Missouri, largely engaged 
in farm work and learning the lessons of in- 
dustry and perseverance which have been 
important factors in his progress in later 
life, accelerating his actions until they have 
encompassed that success for which he has 
striven. He was numbered among the 
"soldier boys" of the late war, entering the 
army when a youth of fifteen as a member 
of Buster's battalion, which was engaged in 
Missouri and Arkansas. Mr. White served 
mostly on detached duty as a courier and 
participated in the battles of Mansfield, 
Louisiana, Pleasant Hill and others. 



664 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



After the war Mr. White sold his horse 
and came on foot to Texas, locating first in 
Cooke county, where he remained for four 
years. During the succeeding ten years he 
was engaged in the stock business, and in 
1879 he came to Comanche county, where 
he purchased of F. M. Brown the old Sweet- 
water ranch, which in the early days of the 
county's history was a noted camp-ground 
for the Indians and pioneers, because of its 
big spring which furnished a never-failing 
supply of good water. Mr. White purchased 
three hundred and forty-nine acres of land, 
but has since sold two hundred and twenty 
acres to his son-in-law, C. L. Co.x. He now 
has one hundred and twenty-nine acres, 
which is well improved with a very pleasant 
home, biiilt in a modern style of architecture, 
good outbuildings, fences and the other ac- 
cessories of a model farm. An orchard 
yields its fruit in season and the well kept 
grounds that surround the home add to the 
beauty and attractive appearance of the 
place. 

In December, 1865, Mr. White was 
united in marriage to Mary E. Bard, a na- 
tive of Lincoln county, Missouri, and a 
daughter of James and Rachel (Quinn) 
Bard. Her father is now deceased, but her 
mother is living in Comanche county. She 
had nine children, namely: Sam, Eliza Jane, 
Letitia, Jennie and Amanda (twins), Mrs. 
White, Margaret Ann, Rebecca and George 
W. The father of this family was killed at 
Pilot Point, Texas. He was a member of 
the Baptist church and his upright life was 
in many respects worthy of emulation. Five 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. White, 
namely: Mrs. Martha A. Orbanks; Mary, 
wife of C. L. Cox; George B., of Comanche 
county; Sarah Louisa, married; and Rhoda 
E., who died at the age of fourteen years. 



In his political views Mr. White is a 
Democrat. He and his family hold a mem- 
bership in the Christian church, and he is 
now serving as a member of the board of 
trustees. He is an energetic, progressive 
business man, thoroughly reliable in all 
things, and both in public and private life^ 
has so faithfully performed his duties as to 
merit and receive the high regard of neigh- 
bors and friends. 



at 



ILLIAM C. DEAVER, a farmer 
and stock-raiser of Hood county, 
is one of the worthy sons of Ten- 
nessee. He was born in Polk 
county, that state, on the 9th of July, 1850, 
a son of Lewis and Mary Deaver. The 
father was a native of North Carolina, but 
belonged to an old Virginia family that was 
founded in America prior to the Revolu- 
tionary war by ancestors who came from 
England. The great-grandfather was one of 
seven brothers who crossed the Atlantic to 
establish homes in the new world. The 
Chandlers are also of an old English family, 
with an admixture of Dutch blood in their 
veins. The great-grandfather was General 
Chandler, who won his title by valiant serv- 
ice in the war of 181 2. 

After the marriage of Lewis and Mary 
Deaver, they removed to Tennessee, where 
for many years the father followed farming, 
continuing his residence in the Big Bend 
state until 1877, when he came to Texas, 
locating in Bell county, where he died in 
1894, at the age of eighty-four years. His 
wife passed away in 1869. During the 
civil war he served for two years in the Con- 
federate army with the cavalry troops of the 
Army of the Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. 
Deaver had a family of ten children, all of 



ti IS TORT OF TEXAS. 



whom except one reached years of maturity, 
while four sons and a daughter are yet 
living. 

With the duties anc> labors of farm life 
William C. Deaver early became familiar, 
aiding his father in the labors of the home 
farm. At the early age of fifteen, when a 
mere boy, he went forth as a soldier in de- 
fense of the south, becoming a member of 
a Tennessee battery, and was with Wheel- 
er's cavalry. At the close of the war, 
with his command, he surrendered at Au- 
gusta, Georgia, and then returned to his 
home. Although a boy in years he had the 
courage and loyalty of the old soldier and it 
was often the case that the bravest deeds 
were performed by the younger members of 
the wearers of the gray or the blue. When 
hostilities were over Mr. Deaver went to his 
home in Tennessee and later removed to 
Arkansas, whence in 1876 he came to Texas, 
settling first in Bell county, where he en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits until his re- 
moval to Smith. He afterward went to 
Bosque county, and in 1880 to Limestone 
county, locating in Mitchell Bend, eight 
miles north of Glen Rose, where he lived 
for three years. In 1882 he came to his 
present farm, and he is to-day the owner of 
two hundred and eighty acres of rich land in 
the Brazos valley, of which one hundred 
and sixty acres is under a high state of cul- 
tivation. He has devoted his entire life to 
agricultural pursuits, and the neat and 
thrifty appearance of the place indicates his 
careful supervision and numbers him among 
the practical and progressive farmers of the 
community. 

Mr. Deaver was married June 6, 1877, 
to Miss Mary C. Sims, a native of Tennes- 
see and a daughter of James M. Sims, who 
belonged to one of the old families of Lin- 



coln county, Tennessee. In 1868 he re- 
moved to Walker county, Texas, and thence 
to Bell county. Mr. and Mrs. Deaver are 
the parents of an interesting family of nine 
children, namely: Nora L. and Dora B., 
twins, William Hubbard, Monroe S. , Louis 
C., Raymond L., Beulah, Charles S. and 
Jesse Earl. The parents are members of 
the Missionary Baptist church, and Mr. 
Deaver belongs to Granbury Lodge, F. 
& A. M. His political support is given the 
Democracy. 



I A. NEEL, one of the wide-awake 
and enterprising farmers of Comanche 
county, is a native of Texas, his 
birth havingoccurred in Smith coun- 
ty, on the 20th of September, 1849, and is 
a son of J. H. and Sarah F. (Daniels) Neel, 
the former a native of Tennessee and the 
latter of North Carolina. The family was 
early founded in the Lone Star state, the 
paternal grandfather of our subject, W. M. 
Neel, locating in Smith county in 1846. He 
was of English descent and a farmer by oc- 
cupation. In 1855 he came to Comanche 
county, before it was organized,- and settled 
about two and a half miles south of the 
forks of the Leon river. He and the father 
of our subject assisted in the organization of 
the county, and were regular attendants at 
the courts, as jurors, etc., as at that early 
day it required the services of all of the 
more prominent men of the county to hold 
a session of court. The grandfather, in 
connection with his farming interests, was 
also extensively engaged in the stock busi- 
ness. In religious belief he was a Method- 
ist and in politics was a strong Democrat, 
taking a leading part in public affairs but 
not caring for political preferment. He lost 



666 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



his wife while a resident of Smith county, 
and his death occurred in Comanche county, 
about 1875. In his family were eleven 
children,— J. H., J. L., Louisa, C. W., T. 
D., D. M., Drew, W. E., Mat, Mary A., 
and one who died in infancy. 

The parents of our subject were united 
in marriage in Tennessee, where they began 
their domestic life, but emigrated to Texas 
with the grandfather's family in 1846. Aft- 
er a time spent in Smith county, J. H. 
Neel brought his family to Comanche coun- 
ty, where he carried on the occupations of 
farming and stock-raising, and developed 
a good farm on Restless creek. A promi- 
nent member of the Democracy, he took a 
deep interest in the success of his party, 
and was actively identified with the settle- 
ment and growth of Comanche county, 
where he endured all the privations and 
hardships of pioneer life in order to make a 
home for his family, and during the late 
war served as a member of the home guards, 
while in the early days he shared with the 
other settlers the annoyance of the Indians. 
An earnest Christian gentleman, he was a 
faithful member of the Methodist church, in 
which he served as class-leader, and died in 
that faith on the 26th of December, 1885. 
His wife, however, still survives him and 
finds a pleasant home with our subject. 
She was born in 1820, the daughter of 
Thomas and Lizzie (Daniels) Daniels, who 
were second cousins, and belonged to a 
prominent North Carolina family. Nature 
has dealt kindly with her and she is still en- 
joying excellent health. Like her husband 
she is also a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Five children 
were born to them, four of whom reached 
years of maturity, namely: John D., of Co- 
manche county; Isaac A., of this sketch; 



Florence O., wife of C. \V. Ewell, a farmer 
of Comanche county; and Flora B., wife of 
J. B. Smart, of Callahan county, Texas. 

As soon as large enough, Isaac A. Neel 
was put into the saddle, and thus early be- 
came familiar with the stock business, which 
he continued to follow exclusively until 
1 87 1. In that year he commenced farming, 
opening up a tract of land, which he con- 
tinued to improve and cultivate until 1886, 
when he sold out and removed to his pres- 
ent place, at that time all wild land. His 
farm is now all under fence, forty-five acres 
have been placed under the plow, an 
orchard has been set out, and in 1893 he 
erected his present comfortable residence. 
He also owns an interest in a couple of cot- 
ton fields, which in good seasons turns out 
about eight hundred bales and raises stock 
for his own use. 

Mr. Neel led to the marriage altar Miss 
Mary J. Woods, who was born in Hill county, 
Texas, September 10, 1856, but when only 
two years old was brought to Comanche 
county by her parents, M. A, and Mary A. 
(Farmer) Woods, the former a native of 
Ohio and the latter of Tennessee. Her fa- 
ther, though not a member of any church, 
was a moral, upright man, and a farmer and 
stock-raiser by occupation. He died in 
1870, and his wife, a worthy member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, now makes 
her home with her children, at the age of 
sixty-four years. 

Nine children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Neel, namely: Ida B., wife of E. 
H. Allison, a farmer; James A., an agricult- 
urist; Gertrude, wife of Doc McDonald, a 
farmer; Joe, Mack, George, Fannie, Bertha 
and Vera. The parents still adhere to the 
faith in which they were reared, that of 
the Methodist church, are highly respected 



tl IS TORT OF TEXAS. 



667 



members of the community where they have 
so long made their home, and are genial, 
hospitable people. Mr. Neel cast his first 
vote in support of the Democratic party, 
but since 1893 has been a stalwart Populist. 



HJ. DAUGHTRY, to whom pros- 
perity has come as the reward of 
indefatigable industry and unwa- 
vering perseverance in his business 
pursuits, was born in Marion county, Geor- 
gia, July 19, 1846, a son of Allen and Eliza- 
beth (Giles) Daughtry. The father of our 
subject was a native of North Carolina and 
a descendant of one of the old and influen- 
tial families of the south. He was a farmer 
by occupation, following that pursuit through 
many years of his life. He served in the 
state militia of Georgia and died near Au- 
gusta during the late war. His wife was a 
native of Maryland and died in 1875. 

Mr. Daughtry, of this review, spent the 
days of his boyhood and youth in his par- 
ents' home, but when a youth of sixteen 
entered the Confederate service in defense 
of the south, which had always been his 
home and was in consequence very dear to 
him. He joined the boys in gray of the 
Second Georgia Cavalry, and with that com- 
mand did valiant service until the close of 
the war. He was twice wounded, first at 
the battle of Chattanooga and later during 
the siege of Atlanta. His wounds, how- 
ever, were not of a very serious nature, and 
he continued at the front, participating in 
many of the most important engagements 
of the late war, — one of the valiant soldier- 
boys, whose bravery equaled that of the 
time-honored veterans. 

Mr. Daughtry continued his residence in 
the state of his nativity until in the year 



1 87 1, when he came to Texas, locating in 
Yates county, where he remained until 
1886. He then came to Comanche county, 
locating on his present farm, which is situ- 
ated about twelve miles west of Comanche. 
His possessions in real estate comprise one 
hundred and sixty acres of good land, of 
which one hundred acres is divided into 
fields and placed under a high state of cul- 
tivation. He has upon the place a good 
orchard and substantial buildings, and the 
many improvements that are found upon 
the model farm of the nineteenth century. 

On the 1 2th of November, 1865, Mr. 
Daughtry was united in marriage with Miss 
Elizabeth Hilmon, a native of Georgia, and 
their family numbers the following children: 
Allen W. ; Charles; Ida, wife of August 
Henry; Wilbur, Lena, Ellis, Dollie and 
Ross. They have lost two sons: Hiram, 
who died at the age of five years; and 
Thomas, who died in infancy. 

Mr. Daughtry is a Democrat, having 
supported the men and measures of that 
party since attaining his majority. Socially 
he affiliates with Blanket Lodge, No. 645, 
F. & A. M., and he and his family are 
worthy members of the Baptist church. 



' w * M. DAVIS has been a resident of 

I I Erath county for more than a third 

[ ^ of a century, having taken up his 

abode here in 1861, when the 

region was wild. He was born in Hickman 

county, Kentucky, September 8, 1S29, a son 

of Gabriel and Mary (Depoister) Davis, also 

natives of Kentucky. The grandfather, 

Abner Davis, was born in North Carolina, 

and was of Welsh lineage, his ancestors 

having come to this country prior to the 

Revolution. The grandfather of our subject 



608 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



located in Kentucky among the pioneers of 
that state and was killed at the battle of 
Tippecanoe during the war of 1812. The 
maternal grandfather, John Depoister, was 
also a native of North Carolina, was of 
Scotch ancestry and became one of Ken- 
tucky's pioneers. He aided the colonists 
throughout their struggle for independence 
and spent his last days at the home of his 
daughter, where he died at the age of ninety 
years. 

The parents of our subject were married 
in Butler county, Kentucky, and at a very 
early day removed to Hickman county, 
where the father followed agricultural pur- 
suits for a number of years. In 1846 they 
again emigrated westward and this time 
took up their residence in Butler county, 
Missouri, where Mr. Davis carried on farm- 
ing until his life's labors were ended by 
death. His wife also died in that county. 
They were the parents of seven children, 
all of whom are now deceased excepting the 
subject of this sketch. The father died in 
the fall of 1857, at the age of fifty-seven 
years, and the mother passed away in 1859, 
when fifty-five years of age. 

Our subject was reared in his native 
county until si.xteen years of age, and took 
advantage of the opportunities afforded by 
the common schools to acquire an educa- 
tion. He accompanied his parents on their 
removal to Missouri and assisted his father 
in clearing and improving a frontier farm. 
He remained under the parental roof until 
he had attained his majority, and then 
started out in life for himself. As a com- 
panion and helpmeet on life's journej' he 
chose Miss Catherine Watson and their 
marriage was celebrated March 14, 1850. 
The lady was born in Montgomery county, 
Tennessee, and is a daughter of Foster and 



Susan (Hargraves) Watson, who were from 
Kentucky and settled in Missouri in the fall 
of 1849. 

Upon his marriage Mr. Davis purchased 
a tract of wild land and again improved a 
farm. He also engaged in flatboating 
and rafting on the Mississippi river until 
1853, when he disposed of his business in- 
terests in that locality and removed to Col- 
lin county, Texas. A year later he re- 
turned to his Missouri home and again 
bought his old farm. He resided there un- 
til June, 1858, when he once more came to 
the Lone Star state, spending a month in 
Jack county, then buying a farm in Parker 
county. He sold that property the follow- 
ing spring and went to Wise county, where 
he improved a farm, remaining there until 
the fall of 1 86 1, when he arrived in Erath 
county and bought two hundred and thir- 
teen acres of land, of which only si.x acres 
were improved. He now has two hundred 
acres, and one hundred and twenty-five 
acres are under high cultivation. The rich 
soil yields abundant harvests in return for 
the care and labor he bestows upon it. 

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have twelve children, 
as follows: James Carroll, a merchant of 
Bridgeport, Texas; Mary Ann, who became 
the wife of Dow Dunnigan and died in 1884; 
Benjamin F., who follows farming in Clay 
county; Gabriel Marion, a farmer of Clay 
county; Martha, wife of James Dever, of 
Taylor county, Texas; Thomas J., of So- 
noma county, California; Catherine, wife of 
Frank Ashworth, of Erath county; Cordelia, 
wife of Jonathan Lewis, of Erath county; 
Elizabeth Frances, who for twenty years 
has been blind and was educated in the 
School for the Blind at Austin, Texas, and 
is now a music teacher in Lipan, Hood 
county; Charlie Stonewall and Joseph, who 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



669 



are still on the home farm; and Naomi, also 
a music teacher. 

During the war Mr. Davis served on the 
frontier, but with the exception of that pe- 
riod has remained continuously in Erath 
county since locating here in 1 86 1 . Socially 
he is connected with Bluff Dale Lodge, No. 
724, F. & A. M., and in politics he was for- 
merly a Democrat, but now gi\es his sup- 
port to the People's party. 



Sj— ^ ENRY KING is the senior member 

1^^^ of the firm of King & Smith, who 

It P successfully conduct a general 

blacksmith, wagon and repair shop 

at Meridian. The firm is one of the oldest 

and probably the most reliable in their line 

of business in the city, and all work done by 

them is guaranteed to be up to the average 

both in mechanical and wearing qualities. 

They have met with good success, which is 

well deserved, and own their present place 

of business. 

Mr. King was born in McNairy county, 
Tennessee, January 10, 1855, his parents 
being Armor and Louisa (Sipes) King, also 
natives of the same state, and are now both 
deceased, the former having died in 1866, 
and the latter on the 3d of November, 1894. 
Their family consisted of nine children, of 
whom our subject was the sixth in order of 
birth. The father came to Texas in 1855, 
but after a residence of two years removed 
to Arkansas. After his death, however, the 
mother with her family returned to this 
state, where our subject learned the black- 
smith's trade, and later began business on j 
his own account. He is entirely a self-made 
man, and has succeeded through his own 
efforts in securing a good property, own- 
ing at the present time a fine farm of on? 



hundred and forty acres, all of which is 
under improvement with the exception of 
twenty acres. 

The lady who now shares the name and 
fortunes of Mr. King was in her maidenhood 
Miss Minnie Johnson, a native of Illinois, 
and a daughter of J. H. Johnson, a Baptist 
minister, who came to Texas some twenty- 
five j'ears ago, and they were united in 
marriage on the 5th of May, 1885. Five 
children were born to them, but Eunice T., 
the eldest, is now deceased. Those living 
are James L., Ola Lee, Bessie Myrtle and 
an infant daughter. 

In politics Mr. King is a Democrat and 
a firm believer in the principles of his party, 
while religiously both he and his wife are 
esteemed members of the Baptist church. 
They are highly respected in the society 
that surrounds them, and enjoy the confi- 
dence and regard of all who know them. 



ai 



ILLIAM E. M. PICKLE is 
a gentleman whose seven years' 
residence in Bosque county has 
convinced him that this part of 
the country as an agricultural district is 
nowhere excelled. He holds front rank 
amongst its most prosperous and enterpris- 
ing farmers, and as such is to be considered 
biograpically in this work. 

Mr. Pickle is a native of South Carolina 
and a representative of a family long resi- 
dent of that state. He was born June 25, 
1853, and was reared at Williamston, a 
town on the Cumberland railroad, where 
he received a fair English education. His 
parents, C. W. and Elizabeth (Murphy) 
Pickle, were both born in the Palmetto 
state. William Pickle, the father of C. W., 
was reared and passed his life there, being 



070 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



a slaveholder and prominent farmer, and 
dying in that state at the extreme old age of 
ninet3--one years. His father had emigrated 
to this country from Holland and made set- 
tlement in South Carolina at a very early 
day. The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
ject — Grandfather Wilson — was a native of 
the Emerald Isle, came to America about 
the time of the Revolution, or before that 
period, and was a surgeon in the patriot 
army. He also settled in South Carolina. 
C. W. Pickle was for many years a promi- 
nent merchant in his native state, remain- 
ing there until 1868. During the late war 
he was postmaster of his town, acted as a 
commissary for the soldiers' widows, and 
conducted a shoe manufactory for the Con- 
federacy. The war broke him up, as it did 
many others, his store and dwelling being 
burned and his slaves freed, the total loss 
amounting to over $20,000. And soon 
after this loss, in April, 1867, he had another 
and greater loss in the death of his wife. 
The year following her death he came to 
Te.xas, accompanied by his children, and 
made settlement in Anderson county, on a 
farm, where he spent the evening of life in 
agricultural pursuits. He died in Septem- 
ber, 1 88 1. His wife was a Missionary Bap- 
tist, while he was a member of the Christian 
church; and in his political views he was 
Democratic, taking an intelligent interest in 
all public affairs, but never aspiring to of- 
ficial position. His family comprised the 
following named members: Elizabeth, who 
was married in South Carolina to Dr. Pall 
Williams, is now a resident of Anderson 
county, Texas; Fanny, wife of Pall Will- 
iams, is also a resident of Anderson county; 
William E. M., whose name graces this 
article; Savanna is the wife of Mr. Murphy 
Gore, a farmer of Hill county, Texas; Ida 



is the wife of T. Sterman, a merchant of 
Athens, Henderson county, Texas; and 
Charles, who is a farmer of Collin county, 
this state. 

From this succinct review of his ances- 
try, we would now turn to the life of our 
immediate subject, William E. M. Pickle. 
His boyhood days were passed in his native 
town and at the age of sixteen he accom- 
panied his father to what was then regarded 
as far-off Texas, arriving here, as already 
stated, in 1868, and settling on a farm. 
Ever since that date, with the exception of 
1887 and 1888, when he was a clerk at 
Palestine, Texas, the subject of our sketch 
has been engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
In February, 1889, he came to Bosque 
county and bought the land he has since oc- 
cupied, five hundred acres of rich prairie 
located three miles southeast of Iredell. 
There were no buildings on the land at that 
time and only fifteen acres of the soil had 
been furrowed. To-day a marked change 
is observed. The whole tract is well fenced, 
one hundred and twenty acres are under 
cultivation, there is a commodious residence 
and also a good tenant house, a fine orchard 
is loaded with fruits, the fields are well tilled 
and in the broad pastures is found a high 
grade of cattle and horses; in short, every- 
thing about the premises gives evidence that 
both means and intelligent labor have been 
expended here. Mr. Pickle is especially in- 
terested in grading up his stock, horses, mules 
and cattle. He has raised some fine horses 
of the Steeldust and Norman breeds, which 
have sold for handsome prices. Kis exten- 
sive farming and stock operations require 
the whole of his time and attention, and he 
has never sought or cared for office. He, 
however, takes a commendable interest in 
public affairs and keeps himself well posted 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



671 



on the issues of the day. He affiHates with 
the Democratic party and favors the free 
coinage of silver. 

Mr. Pickle was united in marriage in 
1874 to Miss Augusta Davis, a native of 
Alabama. Her father, Bradley Davis, was 
of South Carolina birth and moved from that 
state to Alabama when a young man, where 
he was engaged in farming until the opening 
of the late war. He died while in the Con- 
federate service. He was twice married and 
had three children by each wife, Mrs. Pickle 
being the youngest child by the first mar- 
riage. Mr. and Mrs. Pickle have been 
blessed in the birth of nine children, of 
whom six are living, namely: Murphy, Eula, 
Brad, Meda, Vera and Betty, — all at home. 
One child died at birth, and the names of 
the other two were Crawford and Alma. 

Fraternally, Mr. Pickle is identified with 
the Masonic order and the Knights of Honor. 
Much more might be said of him, but enough 
has already been given to serve as an index 
to his character and show that his influence 
has ever been directed along the line of 
progress and for the good of the community. 



at 



ILLIAM CLAYTON POE is a 

representative of one of the early 
pioneer families of Hood county, 
Texas, and a descendant of an- 
cestors who settled in America in colonial 
days. Stephen Poe, his great-grandfather, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, go- 
ing into that war with his nine brothers 
and rendering valiant service until the 
struggle was ended. He and his brothers 
became separated in the war and never 
afterward saw or heard of each other. He 
settled in the south, where he was a re- 
spected citizen and where his posterity have 



occupied useful and honored positions in 
life. An uncle of W. C. Poe served in the 
Mexican war. 

William Clayton Poe was born in Louis- 
iana, May 20, 1848, son of William and 
Elizabeth (Stuart) Poe, the former a native 
of Georgia and the latter of South Carolina. 
His parents were married in Alabama in 
1835, resided for a time in Louisiana, and 
from the latter state came in 1848 to Texas, 
locating first in Rusk county. Two years 
later they came to Wood county, where 
they remained seven years. At the expira- 
tion of that time the family, consisting of 
parents and seven children, started for San 
Saba county, but before they reached their 
destination the father died. The widow 
and children went on and made settlement 
in San Saba county, where they were for 
ten years engaged in stock-raising and farm- 
ing. Owing to the many depredations 
committed by the Indians there about that 
time, they left that part of the state and 
came to Hood county, where they located 
and where they have since figured as repre- 
sentative citizens. The aged mother, now 
eighty-one years old, is kindly cared for in 
the home of her son William C. , from whom 
she has never been separated since the death 
of her husband. 

The immediate subject of our sketch, 
William C. Poe, was an infant when brought 
to this state and knows no other home than 
a Texas one. In his boyhood days he at- 
tended for a short time the subscription 
schools of the frontier community in which 
they resided, where he learned little more 
than to read and write; but by home read- 
ing and study later in life he acquired a 
wide range of useful information, and keeps 
himself well posted on current topics. On 
arriving at the age of twenty-one he began 



C72 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



life on his own responsibility, his training 
and experience standing him in good stead, 
and he then launched out as a farmer and 
stock dealer. In 1880 he purchased his 
present farm, one hundred and fifty-four 
acres, to the cultivation and care of which 
he has since devoted his energies and with 
marked success, his place now being well 
improved and giving evidence of the intel- 
ligence that has been back of the labor here 
expended. 

Mr. Poe is of a generous and public- 
spirited nature, interested in all that goes to 
promote the welfare of his community. In 
politics he is a Democrat. Socially he is 
identified with the Masonic order, having 
membership in Granbury Lodge, No. 392, 
A. F. & A. M. 

He was married November 25, 1877, to 
Miss Ailie A. Roach, a native of Tennessee, 
but reared from childhood in Texas, daugh- 
ter of James and Malinda (Cornell) Roach. 
It was in 1847 that the Roach family came 
to this state, their settlement being in Red 
River county, where the parents died. 

Mr. and Mrs. Poe are consistent mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. 



<>^ EV. SHELBY KING.— In a speech 
I /^T delivered before the Home Mission- 
1 . y ary Society of the Presbyterian 
church in February, 1896, Presi- 
dent Cleveland said, in part: "No one 
charged with the duties and responsibilities 
which necessarily weigh upon your chief 
executive can fail to appreciate the import- 
ance of religious teachings and Christian 
endeavor in the newly settled portions of 
our vast domain. It is there where hot 
and stubborn warfare between the forces of 
good and evil is constantly invited. In 



these days the vanguard of occupation in a 
new settlement is never without its vicious 
and criminal element. Gambling houses 
and dram-shops are frequently among the 
firit establishments in a new community. 
It must also be confessed that removal from 
old homes and associations to a new and 
more primitive home has a tendenc}' among 
honest and respectable settlers to smother 
scruples and to breed toleration of evils and 
indifference to Christianizing and elevating 
agencies." No one has been more active 
in counteracting the bad influences peculiar 
to a new country, and in spreading the gos- 
pel, than has the pioneer preacher of the 
Missionary Baptist church of central Texas; 
and of this class Rev. Mr. King is a good 
representative. As such, the history of his 
life forms an important link in the chain of 
local historj'. 

Rev. Shelby King was born in Shelby 
county, — the county for which he was 
named, — in Alabama, May 13, 1835, son 
of Edmund and Nancy (Reagan) King. He 
was educated in the Masonic Institute of 
Selma, Alabama, at Howard College and 
in the Alabama University, spending three 
years in the last named institution and 
nearly completing its classical course. His 
life work has been farming, teaching and 
preaching, combining the three and crowd- 
ing usefulness into every moment. His first 
twenty-seven years were spent in Alabama. 
At the age of twenty he purchased a farm 
of seven hundred and sixty acres, which he 
owned and superintended until his removal 
to Texas in the fall of 1862, his first settle- 
ment in this state being in Ja.sper county. 
There he bought six hundred and forty 
acres of land. He made that place his 
home eleven years, carrying on farming 
operations extensively, and it was while 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



673 



there, in 1865, that his career as a teacher 
began. After several removals and much 
travel, he came, in September, 1882, to the 
farm he now owns near Carlton, Hamilton 
county. Here he at first purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres of land on the A. 
J. Taylor survey, to which by subsequent 
purchase he added until now he owns four 
hundred and twentj'-eight acres. Previous 
to the late war Mr. King was a large slave- 
holder, but since then his operations have 
been carried on with the aid of hired help. 
After he had been on his present farm two 
years he decided to engage in the sheep 
business, and accordingly bought about 
seven hundred head of sheep in the vicinity 
of Johnson's Peak in Bosque county and 
brought them to his ranch. In this enter- 
prise, however, he met with strong opposi- 
tion. There was then an element here, 
known as "stock men," bitterly opposed to 
the sheep industry and determined by all 
means, foul or fair, to drive it from the 
country. After enduring their mobs and 
their raids and suffering the loss of many of 
his sheep, Mr. King disposed of his flock. 
He now has tenants on his land and is him- 
self practically retired. 

Among the educational institutions with 
which Mr. King has been at different times 
connected, we note the following: Head's 
Prairie Academy in Robertson county, a non- 
sectarian school, employing three teachers; 
Clifton Academy, Clifton, Bosque county, 
where four teachers were employed and 
about two hundred pupils enrolled ; a private 
school in Newburg, where he had one hun- 
dred and seventy pupils. Also he taught 
here in Carlton and in other places. 

Mr. King was converted and joined the 
Baptist church when he was about twenty 
years of age, soon felt that he had a call to 



tell the glad tidings of salvation, and when 
he was twenty-one began preaching. His 
ministerial work has ever been character- 
ized by earnestness and devotion. His ef- 
forts have been over a large extent of 
territory and among all classes of people, 
whenever and wherever duty called; and 
always with the courage of his convictions 
has he proclaimed the truth and pointed out 
the straight and narrow path. In early life 
he preached at various points in Alabama 
and Mississippi. In Texas he had regular 
charges sixteen years, has traveled and 
preached in no less than eighty counties in 
this state, and during this period of active 
ministration has baptized as many as two 
hundred people in a single year. Recently, 
although retired, his voice is heard occa- 
sionally from the pulpit. Personally, Mr. 
King is large of stature, rugged in appear- 
ance, fearless in speaking and acting what 
he believes to be right, and always pos- 
sessing that manner which commands at- 
tention and respect. At the time of the 
trouble alluded to above, between the stock 
men and the sheep men, when law and order 
were set aside and riot ran high, and when 
even Mr. King's own life was threatened if 
he did not remove his sheep, he boldly 
stood up in his pulpit and denounced their 
actions, raising a mighty voice against mobs 
and mob law; and he was the first man in 
Hamilton county who had the courage to 
publicly denounce mob law. "Brother 
King," as he is affectionately called by his 
acquaintances, has always stood high in his 
church. When disputes arise in the church 
at various points in the adjoining counties, 
he is usually called in to settle the difficul- 
ties, and his decision is generally accepted 
as final. 

Turning now to the more purely domestic 



C74 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



page in the history of our subject, we find 
that May 3, 1855, he was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Catharine McClennay, 
daughter of S. G. McClennay, a Baptist 
minister, and his wife, whose maiden name 
was Miss Woodfin. Mrs. King was born 
May 29, 1836, in Alabama, and died in 
Texas, July 28, 1888. She was a lady of 
many excellent qualities of heart and mind, 
by her sweet and amiable life endeared herself 
to a large circle of friends, and by her counsel, 
sympathy and devotion was a helpmate in- 
deed to her husband in his busy and useful 
field of action. Of their family, brief 
record is as follows: Betty Reagan, who 
died in infancy; Mary Catharine, wife of 
Prof. W. C. Jones, Cooke county, Texas; 
Nanny Reagan, who died at the age of two 
years; Sally McClourin, wife of Dr. Harry 
Brown, Yorktown, Texas; Lelia McClennay, 
wife of Hugh Armstrong, Stephenville, 
Texas; Cleo Marcella, wife of Prof. J. B. 
Jones, of Ranger Academy, Ranger, Texas; 
Shelby James, who died at the age of two 
years; and Edward Selma, at home. De- 
cember 19, 1889, Mr. King wedded for his 
second wife Mrs. Martha Elizabeth McCul- 
lough, widow of J. W. McCullough and 
daughter of Larkin and Frances Forbes. 
Mrs. King is a native of Macon county, 
Alabama, born February 25, 1837, and is a 
woman of culture and refinement. She has 
one child by her first marriage, C. E. Mc- 
Cullough, now of Mills county, Texas. 



HN DREW JACKSON, a highly 
esteemed citizen of Hood county, 
whose connection with its inter- 
ests covers a period of thirty-nine 
years, dating from 1857, claims North Car- 
olina as the state of his birth, which oc- 



curred in Burke county. May 18, 1822. His 
parents, Eli and Tabitha (Hodge) Jackson, 
were also natives of the same county and 
were of Irish lineage. 

Our subject was reared in North Caro- 
lina until thirteen years of age, and then 
accompanied his parents on their removal 
to Georgia, the family locating in Rabun 
county, where Andrew remained until he 
had attained to man's estate, while the par- 
ents made their home in that locality until 
called to their final rest, the father passing 
away at the age of seventy-six, while the 
mother died a few years later at the same 
age. On starting out in life for himself 
Andrew Jackson secured employment as a 
farm hand and after his marriage began 
farming on his own account, following that 
pursuit in Georgia until 1857, when he re- 
solved to seek a home. Accordingly he 
started westward and after several weeks of 
travel arrived in Hood county, locating 
three miles from his present home. His 
first farm, on the Paluxy, is now owned by 
J. Nutt. He continued its cultivation until 
1859, when he purchased one hundred and 
sixty acres of partially improved land, which 
he operated until the time of the war, when 
he entered the service for the protection of 
the frontier. When the war was over the 
settlers had great trouble with the Indians 
for several years, but at length the latter 
were driven westward and the farmers were 
enabled to continue their labors uninter- 
ruptedly. 

Mr. Jackson was married February 25, 
1847, to Miss Mary M. Osborn, a native of 
North Carolina and a daughter of Newman 
and Judith Osborn, who settled in Georgia 
in an early day, living in Gilmer county. 
To our subject and his wife were born seven 
children, six of whom are living, namely: 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



675 



George E., J. P. ; Nancy Jane, wife of J. A. 
Ducket; N. O. ; Judith A., widow of George 
Dike; S. M., wife of W. G. Ingle; and 
Sarah, deceased wife of A. J. Clark. The 
mother of this family died January 8, i860, 
and Mr. Jackson was again married in De- 
cember, 1 86 1, his second union being with 
Nancy Ingle, whose maiden name was An- 
drews and who was a native of Louisiana. 
One daughter has been born of the second 
marriage, Mary L. , now the wife of J. M. 
McCluskie. Mr. Jackson and his wife are 
consistent members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, in which he has served as 
steward for many years. His political sup- 
port is given the men and measures of the 
Democracy. His has been an upright life 
and his sterling worth and strict integrity 
have won the confidence and regard of a 
large circle of friends. 



>Y* P- JACKSON.— One does not have 
J to carry his investigation far into the 
(% 1 record of Hood county to find that 
the name of Jackson occupies a con- 
spicuous place among the pioneers. Our 
subject is a worthy representative of one of 
the early families of central Texas and is a 
wide-awake, progressive citizen, who gives 
his support to all measures calculated to 
prove of benefit to the community. 

Born in Gilmer county, Georgia, on the 
6th of December, 1850, he is a son of An- 
drew Jackson, whose sketch appears above. 
The first seven years of his life were spent 
in the place of his nativity and then he ac- 
companied his father to Texas, since which 
time he has been a resident of Hood coun- 
ty. He resided with his parents until 
twenty-five years of age, assisting his father 
in the labors of the field and meadow and 



faithfully performing his share of the farm 
work. 

On leaving home Mr. Jackson was united 
in marriage with Miss Amanda E. Lane, 
the wedding being celebrated on the 18th 
of November, 1875. The lady was an or- 
phan and came to Texas in 1869 with the 
family of Isaac Moore, by whom she was 
reared. Seven children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Jackson, as follows: Nora Rox- 
anna, who died at the age of nine months; 
Mary Lillian; Susan Ida; William Oscar; 
Stella Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Hor- 
ace Aimer; and Sidney Osborn. 

After his marriage our subject purchased 
three hundred acres of wild land on which 
not a furrow had been .turned or an improve- 
ment made, and at once began to clear and 
cultivate it. There is now a tract of one hun- 
dred and five acres under the plow, and in 
connection with general farming Mr. Jack- 
son is successfully engaged in stock-raising, 
making a specialty of the breeding of Clydes- 
dale horses, of which he owns some very 
fine specimens. He has done much to ad- 
vance the grade of horses in this locality 
and in all his business he follows progress- 
ive, up-to-date methods. His strict regard 
for commercial ethics and his straightfor- 
ward dealing and his energy have won for 
him the confidence and respect of all with 
whom he has come in contact and at the 
same time have gained for him a handsome 
competence. 

In 1892 Mr. Jackson was called upon to 
mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 
1 6th of July, at the age of thirty-three 
years, her birth having occurred on the ist 
of May, 1859. She was a worthy member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church and many 
friends mourned her loss. Mr. Jackson 
also belongs to the same church and is serv- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



ing as its steward. Socially he is connected 
with Paluxy Lodge, No. 393, F. & A. M., 
in which he has filled all the offices, and in 
politics he is a "free-silver" Democrat. 



^j'OHN LEVI SPURLIN, general man- 
■ ager of the mercantile firm of Will- 
A 1 iam Maxwell, of Hamilton, Texas, 
was born at Chatfield Point, Navar- 
ro county, Texas, September 17, 1853, and 
is a son of Levi Balding and Sarah Rosanna 
(Reagan) Spurlin. At the age of sixteen he 
began life for himself, entering the service 
of the International & Great Northern rail- 
road, as freight clerk at Palestine, Texas, 
and remained with .the company for six 
years, during which time his efficient service 
was rewarded by promotions from time to 
time, holding the positions of terminal 
agent, assistant auditor, as well as others of 
like responsibility. While in the employ of 
that road he was also engaged in merchan- 
dising at Palestine, other parties being in 
charge of his business. 

On the 23d of December, 1878, Mr. 
Spurlin came to Hamilton as business man- 
ager for the mercantile firm of S. W. 
Hearne & Company, with whom he re- 
mained until the death of Mr. Hearne in 
1884, when the mother of our subject, Mrs. 
S. R. Scoggin, bought the business and he 
still continued as manager. In 1890 he be- 
came owner and conducted the store under 
his own name for two years, when he sold to 
Messrs. Horton & Maxwell, but continued 
in their employ as general manager. Later, 
after Mr. Maxwell became sole proprietor, 
he continued with the establi.shment in the 
same capacity, and still remains there. The 
business carried on by the firm is one of the 
largest in this section of the state, and has 



grown to its present proportions under the 
able management of Mr. Spurlin, as when 
he took charge in 1878 the stock carried 
was very small, but is now valued at thirty 
thousand dollars, while the sales reaches 
nearly one hundred thousand dollars an- 
nually. The building occupied is a large, 
commodious stone structure, erected in 
1890, prior to which time business was con- 
ducted in the room now used for the grocery 
department. The firm also buys and ships 
stock, and our subject is associated with Mr. 
Maxwell in dealing extensively in real es- 
tate, having between ten and eleven thou- 
sand acres of land in Hamilton county. 

On the 20th of July, 1881, was celebrated 
the marriage of Mr. Spurlin and Miss Mag- 
gie Vedder, who was born at Galveston, 
Texas, October 25, 1854, and is the daugh- 
ter of Jacob Sedam and Margaret (King) 
Vedder. Two children grace this union: 
Margaret Eleanor, born May 6, 1890; and 
John Levi, born August 4, 1893. 

Mr. Spurlin organized the first bank at 
Hamilton, known as the First National 
Bank, but although it received its charter it 
never did business, and gave place to the 
Hamilton National Bank, organized shortly 
after, of which he acted as vice-president 
until the election of the present incumbent, 
J. T. James. He is noted for his energy 
and progressive business methods, and al- 
though he has met with misfortunes these 
did not occur through any fault of his. The 
fact that he has continued so long in his 
present position is proof that he holds the 
confidence of his business associates and the 
public as well. The name Spurlin is synony- 
mous with the large business with which he 
has been connected for almost twenty years. 
Politically, he is an ardent Democrat. At 
the Democratic county convention of Ham- 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



677 



ilton county held August 8, 1896, he was 
elected county chairman for said county; 
and at the Democratic state convention 
held at Fort Worth, Texas, he was elected 
chairman of the twenty-seventh senatorial 
district. Socially he is connected with 
Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 15, K. P., of Pales- 
tine, Texas, which he joined in 1875, and 
still holds his membership there; and is a 
charter member of Hamilton Lodge, No. 
3021, Knights of Honor. 



^V^HILIP PREACHER is one of the 
1 m honored and successful pioneers 
1 who have helped to rescue Hamil- 

ton county from the wilderness 
and make it fair as a garden of the Lord. 
He was born November 7, 1824, in the 
Bluford district, of the state of South Caro- 
lina, his parents being John and Sucie 
(Lea) Preacher, who took him to Coffee 
county, Alabama, before he was sixteen 
years old, and there they both died. Our 
subject early began life for himself and 
worked at the trade of carpentry for fifteen 
years, and lived in that county up to the 
time of his coming to Texas. He served in 
the war, and came to Texas in the month of 
December, 1870. He farmed rented land 
in Collin county for five years. In 1875 
moved to Hamilton county and rented land 
on the Bosque river, and next moved to his 
present location, where he had purchased 
three hundred and twenty acres. All was 
then wild land, and he has built everything 
on the place, and now has one hundred 
acres in cultivation. 

Mr. Preacher was married in 1848, to 
Harriet Journeykin, who was about his age 
and has become the mother of these chil- 
dren: Nancy was born June 27, 1849, mar- 



ried John Atkinson. Henry Daniel was born 
July 17, 1 85 1, and is now living in the coun- 
ty, unmarried. Sarah Ann Samantha was 
born March 26, 1854; and also an infant 
child, which died very soon after birth. This 
lady died in the summer of 1857, and our sub- 
ject was married, for a second time, to Sarah 
Barden, daughter of Woodward and Martha 
Barden. She was a native of Stewart county, 
Georgia, where she was born August 6, 1833. 
She is also the mother of a large family. 
John Woodward was born September 5, 
1858, and was married October 31, 1886, to 
Amanda Fulford, lives on a farm and has 
these children: Genie Ella, Hattie May, 
Tennie Leona, Fida (deceased) and Ethel. 
Susan was born February 22, i860, became 
the wife of J. T. MacGuire, and is the 
mother of Tudy, Samuel, Amanda, Alice 
and George. Elizabeth was born May 27, 
1 861, and has been twice married. To her 
first husband, Harris Burney, she bore two 
children, — William and Sally, — and to her 
second husband, P. A. White, six children, 
—Walker, Dorsey. Chloe, Myrtle, Randall 
and Rada. Philip Marion was born August 
5, 1862, and was married February 11, 
1885, to Julia Fulford, and is now living on 
the place. They are the parents of five chil- 
dren, — Oscar, Delia, Lula, May and Willie 
Roy. William Joseph was born November 
2, 1864, and was married November 29, 
1888, to Lizzie Harris, and is living on the 
place. He has always been of a delicate 
constitution, and has given more time to 
books and study than to manual labor. He 
has served in the interests of several eastern 
detective bureaus, and could now command 
a lucrative position did his health permit. 
Martha Ann Missouri, born December 19, 
1868, was married September 20, 1893, to 
Jefferson Beauregard Carter, is the mother 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of two children, — Pauline and Frederick, — 
and is at home on the place. Caledonia 
was born January 6, 1870, married Allen 
Albert Hensler, January 6, 1892, and is the 
mother of one child, Basil Lockhart. Mr. 
Hensler was a widower with two living chil- 
dren, — Judson and Annie, — and one child, 
Irene, dead. Mary Eliza was born April 1 1, 
1875, and has been in delicate health, and 
never quite right from infancy. Luther was 
born August 14, 1879, and died July 22, 
1890. 

The father of our subject owned a grist- 
mill, sawmill and cotton-gin, and was a 
mechanic of more than usual ability. His 
son, the subject of this writing, has built at 
least fifty houses in this county. He has 
three sisters and one brother: Eliza Ann, 
Elizabeth, Lavinia, and Jacob. The grand- 
mother of our subject died in 1865, aged 
about seventy-two. She had four children, 
— Sukie, Lavinia, Lovisa and Kissie. 

Our subject was in his earlier life a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, but in 1875 
transferred his membership to the Baptist 
church. Formerly he was a Democrat, 
but in later years has been acting with the 
Populist party. Preacher is an English 
name, but the family has long been resident 
in this country, the grandfather having had 
an honorable part in the Revolutionary 
struggle. His wife was of Dutch extraction, 
and was the mother of but two children, 
Christopher and the father of our subject. 



u 



ILLIAM DAWS, Sipe Springs, 
Comanche county, Te.xas, landed 
in this county over twenty years 
ago, and has since been identified 
with its interests and ranked as one of its 
most respected citizens. To a brief review 



of his life we would at this point invite 
attention. 

William Daws is of Tennessee birth, 
born in Rutherford county, January 26, 
1834. Isaac Daws, his father, was born in 
the Old Dominion, was of English descent, 
and a representative of one of the primitive 
families of Virginia. On a farm in his na- 
tive state Isaac was reared, and was there 
married to Miss Susan C. Roberts, a native 
of Virginia, her people having emigrated to 
that place from Ireland. Not long after 
their marriage they moved to Rutherford 
county, Tennessee, later went to Talladega 
county, Alabama, and in 1855 sought a 
home still further west and took up their 
abode in Dallas county, Arkansas, where 
they passed the remainder of their lives and 
died, each being about seventy-five years of 
age at the time of death. They were ear- 
nest Christians and active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. By trade he 
was a shoemaker, but for many years fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits; and in politics 
he was a Whig, and a great admirer of that 
grand old statesman, Henry Clay. Of their 
five children, we record that Elizabeth is 
deceased; William is the subject of this 
sketch; John is the next in order of birth; 
Joel is a resident of .\rkansas; and Sally Ann 
is deceased. 

The boyhood days of our subject were 
spent in work on his father's farm and in 
attending the common schools near his 
home, and about the time he attained his 
majority he accompanied his parents on 
their removal to Dallas county, Arkansas, 
where he was engaged in farming at the 
time the civil war was inaugurated; and, 
like most men of his age, he has a war 
record. It was in Captain Blackwell's com- 
pany, and in the Third Trans-Mississippi 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



679 



Division, under Colonel Pleasant, that he 
went to the front. He was on many a long 
march and in numerous engagements, suf- 
fered the pangs of hunger and the loss of 
blood, and can relate many exciting and in- 
teresting incidents connected with his army 
life. At the battle of Prairie Grove he was 
wounded in the left arm by a minie ball; 
also he received a flesh wound just over the 
stomach from the same kind of ball, and 
was left on the field and reported as dead. 
He had not tasted food for three days be- 
fore being wounded, and it was in all proba- 
bility owing to this fact that his life was 
saved. 

At the close of the war Mr. Daws re- 
turned to his home in Arkansas, where he 
continued to reside until 1875, that year 
coming to Texas and settling in Denton 
county. The following year he removed 
to Comanche county, and since 1880 
he has resided on his present farm, one 
hundred and sixty acres, in the vicinity 
of Sipe Springs. He has his land all 
under fence and seventy-five acres of 
it in cultivation, producing as fine crops 
as can be raised in this part of the country, 
and among the improvements on his farm 
may be mentioned the residence, tenant 
house, orchard, etc. Having thus briefly 
referred to his parentage, army life and 
farming operations, we now turn to that 
page in the life of our subject which is of a 
domestic character. 

Mr. Daws was first married, December 
20, 1859, in Dallas county, Arkansas, to 
Miss Sarah Overman, a native of Talladega 
county, Alabama, and a daughter of Will- 
iam and Harriet (Johnson) Overman, both 
natives of Alabama. Their union was 
blessed in the birth of two children, name- 
ly: Betty, wife of William Littlefield, of 



Sipe Springs; and one deceased. This 
wife and mother died in February, 1892, 
and in July of that year Mr. Daws wedded 
Miss Sarah M. Pyle, a native of Parker 
county, Texas, and a daughter of John 
Wesley and Frances (Lee) Pyle. 

Mr. Daws adheres to the faith in which 
he was reared and is among the substantial 
members of the local Methodist Episcopal 
church. He has always taken a commend- 
able interest in all public issues, gives his 
support to the advancement of educational, 
temperance and religious interests, and 
exerts an influence that is felt for good in 
his community. He casts his franchise with 
the Democratic party. 



at 



ALTER BRALEY GLENN, who 
was identified with the commer- 
cial and agricultural interests of 
Hood county for about thirty 
years, is now living retired at Acton. A 
man of great energy and more than ordi- 
nary business capacity, his success in life 
has been largely due to his own efforts and 
the sound judgment by which he has been 
enabled to make wise investments and take 
good advantage of his resources. 

Mr. Glenn is a native of middle Ten- 
nessee, where he was born August 25, 1830, 
and is of Irish descent on the paternal side, 
while his mother's ancestors were English. 
His grandfather Glenn, who was probably 
the founder of the family in the New World, 
was a resident of South Carolina, and served 
as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. 

The parents of our subject were James 
Edward and Sarah (Braley) Glenn, the 
former a native of South Carolina, and the 
latter of Wilson county, Tennessee. In the 
latter state they were married, and when 



680 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



Walter was about four years of age removed 
to Alabama, where the father engaged in 
farming and died in the year 1847. The 
mother's death occurred in Texas in 1868. 
Their family consisted of four sons and four 
daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, 
and are as follows: Walter B., of this 
review; Mary, who wedded William W. 
Bolding and died in Arkansas, leaving a 
family; Sarah E. A., deceased; James 
Alfred, who was in the Confederate service 
and died at Columbus, Mississippi; Caroline 
Catherine, now Mrs. Massey, of Hood 
county; Angeline, deceased; Andrew Jack- 
son, who was also a Confederate soldier and 
died in Mississippi during the civil war; and 
Francis Marion, a resident of Johnson 
county, Texas. 

After the death of his father nearly the 
entire management of the home farm de- 
volved upon Walter B. Glenn, as he was 
the eldest of the family. His early educa- 
tional advantages were very limited, but by 
reading, observation and in the school of 
experience he has become a well informed 
man. He grew to manhood on the old 
homestead, and in 1851 married Miss Fran- 
ces Caroline Weatherby, a native of Ala- 
bama and a daughter of Moses and Sarah 
Weatherby, who were both born in South 
Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn have be- 
come the parents of nine children, but one 
died in infancy. The others are Columbus 
B., a merchant of Crescent, Texas; Frances 
P., wife of Joseph M. McPherson, of John- 
son county, this state; Andrew Jackson and 
James Moses, twins, the former of whom 
died leaving four children; Sarah C, wife 
of Edward Graham; Charles Marion, a 
farmer of Johnson countj'; Benjamin F., a 
merchant of Acton; and Alice, wife of 
Charles Wohlford, of Hood county. 



In 1853, Mr. Glenn with his wife and 
child came to Texas, making the journey 
with a team of horses and wagon, the trip 
taking about six weeks. On his arrival he 
located in what is now Parker county, but 
was then a part of Tarrant county. Here 
he settled among the Indians and acquired 
three hundred acres of land by the right of 
pre-emption, upon which farm he lived for 
six years, when he sold out and moved to 
Erath county, with the intention of engag- 
ing in the stock business, taking with him a 
number of horses. Owing to the Indian 
depredations he remained there but one 
year, when he returned to Parker county 
and resumed farming and stock-raising, 
giving most of his attention to the latter 
business. 

In 1S62, Mr. 'Glenn enlisted in the Con- 
federate army, as a member of Tom Green's 
old regiment, and followed the fortunes of 
that command until after Lee's surrender. 
Though in a number of engagements he es- 
caped uninjured, and at the close of the war 
returned to Parker county, again taking up 
farming and stock-raising. In the winter of 
1866-7, he was on the frontier with cattle 
in Shackelford county, and while there par- 
ticipated in a battle between the white set- 
tlers and Indians, and was wounded by an 
arrow. It was in 1867 that he first came 
to Hood county, locating at that time ten 
miles south of Granbury, on the Brazos 
river, where he purchased three hundred 
and twenty acres of new land and developed 
a farm which he successfully cultivated 
until 1 88 1, when he removed to Acton and 
opened a general store. He engaged in the 
mercantile business until the fall of 1895, 
also meeting with fair success in this under- 
taking. 

For several years Mr. Glenn served as 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



681 



postmaster of Acton, and has also been 
school trustee. All his life he has been a 
consistent and conservative Democrat, 
taking an interest in public affairs, but has 
never been an office-seeker. Socially, he 
holds a membership with Acton Lodge, No. 
2S5, F. & A. \f., in which he has served as 
worshipful master for several j-ears, and 
has taken the chapter degrees. Religiously, 
both he and his wife are consistent mem- 
bers of the Christian church. Mr. Glenn 
still owns a good farm of two hundred and 
fifty acres in Johnson county, about one 
hundred and fifty acres of which are under 
cultivation. He may well be called a self- 
made man, who by industry, perseverance 
and strict integrity has won success through 
the legitimate channels of trade, and is 
spending the evening of his life in compara- 
tive ease and the enjoyment of the confi- 
dence and respect of his many friends. 



EUGH W. WOODS has for twenty 
years been a resident of Hood 
county and is numbered among its 
substantial farmers and stock- 
raisers. From humble surroundings he has 
worked his way upward and by his own ex- 
ertions has become one of the leading and 
successful men of the community. He was 
born in Perry county, Tennessee, March 27, 
1847, a son of Hugh and Delilah (Woods) 
Woods, who were formerly from I^entucky. 
His father died when he (our subject) was a 
small boy, and his mother afterward mar- 
ried again. 

Mr. Woods of this sketch resided with 
his mother until si.xteen years of age. After 
leaving home he worked for farmers in the 
neighborhood until his marriage, when he 
began farming on his own account in Ten- 



nessee. There he resided until 1875, when, 
hoping to better his financial condition by 
removing to the frontier, he emigrated to 
the Lone Star state, reaching Hood county 
in the month of December. He located on 
what was then known as Gunnell's farm and 
rented land. His cash capital consisted of 
thirty-four dollars, and in true pioneer style 
he began life in Texas. He purchased a 
yoke of oxen, but one was killed soon after- 
ward. With the remaining one he plowed 
his land and the first year raised a cotton 
crop, which he sold for one hundred and 
twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents. He also 
raised enough corn for his own use, besides 
a small quantity for sale. He worked 
earnestly and long in those early days to get 
a start, and after renting land until 18S0 he 
made purchase of two hundred and forty 
acres of timber land, having acquired the 
capital during his five years' residence in the 
state. The first year he and his family slept 
in a wagon and endured all the hardships 
incident to life on the frontier, but energy 
has at length triumphed over difficulties and 
success has come as the reward of untiring 
effort and good management until to-day 
Mr. Woods is the owner of six hundred and 
fourteen acres of land, of which one hundred 
and three acres are in a fine state of cultiva- 
tion He follows general farming and in 
addition raises some stock of good grades. 

His honorable, upright dealing has ever 
won him the confidence and regard of those 
whom he has met, and his friends are many. 

Before coming to Texas Mr. Woods was 
married, on the 22d of November, 1S72, to 
Miss Rebecca Taylor, a native of Tennessee 
and daughterof Joseph and Cynthia (Canada) 
Taylor. Her parents removed to Tennessee 
at the time Davy Crockett, the well known 
pioneer, became a resident of that state and 



(\S-2 



HI STORY OF TEXAS. 



resided near him until his removal to Texas. 
Mr. Woods and his wife became parents of 
three children, — John H., Effie Agnes and 
Joseph; the last named died at the age of 
two years. The mother of these chi'dren 
died on the i6th of February, i88r, at the 
age of twenty-seven years. Mr. ^^'oods was 
again married. May 15. 1S83, his second 
union being with Sallie Bulliver, who was 
called to the home beyond January 29, 1 893. 
On the 15th of September, 1895, he mar- 
ried Miss Nettie Guen, a native of Hood 
county and a daughter of B. J. and Emma 
(Bunt) Guen. Her grandfather, Jeremiah 
Guen, was killed b}- the Indians. Mr. 
Woods has been called to offices of public 
trust, where he has discharged his duties with 
promptness and fidelity. He was appointed 
deputy sheriff May 30, 1885, by Sheriff B. 
W. Morris, and served two years. He was 
then elected bailiff and served two years. 
In politics he is independent. 



Ky'^ (M^.EKT ANDREWS KOOKEN, 
I z*^ M. D. , practicing physician at 
\ , y Hamilton, Texas, was born April 
30, 1862, at Ferris, Ellis county, 
his parents being Brotherton and Jane (An- 
drews) Kooken. He remained at home 
until he had passed his twentieth year, and 
then, being well advanced, was able to 
complete the classical course at Trinity 
University, Tehuacana, Texas, in two years. 
Two years more were given to medical 
reading, under the direction of Dr. Albert 
Welch, at Ferris, and the active and ener- 
getic young student was ready for the med- 
ical department of the University of Louis- 
ville. From this institution he received his 
degree March i, 1888, and immediately 
opened up his office at Ferris, where he 



had many friends and liiought to make his 
permanent home. But the season was un- 
fortunate, the country was intensely malarial, 
and the young doctor was sick for some ten 
months. This long illness caused him to 
change his location, and he found what he 
considered to be an inviting opening at Palo 
Pinto. Here he was practicing for four 
years, when he decided to come to Hamil- 
ton, and on the 2d day of March, 1892, he 
i "suspended his shingle " before the public 
in this city. Here he has been highly suc- 
j cessful, and in a comparatively brief time 
I has built up a practice among the very 
I largest in the county, and is regarded by 
the community as an able and trustworthy 
physician. He is a member of the Board 
] of Medical Examiners, being recently re- 
appointed to the same position by Judge 
Straughn. He is an insurance examiner, 
I and is a member of the Northwestern Med- 
l ical and Surgical Association. 
I Dr. Kooken is a prominent secret society 

! man and is a member of several orders, 
1 being a Mason, holding his membership in 
Rock House Lodge, No. 417; an Odd Fel- 
low, a member of Wennett Lodge, at Brazos, 
and a Knight of Pythias, a member of Santo 
Lodge, at Santo. 

The father of our subject, a native of 

Columbus, Ohio, came to Texas in 1S48, 

making his first brief location in Dallas 

county, and soon afterward moving on to 

Ellis county. Here he remained for many 

years, and was married about the year 1855 

to Miss Jane Andrews, b}' whom he has had 

j the following children: Clara (Mrs. John 

j H. Smith), deceased; our subject, the second 

I child; John .^dolphus, now at school at 

I Valparaiso, Indiana; Charles Edward, a 

clerk in Dallas; Maggie, umnarried and at 

home; Lizzie Earl, wife of Joseph W. Hoi- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



683 



lovvay, at Waxahachie. The senior Mr. 
Andrews is now the proprietor of a large 
stock and grain farm in Ellis county. His 
wife also is still living. She is of Scotch 
origin, though her parents have long been 
settled in Ellis county. 



"arj" A. PEARCE.— Among the leading 
H and influential farmers of Bosque 
A 1 county who thoroughly understand 
their business and pursue the duties 
of their chosen calling in a methodical 
and workmanlike manner, is the subject of 
this biography. In connection with his 
brother Frank he owns and cultivates five 
hundred and si.xty acres of rich and valua- 
ble land, upon which is a comfortable and 
substantial residence and many other good 
improvements, which stand as monuments 
to their thrift and industry. 

Mr. Pearce claims the distinction of be- 
ing the oldest native son still a resident of 
Bosque county, where his birth took place 
on the 1 2th of February, 1856, and is a son 
of A. C. Pearce, now deceased, who was 
one of the early settlers of Te.xas and was 
officially connected with the interests of 
Bosque county. The father was born in 
northern Illinois in 1823, and was of Irish 
ancestry. When but a boy he came south, 
locating first in Louisiana, where he worked 
at the brick and stone mason's trade, and 
was there married to Miss A. M. Bowman, 
a native of Pennsylvania, who was of Ger- 
man extraction, .'\bout 1853 he came to 
Meridian, Texas, where he conducted one of 
the best taverns of the place. Later, how- 
ever, he went to Comanche county and 
worked at his trade for a time, and then re- 
moved to Williamson county. Returning 
to Bosque county he cultivated a farm on 



Chillis creek, east of Meridian, for one year, 
at the expiration of which time he purchased 
the farm on which our subject is now loca- 
ted. He immediately began its improve- 
ment and converted it into one of the best 
and most highly cultivated farms of the 
county. 

By his first marriage, A. C. Pearce had 
the following children: W. W. , of John- 
son county, Te.xas; Mrs. Mary A. Talla\ar; 
John A., of this review; Frank, who is in 
partnership with our subject; Terry, of El 
Paso, Texas; Josie, wife of Ben Cooper; 
Eula and Alice, now deceased; and two who 
died in infancy. The mother of these chil- 
dren, who was a faithful member of the 
Methodist church, died in 1871. For his 
second wife, Mr. Pearce wedded Mrs. Tip- 
ton, who had one child by her former mar- 
riage, and of this union three children were 
born, namely; Fannie May, Maud and 
A. C. 

In political sentiment the father was a 
strong Democrat, in 1856 was elected 
sheriff of Bosque county, and at the time of 
his death was a candidate for the same of- 
fice. Socially, he was identified with the 
Masonic fraternity and the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, and religiously was a 
consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. He won his way to the re- 
gards of the people with whom he came in 
contact and had the respect of all. 

John A. Pearce obtained his education 
from the conmion schools of Bosque county, 
and early became familiar with agricultural 
pursuits upon the home farm. Besides 
general farming he has also been engaged in 
the stock business for many years, and in 
both lines has met with remarkable success. 
On the 26th of F'ebruary, 1896, he led to 
the marriage altar Miss Lulu A. Cooper, a 



(5S4 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



lady of education and refinement, who conies 
of a most vvorlhy family. At their pleasant 
home they always cordially welcome their 
numerous friends. 

In his political views, Mr. Pearcc firmly 
adheres to the principles of the Democratic 
part)', and is one of the most active and 
progressive men of the county, taking great 
interest in all matters that are calculated to 
enhance its value or to benefit his fellow 
men. 



^^"^ICOKGE W. McKINZIE is a rep- 
■ ^^%k rcsentative of one of the pioneer 
^^^^9 families of Comanche county. He 
was born in Murray county, Geor- 
gia, July lo, 1852, and when a year old was 
brought by his parents to Texas, the family 
locating in Bell county. In 1852 they went 
to Coryell county and in 1853 came to 
Comanche county, which at that time was 
not organized. When our subject was a lad 
of seven his father was killed by the Indians, 
on the 1st of March, i860. Two years later 
his mother married J. W. Jenkins, and in 
1 866, on account of tlie hostile attitude of 
the Indians, the family went to Arkansas. 
In less than a year, however, George W. 
McKinzie returned lo Texas, where he en- 
gaged in the cattle business, with which he 
was familiar from his earliest boyhood. To 
that industry he devoted his attention until 
he entered the ranging service, with which 
he was connected until 1876, doing duty 
under Captain B. S. Foster. In 1869 he 
was married, but after five years secured a 
legal separation. He had two children, 
William Kenneth, who is now twenty-three 
years of age; and John G. S., who died in 
childhood. The former resides with his 
mother and conducts a farm. 



Our subject owns an improved farm, 
which he is now renting. In 1880 he em- 
barked in merchandising at Ruble's Bridge, 
and also had charge of the toll-bridge across 
Leon river. The same year he took the 
census of his district, and in addition to his 
other work he has followed carpentering at 
Dublin and Abilene, being a skillful mechanic. 
He married Miss Melinda C. Ratliff, a 
daughter of Gabriel and Martha Ratliff. 

In his political views George W. McKin- 
zie is a stalwart Democrat, having always 
adhered to the principles of that party. In 
1874 he was elected school director, and 
served for one term under Republican rale, 
but has never been an aspirant for office. 

It will be interesting in this connection 
to note something of the family of which 
Mr. McKinzie is a representative. His 
parents, Kenneth and Mary McKinzie, 
belonged to prominent families of Georgia, 
where they were married, soon after emi- 
grating to Te.xas. The former was a son of 
Charles McKinzie, who married a Miss 
Johnson. Her death occurred in Georgia, 
and later he was married in that state to 
Stacey Murray. In 1859 he came to Texas 
and took up his abode in Comanche 
county, where he engaged in farming and 
stock-raising. He was a public-spirited 
man, full of enterprise, and took an active 
interest in the welfare of the community. 
The Indians became hostile, and in 1863, 
while working near his home, he was assas- 
sinated by the savages. An avenging party 
soon started in pursuit but failed to overtake 
them. Some time afterward Mrs. McKin- 
zie became the wife of Henry Martin, Sr. 

Mrs. Mary Jenkins, the mother of our 
subject, was born September 23, 1829, and 
was a (laughter of Henr}- Martin, of North 
Carolina, who in an early day removed with 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



685 



his family to Georgia, where he became a 
prominent farmer and stock-dealer. In 
1852 he came with a small colony to Texas, 
spending two years in Bell county, and then 
removed to this section of the state. Here 
he aided in the organization of Comanche 
county, locating within its borders when it 
contained not more than si.\ families. 
Among the early settlers here were David, 
James and William Cunningham, sheriffs of 
this county and good Indian fighters, and 
John and George, sheriffs of other counties, 
besides Aaron, Richard, Joseph and Thomas, 
also good men for that office. Successfully 
he carried on farming and stock-raising, 
and until his death continued a prominent 
resident o[ Comanche county. He had 
nineteen children, twelve of whom reached 
mature years, namely: William, Dicia, 
James, Mrs. McKinzie, Henry, Rebecca, 
Margaret, Lucy A., Sarah A., Jessie, Calvin 
and Nanc}'. In early life the parents were 
members of the Methodist church, but after 
coming to Te.xas joined the Baptist church. 
Kenneth McKinzie, father of our sub- 
ject, was reared in Tennessee and married 
in Georgia, and as before stated came to the 
Lone Star state in 1852, and in 1854 to 
Comanche county, driving stakes in the 
ground to indicate his ownership of land. 
He was a blacksmith, and in addition to his 
farming operations worked at that trade. 
He located on Indian creek, about five 
miles east of the present site of Comanche, 
although no town e.xisted there at the time, 
only a small log fort, in which the settlers 
took refuge in 1 860 when the Indians became 
hostile. As the white people were ileeing 
to the fort a fight ensued, and James and 
Kenneth McKinzie were wounded. The 
former, however, finally recovered, but the 
latter died the next day. He was a very 



influential and useful citizen, and was a 
consistent member of the Baptist church. 
He left a widow and two small sons, the 
brother of our subject being John D., who 
died later. He was at one time captured 
by the Indians, but was returned the same 
day. Mrs. McKinzie suffered the loss of all 
her stock, which was captured by the red 
men. After two years she married John W. 
Jenkins, a Tennessee farmer and stock 
dealer, who located in Coryell county in 
1851, and came to Comanche county in 
1854. He was a faithful member of the 
Methodist church, and died in October, 
1893. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins had three 
children, — Henry, Sarah and William, — 
but the first two are now deceased. The 
mother has been a member of the Methodist 
church since the age of thirteen years, and 
her consistent Christian life is most worthy 
of emulation. 



aAPTAIN P. C. BUCHANAN, de- 
ceased, was one of the prominent 
and well-known citizens of Bosque 
county. He was born in Wythe 
county, Virginia, on the iith of August, 
181 1, and was the son of George Buchanan, 
a native of the same county. The grand- 
father, John Buchanan, was of Scotch- Irish 
lineage and a relative of President Buchanan. 
The father married Miss Agnes Lammie, 
who was born and reared in Wythe county, 
and was the daughter of Andrew Lammie, 
also a native of the Old Dominion, who was 
of French extraction and participated in the 
early Indian wars. Our subject was the 
sixth in order of birth in a family of seven 
children, five sons and two daughters, only 
one of whom is now living, — George W., a 



(),S() 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



prominent attorney and politician of Inde- 
pendence, Missouri. 

During his boyhood and youth the Caji- 
tain received a good education. On the 
17th of October, 1839, he was united in 
marriage with Miss Rachel Graham, a highly 
educated and refined lady, whose birth oc- 
curred August 14, 1822, and their wedding 
was celebrated in Smyth county, Virginia. 
Her father, Samuel Graham, was born at 
sea while his parents, Robert and Mary 
(Craig) Graham, were coming to America 
from Ireland, and they became early settlei^s 
of Wythe county, Virginia. At the age of 
twenty-five years Samuel Graham wedded 
Miss Rachel Montgomery, a native of Wythe 
county, and a daughter of John Montgom- 
ery, also of Irish origin. To this worthy 
couple were born thirteen children, — five 
sons and eight daughters, — namely: Nancy, 
Mary C, Amanda, Eli2;a, Margaret, Helen, 
Catherine, Rachel, John M., Robert C, 
Samuel I., James Monroe and William L. 
Five of the family are still living. The 
father, who was a merchant, served as ma- 
jor in the war of 1812, was a Democrat in 
politics, and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. He died at the age of si.\ty-one 
years, and his wife was sixty-three when 
she too was called to the final home. 

For seven years previous to the civil war 
Mr. Buchanan served as captain of the 
militia, and during that struggle held the 
same office. In civic affairs he also took a 
leading part, being a i)rominent and active 
member of the Democratic party and served 
as presiding justice. In 1875 he became a 
resident of Bosque county, locating near 
Iredell, where he owned a good farm, and 
there made his home until his death, on 
the nth of February, 1886. He was a 
man of the strictest integrity and honor, 



acting as elder in the Presbyterian church, 
and was one of the most highly respected 
and esteemed citizens of the community. 

To the Captain and his estimable wife 
were born eleven children, as follows: S. A., 
born November 21, 1840, enlisted early in 
the war, was taken prisoner at the battle of 
Waynesburg, Virginia, February 2, 1865, 
and died at Fort Delaware June 20 follow- 
ing; Louisa M., born March 26, 1842, died 
of scarlet fever August 2, 1847; George C, 
born December 23, 1843, was wounded at 
the battle of Dry Creek, Virginia, and is 
still a cripple; he married S. C. Gillespie, 
has an interesting family of two sons and 
nine daughters, and is living in Scurry 
county, this state; John Graham, born Oc- 
tober 17, 1845, died August 12, 1847, of 
scarlet fever; Nancy A., born May 18, 1847, 
died April 3, 1849; James M., of New Mex- 
ico; William F., born April 8, 1850, ex- 
postmaster of Iredell and a popular teacher 
of the county; Amanda, born December 17, 
1852, first married Charles Fipps, had two 
sons, — James B. and William F. , — and is 
now the wife of S. F. Marshall, of Iredell; 
Montgomery C, born July 14. 1855, mar- 
ried Mattie Myres and lives in Bosque coun- 
ty; Helen M., born December 14, 1856, 
is the wife of S. S. Barry, of Iredell; and 
B. R. , the subject of this sketcli. The last 
named is one of the popular and representa- 
tive citizens of Bosque count}-, where he ar- 
rived in 1875. His birth occurred on the 
iSth of December, 1859, in the Old Do- 
minion, where he was reared and acquired 
a good education, which well fits him for 
the practical and responsible duties of life. 
In I S84 he went to the Panhandle district, 
where he engaged in the stock business for 
a time. He now owns a fine farm of fi\e 
hundred and sixty acres in Bosque county, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



687 



sixty-five of which is under a hi^h state of 
cultivation, and besides genera! farming he 
is also extensively engaged in the raising of 
stock, including cattle, sheep and hogs. 

In March, 1885, was solemnized the 
marriage of B. R. Buchanan and Miss 
Emma Strawn, a native of Georgia and a 
daughter of Albert and Julia Strawn, the 
former now deceased. Socially Mr. Buch- 
anan is deservedly popular, as he is affable 
and courteous in manner and possesses that 
essential qualification to success in public 
life, — that of making friends readily and of 
strengthening the ties of all friends as time 
advances. In his political views he is in 
sympathy with the Democratic party. 



V^OHN MUNN, one of the prosperous 
^ and respected farmers of Comanche 
A jl county, where he has made his home 
since January, 1882, was born in 
Carroll county, Tennessee, September 28, 
1827. His father, Edward Munn, was a 
native of North Carolina and a son of Dun- 
can Munn, who was of Scotch parentage. 
The latter served in the war of 1812 under 
General Jackson. He married a Miss Mc- 
Collom, also of Scotch descent, and her 
death occurred in De Soto county, Missis- 
sippi. His last days were spent in Nevada 
county, Arkansas. Edward Munn was 
reared in North Carolina and in Tennessee 
married Millie Butler, who was born in 
South" Carolina, a representative of one of 
the honored families of that state. In 1S43 
they removed to Nevada count}', Arkansas, 
becoming pioneer settlers of that locality, 
where they spent their remaining days. 
They had thirteen children, named Dave, 
John, Betsy, Mary, Neill, James, George, 
Caroline, Sallie, Edward, Green, Zack and 



Webster. Green Munn was a soldier in 
the late civil war. The mother of these 
children had one child bj' her first marriage, 
named William C. Cordle. 

Mr. Munn, of this sketch, was reared in 
Tennessee and educated in the subscription 
schools. In 1852 he went to California, 
making the trip overland with teams. The 
Indians stole his oxen on the way, but after 
a five-mile chase he succeeded in recaptur- 
ing them. For six years he engaged in 
mining in the Golden state, and then re- 
turned by way of the isthmus of Panama, 
Cuba and New Orleans to Arkansas. 

He was married in Nevada county, that 
state, November 3, 1859, to Susan Ed- 
mondson, a lady of culture and many ex- 
cellencies, who has proved a true helpmeet 
to her husband. She is a native of Ten- 
nessee and a daughter of Albert and Sallie 
(Leggen ) Edmondson, also natives of Ten- 
nessee and of Scotch descent. They had 
twelve children, — seven sons and five daugh- 
ters, namely: Eliza, John (a soldier who 
died in the war), Henry, Madison (who died 
in infancy), William, Susan, Jarrett (also a 
soldier in the late war), Jacob (who died in 
the army). Martha, Amanda, Mary and 
Thomas. The family has an exceptional 
record. Neither the father nor any of the 
sons was addicted to the use of intoxicants, 
but all were moral, honorable men, .and 
valued citizens of the communities in which 
they lived. The mother of this family died 
in 1865, at the age of fifty years. The 
father was afterward married again anil had 
three sons and three daughters by that mar- 
riage. By occupation he was a farmer, and 
was a prominent member of the Methodist 
church, in which he served as class-leader. 
His death occurred in 1882. 

During the war Mr. Munn, our subject, 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



was a member of the Thirty-third Arkansas 
Infantry, commanded by Colonel Grim- 
stones, and participated in the battles of 
Mansfield, Prairie Grove, Saline river and 
others, also in the capture of a fort and one 
thousand negroes. Through the greater 
part of his life he has followed farming. In 
1882 he came to Comanche county, where 
he purchased three hundred and twenty 
acres of unimproved land. This he has 
transformed into a valuable property, of 
which one hundred and sixty acres are highly 
cultivated. On the premises is a good 
orchard, a substantial residence, occupied 
by the family, a good tenement house and 
other necessary buildings for the shelter of 
stock and storage of grain. 

Mr. and Mrs. Munn have had seven chil- 
dren, of whom five are now living, the 
names of all being Henry, Sarah, William, 
Thomas, Rosa, Millie and Alice. The first 
two are deceased. 

Mr. Munn gives his political support to 
the Democracy, and favors free silver at 
the present ratio. He also believes in pro- 
hibition of the liquor traffic, in popular ed- 
ucation, in religion and in all those agencies 
which tend to elevate man and make him 
nobler and purer. He and his wife are 
zealous and active members of the Meth- 
odist church, in which he has served as 
class-leader and steward. 



>rr*OHN H. ALLEN.— In the subject of 
■ this review is found a gentleman 
A 1 whose life has been a somewhat 
varied one; his career includes a war 
record; his travels have taken him from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, and he has been 
identified with Hood county, Texas, for 
nearly a quarter of a century, residing at his 



present location, where he has one of the 
most delightful rural homes to be found in 
all the country round, and where he devotes 
his energies to agricultural pursuits and also 
to the work of contractor and builder. To 
these salient points in his history we would 
now briefly allude. 

John H. Allen was born in Person 
county, North Carolina, March 18, 1834, 
son of Grant and Mary (Coleman) Allen. 
The Aliens are of Scotch origin, our sub- 
ject's grandfather, William Allen, having 
emigrated to this country from Scotland at 
an early day and made settlement in North 
Carolina. Mrs. Mary Allen was a daughter 
of an Englishman, Alexander Coleman, who 

I settled in the Old North state about the 
time Grandfather Allen landed there. Grant 
Allen was a farmer and millwright by occu- 
pation. About 1S39 he moved from North 

I Carolina to Henderson county, Tennessee, 
where he passed the rest of his life, and 
where at the age of eighty-five years he was 
accidentally killed on a mill wheel. His 
wife died in her forty-fourth year. 

John H. was a small boy at the time his 
father moved to Tennessee. He was reared 
on a farm in that state, receiving a common- 
school education and remaining at the pa- 
rental home until reaching his majority. 
Then he went to Memphis, Tennessee, 
where he served a four-years apprentice- 
ship to the carpenter's trade, after which he 
worked as a journeyman for some time 
before commencing to take contracts. He 
was engaged in contracting and building 
when the c\\\\ war came on. At the very 
beginning of the war his patriotic ardor 
determined him upon contributing his quota 
for the support of the southern cause, and 
in 1 86 1 we find him enlisted as a member of 
Company B, Second Mississippi \'olunteer 




<^^. 



ymu/i^. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



Infantry. His service was in the east. 
Among tlie engagements in which he par- 
ticipated were those of Manassas, Bull Run, 
Seven Pines, seven days' fight in front of 
Richmond, and Malvern Hill. At the last 
named battle he was shot in the hand, the 
wound resulting in amputation and ending 
his active service. Previous to this he had 
been wounded a number of times, not seri- 
ously, howe,ver. At Manassas he received 
a scalp wound in the forehead, at Seven 
Pines he was wounded in the ankle and leg, 
and in the engagement before Richmond he 
received three slight wounds, — seven in all. 
After the amputation of his hand he was 
unable for further duty and was honorably 
discharged, that being in r863. 

As early as 1854 Mr. Allen had come to 
Texas, at that time locating in Belton, 
where he worked at his trade for two years. 
From Belton he went to Waco, remained at 
the latter place until 1859, and that year 
went to Mississippi, where he was engaged 
in work at his trade when the war broke 
out. After leaving the army he sought his 
fortune in California, locating in Salinas, 
but remained only about one }-ear, after 
which he came back to Texas and settled 
in McKinney, where he was engaged in con- 
tracting until 1872. That year he came to 
his present location in Hood county. Here 
he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
of wild land and at once began the task of 
bringing it under cultivation. As a result 
of his well-directed labors throughout the 
years that have intervened his tract of land 
now presents the appearance of a well-im- 
proved farm, sixty acres being under culti- 
vation, three acres devoted to orchard pur- 
poses, and not the least of its attractive 
features being the beautiful home. This 
residence he erected in 1880. 



Mr. Allen's marriage to Miss Sally Ellis 
was consummated November 14, 1872. 
Mrs. Allen is a native of what was Bartow 
county, Georgia, and is a daughter of Jesse 
Ellis, who came to Texas about 1869, set- 
tled in Hood county in 1872, and died in 
this county in April, 1S87. Mrs. Ellis is 
still living and resides with her daughter, 
Mrs. Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have had 
four children, three of whom are now liv- 
ing, — Ella Pearl, Nannie May and Lawrence 
Henry. Ella Pearl is the wife of Mr. E. B. 
Thornover, of Tolar, this county. Willie D. 
died at the age of sixteen years. 

In connection with his farming oper- 
ations, Mr. Allen also carries on contract- 
ing and building. He served one term as 
county commissioner since his location here, 
and he has also been a notary public. Fra- 
ternally, he is identified with both the Odd 
Fellows and the Masons, his membership in 
the latter order being in C. T. Bond Lodge, 
No. 339, A. F. & A. M., of Mississippi. He 
and his wife are active and consistent mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, south, and he 
has for some time served as class-leader and 
steward. A man of more than ordinary in- 
tellectual force, careful and conscientious in 
all his dealings, generous and kind-hearted, 
Mr. Allen is as highly respected as he is 
well known. 



BRANK P. SMITH, clerk of the 
district court, is a prominent and 
highly respected citizen of Bosque 
county. He needs no special in- 
troduction to the citizens of this community, 
inasmuch as he has resided in the county 
for over thirty years, and for the past eight 
years has occupied the position which he 
now holds. During his incumbency he has 



600 



JIISTORT OF TEXAS 



filled that important office with due credit 
to himself and to the satisfactiwii of the 
court and community. 

Mr. Smith is one of Texas' native sons, 
born in Burleson county, March 4, 1853, 
his parents beinfj Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Bailey) Smith. The birth of his father 
occurred in Cumberland county, Kentucky, 
in 1S13, and he was the son of Ezekiel 
Smith, who married the daughter of Philip 
Eden. The Edens descended from the old 
colonial family of that name. The father 
of our subject emigrated to Texas in 185 r, 
and engaged in trading and merchandising. 
He came to Meridian, Bosque county, in 
1855, and continued in mercantile business 
up to the time of his death, which occurred 
in May, 1873. His wife, who was a native 
of Tennessee, passed to her reward on the 
2 1st of January, of the same year. 

Our subject is the oldest in their family 
of seven children, and he was reared and ed- 
ucated in the state of his birth, attending 
the public schools until twelve years of age, 
and about 1871 entered the Texas Military 
Institute at Austin. On completing his 
studies there he returned to Meridian, where 
he engaged in merchandising with his father, 
under the firm style of Smith & Son. They 
also conducted two branch houses, one at 
Stephenville and the other at Comanche. 
He continued in that line of business after 
the death of his father until 1S88, being as- 
sociated at one time with H. B. White for a 
year, but at the end of tiiat tunc J. W. 
Standifer purchased Mr. White's interest, 
and for two years he was the partner of our 
subject. 

At Meridian, on the loth of November, 
1 88 1, Mr. Smitii led to the uKirriage altar 
Miss Rittie A. Whitworth, a native of 
Graves county, Iventucky, and they have 



become the parents of five children, — Josie 
E., Edgar F. , Maggie, Joseph and Nellie. 
Mr. Smith has two brothers still living: 
Walter C, who resides at Morgan, Texas; 
and Robert U., of Haskell county. 

Politically, our subject is an active and 
stanch Democrat, and through that party 
was elected to the office which he is now so 
capably and acceptably filling. Socially, he 
is connected with the Masonic fraternity, 
and has filled all the chairs of the blue 
lodge, at the present time serving as junior 
warden. He has also taken the Royal Arch 
degrees. He and his estimable wife hold a 
membership in the Presbyterian church. A 
man of great intelligence and force of charac- 
ter, he occupies a prominent and influential 
position in the community, and has gained 
the confidence and esteem of all with whom 
he has come in contact. 



*y'^\^ A. MASSEY, who is recognized 

I B as one of the most prosperous and 

\ p representative farmers and stock 

men of Bosque county, has his 

post-office address at Walnut Springs, and 

his abiding place on his fine farmstead where 

he settled two decades ago. In him is found 

an excellent illustration of the self-made 

man. He is a native of Tipton, Tennessee, 

and was born December 13, 1838. 

Looking to the ancestry from which Mr. 
Massey sprang, we are able to trace the an- 
cestral succession back to the Emerald Isle, 
where we find that several generations ago 
the Masseys lived and flourished. George 
Massey, the grandfather of our subject, was 
a native of America and a southern gentle- 
man, and his son James, the father of N. 
A., was born in Alabama. James Massey 
married Miss Patsy Miller, who was of Ger- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



691 



man descent. They resided in Tennessee 
for a time, and from there in 1840 moved 
to Arkansas, where they both died in the 
prime of life, his death occurring in 1843 
and hers shortly afterward, the last resting 
place of both being near Danville, that 
state. They lett two sons, N. A. and John 
S., the latter now a resident of Arkansas. 

Early in life deprived of the love and 
care of both his parents, the subject of our 
sketch was taken into the home of an uncle, 
where he remained until he was nearly thir- 
teen years of age, then launching out on his 
own responsibility, and thenceforward " pad- 
dling his own canoe." He had no educa- 
tional advantages whatever in his youth. 
By nature, however, he was from his early 
boyhood quick in observing and applying 
what he learned, and as he has gone through 
life he has picked up a valuable store of 
useful information. About the time he 
reached his majority Mr. Massey came to 
Te.xas, stopping first in Parker county, where 
he was for one year employed by Dr. Icord 
in the stock business. Then in i860 he 
went to Somervell county, and there he 
spent the next sixteen years in farming and 
stock-raising. Twenty years ago he came 
to his present location in Bosque county, 
purchased a tract of wild land, settled down 
upon the same and earnestly directed his 
energies to the task of making a farm. That 
he has succeeded in this undertaking none 
can deny. Two hundred and fifty acres of 
his seven-hundred-acre tract have been fur- 
rowed and re-furrowed, and haxe produced 
some of the finest crops in the vicinity. The 
whole farm is well fenced. The buildings 
and other improvements and conveniences 
have the stamp of thrift and success upon 
them. And in connection with his farming 
Mr. Massey has for years made a specialty 



of the stock business, raising, buying and 
shipping, and operating extensively and 
successfully. 

Mr. Massey became a benedict not long 
after the close of the war. In September, 
1866, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary C. Sanders, a native of Lamar county, 
Texas, and a daughter of William and Ann 
E. (Ragsdale) Sanders. Mr. Sanders was 
a Tennesseean by birth and figured as one 
of the early settlers and highly respected 
citizens of the Texas commonwealth. As 
the years passed by sons and daughters came 
to bless and brighten the home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Massey. One little daughter was per- 
mitted to remain with them only four brief 
years, her death resulting from a snake-bite. 
The others are all living, and are as follows: 
James S., Charles P., William L. , John A., 
Thomas O., Walter S. and Henrietta. 
James S., a bright and promising young 
man, is at this writing a candidate for the 
office of county clerk. 

During the late civil war the subject of 
our sketch spent three years and nine months 
in the Confederate service, under Colonel 
Nelson. In the engagement at Arkansas 
Post he was captured by the Federal forces, 
was exchanged shortly afterward, and from 
that time on was on detached duty in the 
Southwestern Department. He affiliated 
with the Democratic party until about three 
years ago, when he espoused the principles 
of the Populists, to which he has since given 
unwavering support. 



>Y» AMES R. BRYSON, one of the pros- 

■ perous stockmen of Comanche coun- 

(• / ty, whose well-directed efforts and 

capable business ability has brought 

him success, is a native of North Carolina. 



6Di 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



He was born in Jackson county, that state, 
October 26, 1863, a son of Coleman and 
Louisa (Bumgardner) Bryson, who also were 
natives oj the same state and were descended 
from prominent and influential families of 
the south that had long been connected 
with this section of the country. 

James R. Br3'son is the seventh in order 
of birth in a family of eight children. He 
was reared in North Carolina and is indebted 
to its public schools for the educational 
privileges which he enjoyed. Throughout 
his entire business career he has engaged in 
farming and stock-raising, having become 
familiar with those pursuits during his boy- 
hood da3-s through his assisting in such 
labors on his father's farm. He is one of 
the expert stock-raisers of central Texas, 
his perfect familiarity with the business and 
his knowledge how best to care for his stock 
bringing him excellent results in his en- 
deavors. He came to Texas in 1888 and 
has since been numbered among the promi- 
nent stockmen in this locality, buying, rais- 
ing and selling stock, making a specialty of 
cattle. He has at the present time seven 
hundred head of market cattle upon his 
farm and the magnitude of his operation 
well entitles him to the name of "cattle 
king." His home is situated about fourteen 
miles northwest of Comanche, and aggre- 
gates thirteen hundred and fifty-eight acres. 
Of this one hundred acres are. under a high 
state of cultivation, but his farming inter- 
ests are secondary, the greater part of his 
attention being devoted to his stock. 

On the 2 1 St of December, 1893, Mr. 
Bryson was joined in wedlock with Miss Ada 
Oberthier, a cultured, intelligent lady, by 
whom he has one child, Goldic. Their 
home, recently completed, is a pleasant 
frame structure built in a modern style of 



' architecture and containing five rooms. It 
, is supplied with modern conveniences and is 
j tastefully furnished. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson 
have many warm friends throughout the 
community. In his political associations 
our subject is a Democrat, but has never 
been an aspirant for political honors, pre- 
ferring to give his attention to his business 
interests. In the legitimate channels of trade 
I he has accumulated a handsome competence, 
and the magnitude of his operations makes 
hirn one of the leading stock dealers of 
Comanche county. 



HOMAS J. RHODES.— The gen- 
tleman whose name introduces 
this brief biography is one of 
Bosque county's prominent, pro- 
gressive and prudent merchants, one who 
keeps abreast with the times, and always 
ready to aid public enterprises that have for 
their object the development of the re- 
sources of the state and county. 

Mr. Rhodes' birth took place in Wilcox 
county, Alabama, on the i6th of August, 
1858, at the home of his parents, William 
and Martha (Philen) Rhodes, who were also 
natives of Alabama, and are now both de- 
ceased. The father died while serving in 
the Confederate armj' under General Lee's 
command in Virginia, and his mother he 
never knew, as she never reco\ercd health, 
and died very soon after his birth. 

Mr. Rhodes was the younger of two chil- 
dren, and having been left an orphan at an 
early age he has learned the lessons of life 
through the school of experience. Until 
eight years of age he made his home with a 
maternal aunt, and later lived in the family 
of an old Scotch gentleman named McLaugh- 
lin. On coming to Texas he was for a time 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



engaged in farming, but soon entered the 
mercantile business as a salesman for a few- 
months at Mexia, Limestone county, and 
from there went to Waco, where he engaged 
in teaching school. He followed the same 
occupation for about two years in McLennan 
and Bosque counties. 

From 1887 until 1891 Mr. Rhodes was 
engaged in merchandising at Gholson, under 
the firm style of Weaver & Rhodes, and in 
the latter year located at his present place 
of business, eight miles northeast of Clifton, 
at what is now known as the Chase post- 
office. He erected a store building at this 
point, where he carries a large stock of gen- 
eral merchandise for a general store and 
has established a good trade by fair dealing 
and courteous treatment of his customers. 
In April, 1893, he succeeded in getting a 
post-ofifice established here, it being a fourth- 
class office with tri-weekly mails. 

On the loth of February, 1S89, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Rhodes and 
Miss Mattie Prather, a most estimable young 
lady, who was born in the Lone Star state. 
They have become the parents of three 
children, but lost two in infancy; the one 
living is Jessie. They occupy a pleasant 
social position among the people of the 
community, by whom they are respected 
for their intelligence and heartily liked for 
their frank, open-hearted hospitality and 
genial, kindly manners. 



EP. KAY, a leading and successful 
farmer of Comanche county, who 
has ever taken an active interest 
in the moral and physical develop- 
ment of his county, was born in Cobb 
county, Georgia, on the 25th of May, 185 i, 
and after making several moves arrived in 



Texas, where he grew to manhood, being 
reared to the occupations of farming and 
stock-raising, which he has since followed 
as a life work. His early education was 
limited, but by Sabbath-school training and 
study since reaching manhood he has ac- 
quired a practical knowledge of affairs. 

His parents, H. K. and Sarah (Dunn) 
Kay, were natives of Alabama, where their 
marriage was celebrated, later removed to 
Georgia, and went to Arkansas about 1857. 
By profession the father was a phj^sician. 
On the second call for troops, he entered 
the Confederate service, but was discharged 
on account of ill health and returned home. 
At anotlier call, he again responded, and a 
second time was discharged and returned 
home. He later offered his service a third 
time, and was sent home to practice his 
profession among the needy war widows in 
connection with another physician. For 
such service he received no pay. After the 
close of the war, in 1865, he came to Texas, 
buying land in Falls county, where he spent 
the remainder of his days. For four years 
he engaged in freighting with a mule team, 
and later established a country store, carry- 
ing general merchandise, which he conducted 
until his death in November, 1S90. After 
coming to this state he never practiced medi- 
cine. He was a Democrat in politics, and was 
a leading member and active worker in the 
Missionary Baptist church, in which he 
served as deacon and superintendent of the 
Sabbath-school, being one of its most earnest 
advocates. His wife, who was a member of 
the same church, departed this life in 1871. 
They had six children: James, who served 
through the Civil war, and died soon after 
its close; Thomas, deceased; H. P., of this 
sketch; Mary, wife of S. F. Brown, of Co- 
manche; David C, deceased; and Samuel 



004 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



D., of Tom Green county, Texas. After 
the death of the mother of these children, 
the father was again married and by the 
second union had two children, — Fleetwood 
and Saleta, both of Tom Green county. 

On reaching manhood our subject was 
married, in Falls county, in 1873, to Miss 
Mary J. Dardin, a daughter of Richard and 
Elizabeth (Soders) Dardin, who were born 
in Tennessee, but were married in Harrison 
county, Texas. In 1855 her parents re- 
moved to Falls county, where the father at 
first purchased a small tract of land, but 
later extended the boundaries of his farm, 
and there his death occurred in May, 1876. 
His wife survived him several years, dying 
in January, 1887. Both were consistent 
members of the Methodist church, in the 
affairs of which he took a leading part, 
serving as both steward and class-leader. 
In his family were five children, all daugh- 
ters: Mary J., wife of our subject; Sally S., 
wife of D. A. Kidgway; Su?au E., wife of 
Edmond Stone; Rhoda L. ; and I,ella B., 
wife of E. L. Wise. Five children bless 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kay: Alonzo, a 
farmer; Theodocia, Richard A., Esther and 
Fay. 

During his youth Mr. Kay assisted in the 
work of the home farm, and at times helped 
his father in the store. He rented a farm 
for three years after his marriage, but in 
1876 came to Comanche county and pur- 
chased two hundred acres of raw land near 
Proctor, which he continued to cultivate 
and improve until 1894, when he sold out 
and removed to his present farm. This 
place comprises two hundred and twenty 
acres of land, one hundred of which are j 
highly cultivated and improved with excel- i 
lent buildings and an orchard, and is pleas- 
antly located ten miles east of Comanche. I 



Mr. and Mrs. Kay enjoy the friendship 
of a large circle of acquaintances, and are 
members in good standing of thd Missionary 
Baptist church, in which he is serving as 
deacon and takes an active interest in the 
Sabbath-school. He was a Democrat in 
politics until 1888, since which time he has 
been with the reform element, and is now 
a true Populist. P'or two years he served 
as bailiff, but cares nothing for the honors 
or emoluments of public office, preferring to 
devote his entire time and attention to his 
business interests. 



>j»OHN A. WOMACK, deputy sheriff 
^ of Bosque county, is a leading and 
A 1 well known citizen of Meridian. He 
has been a resident of the state for 
over thirty years, and during that time has 
been prominently identified with the growth 
and prosperity of the section in which he has 
resided. For several years he has accepta- 
bly filled public office. He was elected 
justice of the peace in 1882, served two 
years as constable, and since 1892 has been 
chief jailer. 

Mr. Woniack was born in Jackson parish, 
Louisiana, on the 29th of Jul}', 1855, 'i"'! 's 
a son of Daniel and Carolina (Tullos) 
Womack, the former a native of Ste. Helena 
parish, Louisiana, and the latter of Franklin 
county, Mississippi. The father was by oc- 
cupation a farmer, and to that calling our 
subject was reared. He came with his par- 
ents to Texas in 1866, the family locating at 
Brazos Point, where the father's death oc- 
curred December 26, 1878. 

The family consisted of ten children, of 
whom Mr. W'omack of this review is the 
eldest. He was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits up to the time of his election U-> the 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



G95 



office of constable in 1890. His political 
views are Democratic, and he may always 
be found identified with the profijressive ele- 
ment of that party. Socially he affiliates 
with Meridian Lodge, No. 205, I. O. O. F. 
At Brazos Point, on the 17th of Septem- 
ber, 1879, Mr. Womack was united in mar- 
riage with Mrs. E. J. Walls, iwc Howell, 
who had one daughter by her former union, 
— Mary T. Walls. The children of the last 
marriage are six in number, namely: Ida 
May, Sophronia Anna, Frances Elizabeth, 
Laura Lucile, Jewel Maude and Ruby 
Lumpkin. 



at 



'ALTER COLOUITE WILL- 
IAMS. — The gentleman with 
whose name we introduce this 
sketch, and who is familiarly 
known as "Tobe" Williams, is classed with 
the retired farmers of Dublin, Texas. Texas 
has. been his home for more than a quarter 
of a century, and as one of its representa- 
tive citizens his life history is appropriate in 
a work of this character. 

Mr. Williams is a native of the " Bayou 
state." He was born in La Fayette county, 
Mississippi, January 21,1 844, son of Thomas 
and Mary (Patton) Williams. There his 
childhood and youth were passed. At the 
time the great civil war cloud gathered and 
burst upon the country he had not yet 
emerged from his 'teens, but young as he 
was he was among the first to don the gray 
and go out in the interest of "the southern 
cause. It was at Oxford, Mississippi, in 
May, 1 86 1, that he enlisted as a member of 
Company E, Nineteenth Mississippi regi- 
ment, commanded by Dr. John Smith. This 
regiment left Oxford on the twenty-se\-enth 
of the same month and went to the front. 



Young Williams remained in active service 
throughout the war, on several occasions 
was slightly wounded by spent balls, escap- 
ing, however, all serious injury, and at the 
time of Lee's surrender was at home on 
furlough. 

At the close of the war Mr. Williams 
engaged in farming at his old home in Mis- 
sissippi, was thus occupied there for three 
years, and then sought a new field of action, 
coming thence to Texas and landing in Gal- 
veston in January, 1870. From there he 
came to Calvert, — the terminus of the rail- 
road at that time, — crossed the river to 
Milam county and rented land of William 
Poole. After two years spent in Milam 
county he came to the county of Erath and 
located on the Bosque river, at the mouth 
of Green's creek, where he bought three 
hundred and twenty acres of land. Four 
years later he sold this property to W. C. 
Bishop, and moved to the farm he has since 
owned, one hundred and sixty acres on 
Cottonwood creek, three miles east of Dub- 
lin. He maintained a residence on his farm 
until September, 1S91, when he removed to 
Dublin in order that he might keep his chil- 
dren at home and at the same time afford 
them educational and business advantages; 
and while living in town and practically re- 
tired, he still has a personal supervision over 
his farming operations. 

Mr. Williams was married May i, 1S66, 
to Miss Sarah Kathlene Higginbotham, who 
was born in Mississippi, December 18, 1846, 
and died April 20, 1895. I^'^rs. Williams 
was a daughter of John James and Lucy Ann 
(Taylor) Higginbotham, and the eldest of 
their large family of children, the names of 
her brothers and sisters being as follows: 
Bolivar Taylor; Martha \'irginia, deceased 
wife of Frank Oldham; John Willis; Mary 



090 



HTSTORT OF TEXAS. 



Jane Eiidora, wife of JohnF. Jackson; Ben- 
jamin Shadrach; Susan Rebecca, wife of 
Daniel Fry; Nancy Lually, wife of G. W. 
Smith; Rufus Wilson; Joseph Martin; Lucy 
Robert Lee, wife of Prof. W. J. Clay; and 
Eula Blanche, wife of John Robert St. Clair. 
John James Higginbotham died in Dublin, 
Texas, March 22, 1883. He was born in 
Alabama, August 27, 1823, son of Willis 
and Rebecca (Higginbotham) Higginbotham, 
distantly related, both natives of Alabama 
and of Irish descent. Looking to the ma- 
ternal ancestors of Mrs. Williams, the Tay- 
lors, we find them also to be of Irish origin 
and for generations residents of America. 
Mrs. Lucy Ann (Taylor) Higginbotham is 
still living. She was born in Pike county, 
Mississippi, February 27, 1827. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Williams were born 
eleven children, namely: Stewart Eugene, 
who was born February 15, 1867, and died 
March 3, 1877; Eudora Gertrude, born 
August 14, 1869, died January 11, 1894; she 
was the wife of William Wiseman, and left 
one child, Guthrie, which was born January 
7, 1894, and died on the tenth of the follow- 
ing April; Robert Taylor, born October 2, 
1872, married Miss Cora Alday, and is a 
resident of Stephenville, Texas; Thomas 
Jackson, born April 2, 1874; Walter Bishop 
and William Hudson, twins, March 20, 
1876; Lee Deerwood, April 30, 1879; Mary, 
May I, 1 881; Myrtle, August 31. 1883; 
Blanche, December 19, 1885; and Grace, 
September 30, 1887. 

Mr. Williams is identified with the Ma- 
sonic order. Eighteen years ago he was 
made a member of Armstrong Lodge, F. & 
A. M., and now has his membership in the 
Dublin Lodge. While taking no active part 
in politics, he has always kept well posted 
on political issues and given his support to 



the Democratic party and its principles. Re- 
ligiously, he is a Baptist. He united with 
this church during the war, in 1863, and has 
ever since remained a consistent member of 
the same. 



(D 



\JOR LEVI ELLIOTT GIL- 
LETT, a lawyer and real-estate 
broker, of Dublin, Texas, has for 
more than twenty years figured as 
a prominent citizen of this place. 

Major Gillett is a native of Tioga county, 
Pennsylvania, born December 16, 1831, 
son of Charles Randall and Nancy Libby 
(Elliott) Gillett. The Gilletts are of Eng- 
lish origin. Two brothers of that name 
came to this country from England at an 
early day and settled in Connecticut, and 
one of these brothers was the great-great- 
grandfather of our subject. Charles Ran- 
dall Gillett was born in Connecticut, January 
8, 1795, and died May 24, 1857. The Elliotts 
came from Maine. Major Gillett's mother 
was born in Maine, October 10, 1795, and 
died July 15, 1880. Of the children of 
Charles Randall and Nancy Libby Gillett, 
we record that Mary Ann and Eliza married 
and lived in Pennsylvania; Nancy, wife of 
Henry Young, died at Goliad, Texas, De- 
cember 8, 1892; Charles Randall died in 
Texas, December 15, 1892: and the young- 
est and only one now living is the subject of 
this article. In 1S33 the parents left Penn- 
sylvania and moved to Ashtabula county, 
Ohio, whence two years later they removed 
to Bureau county, Illinois. A few years 
later the spirit of emigration again seized 
them, and on Christmas day, 1852, the 
father, mother, Charles R., Nancy and Levi 
E. landed at what was later known as Har- 
mony Hill, Rusk-county, Texas. That town 



klSTORT OF TEXAS. 



697 



was named by Major Gillett. He erected the 
first business house there, and made that 
place his home until 1859. That year he 
moved to Grand Bluff, Panola county. 
While at Harmony Hill he was employed as 
a house carpenter, but after his removal to 
Grand Bluff he was made assignee for Mr. 
Frank Lewis, in the arrangement of whose 
business he was occupied at the time the 
late war came on. Also at this time he 
was postmaster of Grand Bluff, having re- 
ceived his appointment under John H. Rea- 
gan, postmaster general of the Confederate 
states. Both positions he resigned that he 
might enter the army. His enlistment was 
May 14. 1 86 1, in Captain Cook's Company 
of cavalry, in Indian Territory, known as 
Texas Cavalry. On the battlefield at Elk- 
horn he was appointed orderly sergeant; at 
Fort Washita was elected captain by the 
company; was re-elected at the expiration 
of the first year; and was made major in the 
fall of 1863. The first two years of the war 
his company was an independent one, but 
from that time on was a part of Colonel 
Wells' regiment. 

When the war broke out Major Gillett's 
wife returned to Rusk county, and at its 
close he joined her there. Subsequently 
they removed to Hill county and settled at 
what afterward was known as Prairie Valley, 
the Major having named the town. He 
farmed there and also owned and ran a corn- 
mill, sawmill and cotton-gin, and made that 
place his home until 1875. ^n February of 
that year he moved to the old town of 
Dublin. Here he established a mercantile 
business, which he conducted successfully 
until 1892, when he closed out, and since 
then he has given his attention to law and 
the real-estate business 

Major Gillett was first married Septem- ' 



ber 20, 185s, to Mrs. Ruth Myrtle (Jones) 
Grear, widow of John Grear and a native of 
Tennessee. She died June 15, 1880, leav- 
ing no children. April 30, 1881, the subject 
of our sketch wedded Arizona Vera Leslie, 
daughter of Robert and Adeline (Reeves) 
Leslie. Mr. Leslie was one of the well 
known early settlers here, and his death was 
a sad blow to his family and friends, he 
having been murdered by the Indians in 
1873. Mrs. Gillett was the first white child 
born in Dublin, the date of that event be- 
ing November 28, 1862. The children of 
their union are: Leonard Earl, born March 
14, 1883; Merlin Marcus, December 14, 
1884, died November 2, 1885; Vera Inas, 
August 26, 1889; and Rupert Warren, De- 
cember 5, 1893. 

The political views of our subject have 
always been Democratic. He served two 
years as justice of the peace at Dublin, and 
in 1S73 he was honored by a seat in the 
state legislature, representing Hill, Navarro, 
Kaufman, Ellis and Hood counties, and 
serving one term of five months. The Major 
has for nearly twenty- five years been iden- 
tified with the Baptist church. Also he has 
a membership in the Masonic and Knights 
of Pythias orders. He received the first 
degree in Masonry at Grand Bluff before 
the war and took two other degrees during 
the war. For years he has affiliated with 
Dublin Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 504, and 
Lodge No. 107, K. of P., of this place. 



a APT. WALTER TERRY SAXON, 
the county surveyor of Hamilton 
county and one of the leading citi- 
zens, is numbered among the gal- 
lant soldiers of the late war who "wore the 



008 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



gray," bravely defending the principles in 
which he so firmly believed and making for 
himself a military record unsurpassed in 
those qualities which indicate true heroism. 

He was born April 20, 1 836, in Autauga 
county, Alabama, a son of Benjamin Wads- 
worth and Mary Collingsworth (Terry) 
Saxon. His grandfather, James Saxon, a 
native of North Carolina, had five brothers 
and a sister who were hung by Tories dur- 
ing the Revolution, only himself and brother 
Yancy of the family escaping! He married 
a sister of Frank Elmore, who was Calhoun's 
successor in the United States senate. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject, Eli 
Terry, was a native of Anson county. North 
Carolina, and married a Miss Pickett, by 
whom he had four sons, — John, William, 
Todd and James, and three daughters. The 
Terry family removed Ironi Virginia to North 
Carolina. 

The father of our subject was born in 
South Carolina, and went to Alabama, 
where he became owner of a large planta- 
tion. He afterward removed to Florida, 
where also he had extensive landed inter- 
ests and many negroes. By profession he 
\vas a physician, but abandoned practice 
after going to Florida. He was sent as a 
representative to the secession convention at 
Tallahassee, and' cast his vote for that 
movement, January 11, 1861. His death 
occurred the same night! To Mr. and Mrs. 
Saxon were born the following children: 
James Randolph, born in 1832, married 
Dora Whittaker, and at his death left one 
child. He served as a member of Com- 
pany C, Third Florida Infantry, and while 
acting as color-bearer at Missionary Ridge 
was killed; Theodora Mary, born April 12, 
1834, wedded Captain Felix Simmons, who 
served through the war in the Eighth Fior- 



I ida regiment and afterward engaged in mer- 
chandising at Newport, Arkansas; they had 
six children; our subject is the next younger; 

' Frank Elmore, born in 1840, served in the 

! Third Florida regiment, has filled the office 
of state representative and count}' judge, 
and is now clerk of his county, his home 
being in Brookville, Florida; he wedded 
Marina Mays, daughter of General Mays, 
and after her death married Miss Hope, by 
whom he had seven children; Ben, born in 
1844, entered the army at the age of fifteen 
and served through the war in the Third 
Florida regiment; he died in 1872; Antoi- 
nette, born in 1846, married Captain H. C. 
Simmons, of Clay county, Alabama, who has 

I served his district in the legislature; and 
Jessie died at the age of sixteen j'ears. 

Captain Saxon, of this review, went to 
Hernando county, Florida, in 1854, and 
there made his home with his parents, who 
spent their remaining days in that place. 
He pursued the civil engineering course in 
the Southern Military Institute in Fredonia, 
Alabama, pursuing his studies from 1854 
until 1856, when he accompanied a survey- 
ing party to Kansas. He was in Florida at 
the time of the outbreak of the civil war, 
and raised one of the first companies for ser- 
vice. He had three brothers who joined 
this company, which was organized on his 
twenty-fifth birthday, he becoming its cap- 
tain. For three months he was in the state 
service and then went to the front. Five 
times was he wounded and on two occasions 
was taken prisoner. At the battle of Perry- 
ville, a ball struck him in the left side; he 
was wounded in the head at New Hope 
Church, and though hit with two balls he 
valiantly commanded his regiment. He re- 
ceived a slight wound at Atlanta, and was 
wounded in the hip at Joncsboro. He was 



mSTORT OF TEXAS. 



captured at Perryville, Kentucky, was sent 
to the hospital at Bardstown, then to Louis- 
ville, and later to Vicksburg, and after four 
months' imprisonment was exchanged. He 
was also captured at Atlanta, but succeeded 
in making his escape the same night. Near 
the close of the war the First, Third, Fourth 
and Seventh Infantry Regiments of Florida 
were consolidated with the First Cavalry 
Regiment, and he was made its major, but 
saw no active service under that title. 
There were few soldiers on either side who 
saw more arduous duty than Captain Saxon. 
He suffered all the hardships of war, but 
with a courage born of true heroism, e\cr 
stood at his post in the thickest of the fight, 
defending his principles at whatever cost. 

When the war was over the Captain 
returned home, and was twice honored by 
his fellow citizens by an election to the 
state legislature of Florida. He came to 
Hamilton countj^, Texas, in April, 1874, 
and began surveying. He served as deputy 
county surveyor under S. G. Forrester for 
one year, was elected county surveyor in 
1878, and has served continuously since, — a 
fact which indicates in no unmistakable way 
the confidence reposed in him and his effi- 
ciency in the discharge of his duties. He 
has practically done all the surveying in this 
county, and has done much outside of the 
county. It would be difficult to find a man 
in all this region who is better versed on the 
subject of land, its value and location than 
Captain Saxon. 

The Captain was married June 10, 
1864, to Sue Burns Simmons, daughter of 
Holman Freeman and Eliza (Burns) Sim- 
mons. They had seven children, but only 
two are living: Troup Elmore, born May 28, 
1874; and Bessie Cowden, born April 29, 
1878. Those deceased are Robert Lee, 



Holman Felix, Dixy and an infant son and 
daughter. 

In politics Captain Saxon is a stalwart 
Democrat. In 1875 he became a member 
of Hamilton Lodge, No. 216, I. O. O. F., 
and is also a member of the American Be- 
nevolent Association. He is a man of 
sterling worth, of strict integrity and stead- 
fast principle, and has the high esteem of all 
who know him. 



at 



ILLIAM BENTON McANELLY, 

familiarly known as "Squire," 
owns one of the finest farms on 
the Leon river, in Hamilton 
county. A native of the Lone Star state, 
he was born near Chireno, in Nacogdoches 
county, July 20, 1842, but when quite 
young was taken by his parents, John and 
Margaret (Davis) McAnellj', to Angelina 
county, where the father died about 1848, 
leaving his widow with eight children: 
James Lewis; Margaret, deceased; Caroline; 
Willis, deceased; Julia and John, deceased; 
William B. and George, who is living near 
Hico. The oldest son looked after the fam- 
ily, keeping the children together. Later 
the mother became the wife of Simpson 
Burkes, by whom she had one daughter, 
Sally Adelaide. Her third husband was a 
Mr. Davis. She was of German descent, 
while the father of our subject, who was 
born in middle Tennessee, was of Scotch 
lineage. In his native state he was mar- 
ried, and about 1S32 became a resident of 
Illinois. It was in 1836 that he came to 
Texas, locating in Nacogdoches county, 
where he secured six hundred and forty acres 
of land. By trade he was a blacksmith, and 
religiously was a member of the Presbyte- 
rian church. 



roo 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



In i860 our subject began life for him- 
self upon a farm in Angelina county, but 
the following year laid aside personal inter- 
est, joining Company I, Fourth Texas Cav- 
alry, and went on the Sibley expedition into 
Arizona. At Santa Fe, New Mexico, he 
was taken prisoner, and it was seven months 
before he was exchanged. The regiment 
was disbanded in Burleson county, Texas, 
in May, 1865. 

Returning to Angeline county, Mr. 
McAnelly there made his home until 1872, 
when he went to Collin county, but in De- 
cember of the following year came to Ham- 
ilton county, where for a year he rented 
land. For five jears he then leased seventy- 
five acres, after which he purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres, where Ambrose 
Oglesby now lives. He next owned twenty- 
two hundred acres, which he sold and for 
the following three j-ears rented. In 1S89 
he purchased three hundred and eight acres 
of the Wilkerson, Vaughn & Forrest sur- 
veys, comprismg a part of his present farm, 
and there erected a house, into which he 
moved his family in 1891. He now has one 
thousand acres of bottoai land, two hundred 
and sixty acres of which are under cultiva- 
tion, and also three hundred and twenty 
acres of prairie land, one hundred of which 
have been placed under the plow. A part 
of his land he rents, and devotes much of 
his time to clearing and breaking new tracts, 
which lie rapidly improves. His place is 
supplied with a comfoitable and convenient 
residence, good and substantial outbuildings, 
and in fact everything that goes to make up 
a model farm of the nineteenth century. 
He was one of the most progressive and 
wide-awake agriculturists of the county, and 
what he now possesses has all been acquired 
through his own industry and careful man- 



agement, being a self-made man in the broad- 
est sen.se of that term. 

On the 1 6th of January, 1866, Mr. Mc- 
Anelly led to the marriage altar Missouri 
Orlina Pate, who was born in Alabama, in 
1850, and was the daughter of Charles Pate. 
She was called to her final rest February 5, 
1880. To them had been born six children: 
Julia Samantha, born March i, 1867, is 
now the wife of Hugh W. Elliott, a teacher 
of Hico, Texas; John Benton, born July 5, 
1869, married Miss Ida Sharp, and is en- 
gaged in farming his father's place; Mar- 
garet Eugenia, born in 1871, died at the age 
of two years; Charles Pate, born February 
'7. '873. married Annie Salter, and is also 
living on the home farm; James Emmitt, 
born January 4, 1875, married Fannie 
Mason, and lives on the old homestead; and 
Sallie Orlena, born January 31, 1877, is at 
home. Mr. McAnelly was again married 
July 20, 1879, his second union being with 
Martha Webber, who was born in Missouri, 
in i860, and is the daughter of Simpson W. 
Webber. They have become the parents 
of the following children: George Lafay- 
ette, Rosie, William Penn, deceased, Grover, 
Katie, Ever and Walter Monroe. 

Mr. McAnelly allies himself with the 
Democratic party, served as county com- 
missioner from 1884 until 1886, and has now 
been justice of the peace for seventeen 
years. For thirteen years he has been a 
member of the Missionary Baptist church, 
and at one time belonged to the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows at Jonesboro'. A 
native Texan, he takes a deep and abiding 
interest in the welfare of his state and 
county, doing all in his power for their ad- 
vancement and prosperity, and is a highly 
respected and esteemed member of the 
society which surrounds him. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



701 



EON A. J. HART, whose career, pub- 
lic and private, has won him the 
confidence and highest regard of 
all with whom he has come in 
contact, is to-day one of the most honored 
citizens of Somervell county. Since 1855 
he has been identified with the interests of 
this section of the state, has been a promi- 
nent factor in the upbuilding and develop- 
ment of this region and has been active in 
his co-operation with all interests calculated 
to enhance the prosperity of the region and 
to materially promote the general welfare. 
Mr. Hart is a native of Arkansas, born 
in Scott county, on the 14th of May, 1832, 
a son of Meredith and Mary (Riley) Hart, 
the former a native of Kentucky and the 
latter of Indiana. The maternal grandfather, 
Isaac Riley, removed with his family to Ar- 
kansas at an early day, and in pioneer times 
Josiah Hart, the paternal grandfather, also 
located there. The ancestors of our sub- 
ject were also among the early settlers of 
Kentucky, and Hart county in that state 
was named in their honor. The father of 
our subject was born in Kentucky in 181 1, 
and after his removal to Arkansas married 
Miss Mary Riley. In 1834, accompanied 
by his family, he came to the republic of 
Texas, locating in Fannin county, and the 
next year went forth to participate in the 
war with Mexico. He joined General 
Houston's command and continued with the 
army of brave Texans until the independ- 
ence of the Republic was achie\'ed. He 
then returned to his home in Fannin county, 
where he extensively and successfully en- 
gaged in the stock business until 1S55. 
Then he came to Johnson county, where he 
followed the same pursuit until 1863, when 
his life's labors were ended and he was 
called to the home beyond. On taking up 



his residence in Johnson county he located 
seven miles south of where Cleburne now 
stands, on the Mustang creek. He also 
owned a ranch three miles north of that 
city, on Buck creek; one in Somervell 
county, on the Brazos river, and one in 
Comanche county. In 1838 he moved his 
cattle to Duffau, Erath county. At the 
breaking out of the late war he was brand- 
ing each spring one thousand, five hundred 
and twenty calves, together with a large 
number of horses, and ten herders were em- 
ployed in their care. One of the men in 
Mr. Hart's employ. Berry Bills, erected the 
first cabin in Cleburne. Mr. Hart purchased 
his ranch of one thousand, two hundred and 
eight acres of William Chambers, having 
had his choice of the land on which Cleburne 
is now standing for two dollars and a half 
per acre. The place purchased has water 
flowing from a fine spring, making it one of 
the most desirable ranches in the county. 
In 1853 he sold a number of beef cattle for 
one hundred dollars per head. During the 
late war he lost much of his stock, and he 
also sold a herd of cattle for counterfeit 
Confederate money, called Payne money, 
and consequently lost very heavily. 

When Mr. Hart first came to this state, 
Indians were living throughout this section 
and he with other settlers had frequently to 
go forth to battle with them in order to pro- 
tect their families and their property. He 
was a member of the Texas Rangers, an 
organization formed for mutual protection. 
Although not a politician he always took an 
active part in the politics of the day and was 
a life-long Democrat. His sympathies were 
with the south, altiiough he was originally 
opposed to the severance of the states. To 
the parents of our subject were born six 
children, four of whom are yet living, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



namely: A. J., of this notice; LaFayette, 
of Somervell county; Iredell, of Johnson 
county; and Nancy, wife of Thomas Pollard, 
of Montague county. After the death of his 
first wife Mr. Hart was united in marriage 
with Miss Cassandra Wilkins, and they had 
three children, — Miles, a prominent farmer 
of Johnson county; Meredith, deceased; and 
one who died unnamed. Mrs. Hart passed 
away in 1868. Mr. Hart was a Royal 
Arch Mason, and one of the most prominent 
stock dealers in central Texas. 

The gentleman who is the subject of 
this review was a child of only two years 
when brought by his parents to Texas. He 
assisted his father in the stock business and 
remained on the old homestead until his 
marriage. His education was obtained at 
McKey's Institute in Red River county and 
his extended reading and his observation in 
later years have made him a well informed 
man. 

In 1854 was celebrated the marriage of 
Mr. Hart and Miss Theodocia Reeves, a 
native of Bedford county, Tennessee, and a 
daughter of Dr. John H. Reeves, who came 
to Texas in 1845. The young couple began 
their domestic life near the old Hart home- 
stead, and our subject continued to care for 
his father's stock, following this pursuit 
until after the breaking out of the civil war. 
He joined the Confederate service October 
13, 1862, as a member of Company B, 
Stone's Cavalry, in the Trans-Mississippi 
department, and participated in the battles 
of Yellow Bayou, Pleasant Hill and Marsh- 
field. He was first commissioned lieutenant 
and was afterward promoted to the rank of 
captain of his company. At Yellow Bayou 
he was captured and for two months and 
four days held as a prisoner of war in New 
Orleans. He continued at the front until 



after the cessation of hostilities and then 
returned home, resuming his stock-dealing. 

Mr. Hart's service in the war cost him 
considerable financial loss, but he gathered 
together as much of his herd of cattle as re- 
mained and continued in this industry until 
1869. On the 25th of December of that 
year he took up his abode at his present 
farm and purchased six hundred and fifty- 
three acres of land. He at once began the 
arduous task of developing a new farm, and 
to day has tv^o hundred and sixty-six acres 
in a good state of cultivation. It is located 
on the east bank of the Brazos river, which 
furnishes a good supply of water, and his 
property is now one of the best farms in this 
section of the state. Artesian wells also 
supply water, and all the improvements of 
a model farm add to the value and attract- 
iveness of the place. The home is a fine 
brick residence, where true southern hos- 
pitality abounds, and both the Judge and 
his wife take great delight in entertaining 
their many friends. 

With the public affairs connected with 
central Texas our subject has been promi- 
nently identified. He was the first presid- 
ing officer of the second election in Johnson 
county, in 1854, and in 1874, on the ear- 
nest solicitation of many citizens, who signed 
a petition to him, he consented to become 
a candidate on the independent ticket for 
the office of representative. He was tri- 
umphantly elected, running four hundred 
and forty votes ahead of any other candi- 
date on the ticket, — a fact indicating his 
great personal popularity as well as the con- 
fidence reposed in his ability and fitness for 
legislative honors. For three successive 
terms he filled that office, a valued and hon- 
ored member of the general assembly. He 
served on a number of important committees, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



including penitentiary, county organization, 
public grounds and buildings, etc. He was 
a member of the house at the time that 
Somervell county was organized. He la- 
bored earnestly for the best interests of the 
people whom he represented, and his career 
as a legislator was most honorable. In 1884 
he was elected judge and served four years. 
His decisions were the result of careful de- 
liberation, and he was particularly free from 
judicial bias. Justice was his. watchword at 
all times, and his course on the bench won 
the commendation of every citizen who be- 
lieves in law and order. His public career, 
like his private life, is above reproach, and 
the confidence reposed in him by his fellow 
citizens has never been betrayed. Socially 
the Judge is a Royal Arch Mason, and in 
politics is a Democrat. 



ai 



F. REEVES is a native son of 
the Lone Star state and since 
1870 has been a resident of Hood 
and Somervell counties. It is 
therefore fitting that mention of his life, and 
a history of his pioneer parents, both of 
whom have passed away, should be given 
prominence in this record of representative 
men and women. 

W. F. Reeves was born in Clarksville, 
Red River county, Te.xas, September 28, 
1852, youngest son in the family of ten 
children of Dr. J. H. and Mary (Holt) 
Reeves. Dr. Reeves was a native of Geor- 
gia, born June 10, 1808, son of John Reeves, 
who was of Irish birth and settled in Amer- 
ica in colonial dajs. When the father of 
our subject was a child the family removed 
to Tennessee and located near Shelbyville, 
Bedford county, where he grew up, studied 
medicine and married, his marriage to Miss 



Mary Holt occurring in the year 1833. She 
was a native of South Carolina, born in 
18 1 2, and a daughter of Michael Holt, who 
traced his origin back to the Dutch. When 
Mrs. Reeves was a child she was taken by 
her parents to Tennessee, where she was 
reared and married. Dr. Reeves practiced 
his profession in Tennessee until 1845, at 
that time removing with his family to Te.xas 
and locating in Red River county, where 
for many years he ministered to suffering 
humanity on the frontier and at the same 
time was interested in all that pertained to 
the development of the country and its re- 
sources In 1 87 1 he came to Hood county 
and settled on the banks of the Brazos, in 
what is now Somervell county, where he 
continued the practice of his profession un- 
til his death, August 25, 1S85. After com- 
ing to this county he kept in his residence a 
drug store, conducting the same in connec- 
tion with his practice. His wife survived 
him two years, her death occurring February 
2, 1887. They were the parents of ten 
children, nine of whom arrived at adult age, 
namely: Harriet, wife of E. Clement, died 
in Red River county one year after her mar- 
riage; Theodocia A., wife of Judge A. J. 
Hart, a prominent citizen of Hood county, 
honorable mention of whom is made on an- 
other page of this work; M. Holt, a resident 
of Fannin county, Te.xas; Mrs. J. J. Mc- 
Cowen;John Henderson, who died in the 
late war, at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at the age 
of twenty-one years; Egbert Radford, of 
Ennis, Ellis county, Texas; Oval Cadmus, 
who resides on the old homestead in Somer- 
vell county; W. F., whose name heads this 
article; and Mary Izona, wife of J. B. Tur- 
ner, of Young county, Texas. The Doctor 
and his wife were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, in which he took an act- 



704 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



ive part for many years. Also he was a 
member of the Masonic fraternity, and in 
his political views he was in harmony with 
the Democratic party. 

From this succinct sketch of hisiionored 
parents, we turn now to a brief glimpse of 
the enterprising son, W. F. Reeves. His 
boyhood and youth were passed in the rural 
districts of his native county, his education 
was obtained in the common schools, and 
he remained with his parents until their 
death. In 1886 he was elected county 
sherii? and tax collector, was re-elected in 
1888 and again in 1890, and served as the 
incunibent of that office for six years. In 
February, 1894, he became associated with 
John Montgomery in the mercantile business 
and they have since prospered, doing a busi- 
ness which averages about $10,000 per an- 
num; and in connection with running the 
store they also do a large business in real 
estate. 

Mr. Reeves is prominent in fraternity 
circles. He is a member of the A. F. & 
A. M. at Glen Rose, Lodge No. 525, in 
which he has passed most of the chairs; and 
in the K. of P., Glen Rose Lodge, No. 168, 
he is Past Chancellor. Also he is Deputy 
Grand Chancellor of the Grand Lodge of 
the state. Politically, like his father before 
him, he is a stanch supporter of the princi- 
ples of the Democracy. 



*y ^ ENRY JONES CARTER, a pio- 
If^^ neer of Texas, is one of the largest 
\ . p landowners of Hamilton county, 
where he is actively and prosper- 
ously engaged in agricultural pursuits. The 
flourishing condition of this county, with 
its splendid farms, many comfortable dwell- 
ings, fine churches and substantial school 



buildings, is a monument to the perserver- 
ance and labors of the brave men who, 
like our subject, patiently endured the trials 
of a pioneer life that they might develop 
the wonderful and varied resources of this 
region, and make for themselves and their 
children a pleasant home in this fruitful and 
goodly land. 

He was born in Monroe county, east 
Tennessee. September 4, 1826, but in 1839 
was taken by his parents, Wesley and 
Sophia (Hill) Carter, to McNairy county, 
in the western part of the state. The 
father's birth occurred in Virginia in 1800, 
and in Greene county, Tennessee, he mar- 
ried Miss Hill, who was born in North 
Carolina, in 1802. They became the par- 
ents of eight children: Renie, Phoebe Jane, 
Henry J., James A., Drusilla, Lucinda, 
John W. and Margaret. The mother died 
in 1858, and during the civil war the father 
went to Missouri, since which time nothing 
has been heard of him. His father, Caleb 
Carter, was also a native of the Old Do- 
minion, and married Miss Williams, by 
whom he had three children: Wesley; Na- 
thaniel, the author of Carter's spelling-book; 
and Mrs. John Frazier. For his second wife 
the grandfather wedded Miss Templeton, 
and to them were born several children. 
Pleasant Hill, the maternal grandfather of 
our subject, married Sally Rippetoe, and 
they had a number of children, among 
whom were Alfred, Pleasant, Jasper, Bur- 
ton, Polly and Sophia. 

On reaching man's estate, Henry J. Car- 
ter was married, May 14, 1848, the lady of 
his choice being Miss Mary Caroline Pres- 
ton, who was born in Tennessee, in June, 
1830, and is the daughter of Jack Preston. 
Eleven children blessed this union: James 
Wesley, John Quincy, Joseph Henry, Sarah 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



705 



Jane, Mary Gussie, Frances Harriet, de- 
ceased, George Ra3'mond, Alexander Lee, 
deceased, Francis Marion, deceased, Alfred 
Lafayette and David Mitchell. 

With his wife, Mr. Carter left Tennes- 
see, March, 1849, for Texas, going by water 
to New Orleans, then up the Red river, 
landing at Shreveport, Louisiana, thence by 
land to Harrison county, Texas, thence they 
went to Smith county, where he rented land 
until 1856. On the 15th of September of 
that year he became the first settler on 
Cowhouse creek, in what is now Hamilton 
county, their nearest neighbor being his 
brother, James A., who lived seven miles 
distant, at what is now Evant. At about 
twelve miles distant resided James Rice and 
Henry C. Standefer, the first settlers on Leon 
river in Hamilton county, who were con- 
sidered neighbors. For sixteen years (for 
which he received nothing but two percus- 
sion caps), Mr. Carter engaged in skirmishes 
with the Indians, being in the fight at Dove 
creek, where twenty-seven white men were 
killed and seventeen wounded. This cam- 
paign was one of the most severe and lasted 
for thirty days, during which time men not 
used to cold weather spent a large portion 
of the time wading in snow several feet 
deep. The settlers were also reduced to 
dire extremities for want of food during 
this service. 

On the Cowhouse, Mr. Carter pre- 
empted one hundred and sixty acres of land 
in 1873, and during those trying early days 
lost $500 in the cattle business, which proved 
a sad misfortune at that time. However, 
to-day he is the owner of thirty-four hun- 
dred acres in Hamilton county, five hundred 
of which are under a high state of cultiva- 
tion and well improved, his property being 
valued at one hundred thousand dollars, all 



accumulated through his own individual ef- 
forts. He comes of a most highly respected 
family, and he is a credit to the worthy 
name he bears. That he has made his ca- 
reer a grand success is due to his untiring 
energy, affability, integrity and judicious 
conduct as a business man. He always 
supported the Democratic party until lately, 
now voting independently of party ties. In 
religious relations he is a member of the 
Christian church. 



^^UDGE J. J. MATTHEWS.— In the 
H present connection we shall revert to 
A 1 the life of one who has long figured 
prominently as an honored resident 
of Texas, and who is conspicuous, in a 
further sense, as a representative of one 
of the leading pioneer families of the Lone 
Star state. The history of the Matthews 
family is prolific in interest and instruction 
and is well worthy of prominence in a work 
which has to do with the representative men 
and women of this section of the Texas com- 
monwealth. 

J. J. Matthews was born in Madison 
county, Alabama, July 5, 1828, and in his 
sixth year was brought to Texas by his par- 
ents. Dr. M. W. and Sarah A. (Gahagan) 
Matthews. Before proceeding, however, 
with the history of the Judge we would speak 
at length of his parents and ancestry, the 
latter tracing back to England and dating in 
America from the colonial period. 

Walter Matthews, the great-grandfather 
of our subject, was born in England, came 
to America before the Revolutionary war 
and was a soldier in that war, serving as a 
commissioned officer. At the close of the 
Revolution he made a settlement in Georgia, 
which was then a wilderness inhabited 



7Ut) 



HI STOUT OP TEXAS. 



chiefly by Indians and wild animals, and in 
that frontier district he passed his life and 
reared his family. His son Joseph, the 
Judge's grandfather, was born, reared and 
married in Georgia, the lady of his choice 
being Miss Pannia Crisp, likewise a native of 
that state. At an early day they removed 
to Kentucky, where he developed a farm 
and where he resided for a number of years. 
It was in Kentucky that his son, Dr. M. \V., 
was born. Dr. M. W. Matthews grew up 
on a frontier farm, like his father before him, 
and on attaining to young manhood fol- 
lowed his father's example in leaving the 
parental home and seeking his fortune in a 
locality more remote from civilization. He 
went to Alabama, in which state he was 
married to Miss Sarah A. Gahagan, a native 
of Virginia, and a daughter of James Gaha- 
gan and wife, ncc Vivian, her parents having 
emigrated to this country from Ireland and 
made settlement in Virginia, where her 
father died. After a short residence in Ala- 
bama Dr. Matthews removed to Gibson 
county, Tennessee, where his father's family 
had previously settled, and lived neighbors 
to David Crockett. They continued their 
residence in Gibson county until the fall of 
1835, when they emigrated to Texas and 
settled in Red River county, near where 
Clarksville now stands. As soon as he 
could get his family .settled the Doctor 
joined the brave Texans who were fighting 
for the liberty of their land, and was a par- 
ticipant in the memorable battle of San 
Jacinto. He was sitting by the side of 
General Houston when Santa Anna was 
brought in after the battle. Soon after- 
ward Dr. Matthews returned to Red River 
county and joined his family and there di- 
rected his energies toward opening up a 
farm. In many respects he was a remarka- 



ble man, one of great versatility; was always 
ready for any emergency and capable of 
filling most acceptably all the positions to 
which he was called. He was elected to 
and served in the first and second congresses 
of Texas, and he was president of the board 
of land commissioners of Red River county 
four years. 

While in Iventucky he began the study 
of medicine, and he practiced his profession 
in Tennessee; but after coming to this state 
he turned his attention to law and soon after 
formed a partnership with David Sample, 
with whom he was associated in legal prac- 
tice for some time; and he practiced law, 
more or less, up to the time of his death. 
Nor were these the only professions he 
adopted. When only about eighteen years 
of age he began preaching in the Christian 
church, and preached at intervals all his 
life, traveling about over the Texas frontier, 
frequently giving his time and labor and 
paying his own expenses. His ministry re- 
sulted in the salvation of many souls. The 
influence of his life can never be measured 
here; only eternity can compute the good 
accomplished by such a man. About 1846 
he removed to Lamar county and settled 
near where Paris now is, then a district un- 
inhabited save by red men and wild beasts, 
and there he opened up another farm, at 
the same time practicing law and medicine 
among the scattered settlers whenever occa- 
sion offered, and on the Sabbath meeting his 
preaching appointments. At the close of the 
civil war he removed to Limestone county; 
he maintained his residence there about ten 
years and from thence he went to Mills 
county, where he died in April, 1895. His 
wife had died in 1872, at the age of sixty 
years. They were the parents of eleven 
children, of whom five are still living. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



707 



Reverting to Dr. Matthews' removal to 
Texas, we would further state that his 
father and mother came here at the same 
time he did, and in Texas passed the 
residue of their lives and died, his death 
occurring six years before hers, while he 
was eighty-seven and she eighty-six years of 
age. For over sixty years they had trav- 
eled life's pathway together. Grandfather 
Matthews was an old-line Whig, and for 
manyyears served as magistrate in the several 
communities in which he lived. He was a 
man of learning, above the average of his 
day and place, and taught some of the first 
schools in Texas. By many a pioneer is 
his memory revered. 

J. J. Matthews, the immediate subject 
of this review, spent his boyhood on his 
father's farm, assisting in the work of the 
farm and in the caring for the stock, and 
remained with his parents until the time of 
his marriage. While his educational ad- 
vantages were limited to the " rude log 
seats of learning " in the frontier com- 
munity in which he lived, he had what was 
better, namely, the influence of refined, 
educated and Christian parents. After his 
marriage, which was in 1851, "he located in 
Hawkins county. During the late war he 
was stationed in Carnp Colorado, in the 
frontier service, and was efficient in afford- 
ing protection to the border settlers. Pre- 
vious to the war he gave his attention 
chiefly to the stock business, at various 
places, and in 1861 he settled in Johnson 
county, in the vicinity of which he has since 
lived, and here he continued the stock busi- 
ness until the country became more thickly 
settled and Hood county was organized, 
when he turned his attention more especially 
to farming. He assisted in the organiza- 
tion of Hood county and also Somervell 



county, and thus without moving from his 
locality he has during the past thirty-iive 
years lived in three different counties; and 
during his residence in Texas he has lived 
under four different governments. He now 
has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, 
nicely improved and under cultivation, and is 
pleasantlysituated to enjoy life in this favored 
clime. About the time Hood county was 
organized he was elected a justice of the 
peace and county commissioner, in the lat- 
ter office serving one term. In 1878 he 
was elected county judge, his office holding 
until 1884, and in 1888 he was again elected 
to the same position for another term of 
six years. At the end of his last term, 
having completed his twelfth year as county 
judge, he refused to allow his name to be 
used again in this connection, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that he was earnestly urged to 
run for a third term. 

Judge Matthews was married January 
23, 185 1, in Grayson county, Texas, to 
Miss Laura Milam, a native of this state and 
a daughter of Jefferson Milam, of whom 
mention is made elsewhere in this volume. 
They have had eight children, of whom 
three sons and two daughters are now living, 
viz. : Jennie, wife of Samuel Waters, of 
Waco; Jefferson M., who resides in Harris 
county; J. W. , in the lumber business in 
Cleburne; Eliza, wife of M. A. Curry, of 
this county; and Collins, at home. One 
son, M. W., died at the age of thirty-four 
years, leaving a widow and four children; 
the others died in infancy. 

The Judge and his wife are identified 
with the Christian church, having been 
consistent members of the same for many 
years. His father was both a Mason and 
an Odd Fellow, took all the degrees in 
Masonry that could then be conferred in 



ro8 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Texas, and the Judge has been a member of 
the Masonic order since 1S59, when he was 
initiated into its mysteries at Gainesville. 
For some years past he has had a member- 
ship in Glen Rose Lodge, No. 525, F. & 
A. M. His political views are those advanced 
by the Democratic party. 



^^COTT MILAM, M. D., Glen Rose, 
•^^^k* Texas. — This gentleman is distinct- 

K^^y ivcly a pioneer and comes from a 
race of people distinguished for 
pioneer proclivities. His grandparents, both 
paternal and maternal, figured as frontier 
settlers of Kentucky, and before the third 
decade of the present century was com- 
pleted we find his parents and maternal 
grandparents leaving their Kentucky homes 
and seeking to better their conditions by re- 
moval to far-off Te.xas, then a part of the 
Mexican domain. Their long identity with 
Texas and the prominent and influential po- 
sitions occupied by them here combine to 
make their history both interesting and in- 
structive and of special importance in this 
connection. 

Dr. Scott Milam was born in Bowie 
county, Texas, January 8, 1840, the young- 
est son of Jefferson and Eliza ( McKinney ) 
Milam. Jefferson Milam was a native of 
Kentucky, born in 1802, son of one of the 
prominent early settlers of that state, — 
Archie Milam, — who had removed to that 
place from some point in the east and there 
passed the rest of his life and died. Jeffer- 
son spent his first twenty-two years in Ken- 
tucky. In 1824 he set out for Texas and 
landed in due time in Bowie county, where 
he made a settlement and followed the land 
and surveying business, and where he was 
married a few years later to Miss Eliza Mc- 



Kinney, a native of Kentucky and a daugh- 
ter of Collin McKinney. Mr. McKinney was 
a native of Delaware, born in 1766, early in 
life pitched his tent in Kentucky, assisted 
in driving the red men from the hills and 
fertile valleys of that state and in develop- 
ing the resources of the country, and after 
some years' residence there came, in 1824, 

j to Bowie county, Texas, where he again 
was a pioneer. He was a man of much in- 
telligence and great force of character, and 
his worth as a citizen was early recognized 
by the scattered settlers among whom he 
dwelt. When Texas declared her inde- 
pendence and assumed a republican form of 
government, Mr. McKinney's services were 
called into action as one of the framers of 
the constitution of the new republic. Some 
years later he removed to northern Texas 
and located in what afterward became Col- 
lin county, the county and the county seat 
— McKinney — both being named in honor 
of him. He died there in 1861 at the ven- 
erable age of ninety-five years. Mr. Jeffer- 
son Milam continued his residence in Bowie 
county up to the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1844, when he was in the prime 
of life. His widow is still living on the 
homestead on which she located in 1 849, is 
now eighty-three years of age and is vigor- 

j ous both physically and mentally. She has 
long been a constant and devoted member 
of the Christian church, with which her 
husband also was identified. They were 
the parents of ten children, eight of whom 
reached adult years, and of this number five 
are still living. 

Dr. Milam, whose name initiates this re- 
view, moved with his mother in 1846 to 
Grayson county, this state, where he was 
reared and received the rudiments of his 
education in the common schools. He re- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mained with his mother until he was twenty- 
one. Shortly after he attained his majority 
the civil war-cloud gathered and broke upon 
the country in all its fury. Naturally he es- 
poused the southern cause. September lo, 
1 86 1, he enlisted in Company D, Sixth 
Texas Cavalry, and went forth in the 
strength of his young manhood to fight for 
a cause he believed to be just and right, and 
his service, which extended to the close of 
the war, was characterized by true bravery. 
During the latter part of his military career 
he was first lieutenant of his company. To 
recount in full his army life would be to 
cover much of the late war, which, how- 
ever is not our purpose here; even to name 
the engagaments in which he participated 
would require more space than can be al- 
lotted here, for in all he took part in no less 
than one hundred and twenty-seven battles 
and skirmishes! Suffice it to say that in all 
he acquitted himself creditably and came 
out of the war with an honorable record, 
notwithstanding he fought for a lost cause. 
The war over, he received his parol from 
General Canby at Jackson, Mississippi, and 
from there returned to his home in Texas. 
On his return home, the subject of our 
sketch took up the study of medicine under 
the preceptorship of Dr. James LaFayette 
Leslie, of Collin county. Later he went to 
Alvarado and entered the office of Dr. John 
C. Weaver, where he continued his studies 
for a brief period, and from there in 1866 
came to what is now Somervell county and 
settled where Glen Rose afterward sprang 
up, and here and then he began the prac- 
tice of his profession. As one of the pio- 
neer physicians of this frontier community 
he soon built up a large practice that ex- 
tended over a radius of thirty-five miles. 
The unsettled condition of the country and 



the Indian troubles at the time rendered the 
life of the early phj-sician by no means an 
easy one, but Dr. Milam was untiring in his 
efforts to relieve the sufferings of humanity, 
responding as readily to the call of the poor 
man ten, twenty or thirty miles away as he 
did to the rich one near by. He confined 
himself to his profession until 1882, when 
he opened a drug store, which he has since 
conducted in connection with his other in- 
terests. Also he owns a fine farm of three 
hundred acres. 

From his first settlement here Dr. Milam 
has manifested a deep interest in everything 
pertaining to the welfare of th2 community 
andhisheartysupporthasbeentenderedevery 
measure and enterprise he believed to be 
for the good of the town and county. He 
assisted in the organization of the county of 
Somervell, was its first regularly elected 
treasurer and was the incumbent of that 
office for a period of eight years. Politically, 
he has always given his stanch support 
to the Democratic party. He maintains fra- 
ternal relation with Glen Rose Lodge, No. 
525, F. & A. M., in which he has for many 
years served as treasurer. 

Dr. Milam was married December 24, 
1868, to Miss Bettie Knott, a native of 
Franklin, Tennessee, and a daughter of 
James Knott, who came to Texas in 1867 
and settled in Somervell county, where he 
died. To the Doctor and his wife three 
children were born, namely: Pearl, now the 
wife of William Felder of Glen Rose; Lue, 
at home; and Robert, who died in infancy. 
The devoted wife and loving mother de- 
parted this life in February, 1895, at the 
age of forty-three years, mourned by her 
husband and children and a large circle of 
admiring friends. She was a member of the 
Christian church, as also is the Doctor. 



"10 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



,V^^ C. ADDISON.— For nearly twenty 
1 ■ \ears has this gentleman been iden- 
\ I tified with the interests of Hood 
county. He is one of its enter- 
prising and prosperous farmers and self-made 
men, and to a brief sketch of his life would 
we now invite attention. 

N. C. Addison is a native son of the 
Lone Star state. He was born in Jasper 
county, June i, 1848, his parents being 
Nathaniel and Peggie Ann (Low) Addison, 
the former a native of Mississippi and the 
latter of Kentucky. Nathaniel Addison 
came to Te.xas prior to the Te.xas war and 
was a soldier under Sam Houston in the 
battle of San Jacinto. He settled down to 
farming, and is still a resident of Hill coun- 
t}', where he is well known and highly 
respected. Mrs. Addison came to Texas 
when a girl, accompanying her father, Bar- 
ney Low, and his family to this state when 
it was a republic. 

The youth of our subject was spent not 
unlike that of other Texas boys of those 
days, fishing, hunting and taking care of 
stock occupying his time. There were few 
schools here then and his educational ad- 
vantages were consequently limited. In 
1869, having reached his majority, he left 
the parental home and pushed out to make 
his own fortune. The next four years he 
was engaged in farming in Hill county, then 
he was similarly occupied for four years in 
Tarrant county, and from the latter place he 
came to Hood county, landing here in 1877 
and at once purchasing two hundred acres 
of wild land; later he bought an adjoining 
tract of one hundred acres. Here he set- 
tled in true pioneer style and went earnestly 
to work to develop a farm, and as the years 
passed by and he toiled on the forest gave 
way to fields of grain. To-day he has 



eighty acres under a high state of cultivation 
and raises a diversity of crops. 

Mr. Addison was married December 25, 
1876, to Miss Malissa Musick, daughter of 
Austin Musick, to whom we have referred at 
length elsewhere in this volume. They have 
been blessed in the birth of eight children, 
namely: Austin Nathaniel, Henry La Fay- 
ette, Barney Columbus, William Kellog, 
Annie Jane, Mary Malissa, Nettie Elizabeth 
and Francis Marion, — all of whom are living 
except Annie Jane, who died at the age of 
three years. Mrs. Addison was reared in the 
faith of the Baptist church and is a member 
of that denomination. 

Politically, Mr. Addison casts his fran- 
chise with the Democratic party. Genial 
and progressive and of the stanchest integ- 
rity, he has long held a high position in the 
I respect and confidence of the community. 



HM. MEEKER, although a resident 
of Hood county only four 3-ears, is 
thoroughly identified with its inter- 
ests, and deserves recognition as 
one of its representative citizens. He is a 
native of Ohio, born in Delaware county 
March 4, 1840. His parents. Grove and 
Phoebe (Payne) Meeker, came from Europe 
to this country and settled in Ohio, and 
when the subject of our sketch was an in- 
fant they removed to Smith county, Ten- 
nessee, where they resided until 1846, that 
year going to Arkansas and taking up their 
abode at Independence. The father was a 
Methodist minister and farmer, dividing his 
time between these vocations, and preach- 
ing as long as he lived. He died at the ripe 
old age of eighty-five years, his wife follow- 
ing him three years later, her age at the time 
of death being the same as his. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



711 



A. M. Meeker was reared to farm life in 
Tennessee and Arkansas, and remained with 
his parents until the war between the north 
and south was inaugurated. He espoused 
the northern cause, enlisted as a member of 
Company C, Second Arkansas United States 
Cavalry, and went out to fight for the old 
f^ag. His command operated in Missouri 
and Mississippi. • Among the engagements 
in which he participated was the battle of 
Blue Ridge, Missouri, and he was with the 
force that brought Hood's skirmishes in 
check at Nashville. He remained on active 
duty until the close of the war, when he was 
honorably discharged. During his service 
he received an injury by his horse falling, 
from the effects of which he has never fully 
recovered. 

Early in the year following the close of 
the war Mr. Meeker was married; and after 
his marriage he purchased a farm near the 
town of Cushman, Arkansas, where he was 
engaged in agricultural pursuits until his re- 
moval to Te.xas, in 1892. On his arrival 
here he bought his present farm, two hun- 
dred acres, at the head of Squaw creek, and 
here he has ninety acres in cultivation and 
is carrying on diversified farming and stock- 
raising. 

Mr. Meeker was married February 17, 
1 866, to Miss Nancy Wren, a native of 
Tennessee and a daughter of Henry Wren. 
Their happy union has been blessed in the 
birth of nine children, all of whom are liv- 
ing, namely: G. H.; Nellie, wife of R. S. 
Sanders, of Hood county; Dora, wife of W. 
S. Wier, Hood county; Annie, wife of Perry 
Price, also of Hood county; and Sally, 
George, Nettie, John and Daniel. 

In church circles Mr. and Mrs. Meeker 
are prominent and active, both being mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, south, in 



which he is now serving as Sunday-school 
superintendent. Fraternally he is identified 
with the I. O. O. F. , and his political affil- 
iations are with the Republican party. 






S. HELM, proprietor of 
Merchant and Exchange 

Mills of Clifton, Texas, 
figures as one of the prosperous 
and leading men of the city, where he has 
made his home since 1888. In this connec- 
tion a sketch of his life is of interest, and is 
as follows: 

Willis S. Helm is a native of Kentucky, 
born in Lincoln county, March 19, 1847. 
second of the seven children of Fielding 
and Dorcas G. (Hocker) Helm, both na- 
tives of that state. His father a farmer, 
Willis S. was reared to farm life and was 
educated in the schools near his home. He 
remained in Kentucky until 1871, when he 
emigrated to Texas, the family following 
him the same year, and his first location 
was on the Brazos river, where he was en- 
gaged in farming until 1888. That year he 
came to Clifton and turned his attention to 
the milling business. Here he purchased 
property and built the first steam flour mill 
of the place, its capacity being seventy-five 
barrels daily. Not being a practical miller 
himself, he employed one for eighteen 
months, and after that Mr. Helm took full 
charge himself, conducting the business 
successfully and accumulating considerable 
means. But in the midst of this prosperity 
misfortune overtook him. The plant was 
destroyed by fire in 1894, and as it was 
uninsured the loss was total. Nothing 
daunted, however, he rebuilt on a much 
larger scale, and that same year resumed 
business. The present plant is a three- 



71: 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



story structure, with basement, and con- 
tains five double-stand rollers, four of them 
being nine by twenty-four feet and the other 
nine by thirty feet. Its capacity is two 
hundred barrels daily. It has two flour 
and one bran packer, combined elevators, 
etc. The engine is one of seventy-horse 
power and the boiler is of the same strength. 
Indeed, the whole establishment is substan- 
tially and handsomely equipped with ma- 
chinery, the latest and best, and in every 
respect the mill is ranked first-class. 

In addition to the property above re- 
ferred to, Mr. Helm owns farm land in this 
county, having two hundred and twenty 
acres located two miles south of Clifton. 
One hundred acres of this land are under 
cultivation. 

Mr. Helm was married in Hill county, 
Te.xas, February 28, 1866, to Miss Ellen 
Lowe, a native of Missouri, and they have 
five children living, viz. : Betty E. , Molly Z. , 
William, Fielding ami Ralph. They have 
one son deceased. 

Mr. Helm is a Democrat of pronounced 
type, stanch and active in the support of 
party principles, and as a citizen and busi- 
ness man his sterling worth is well known. 



eH. CH.-\NDLER is conspicuously 
id jtitilicd with the business and ma- 
terial interests of Bluff Dale and 
to-day is at the head of a good lum- 
ber and drug business in this place. The man 
wiio enters commercial life and wins success 
'must be possessed of several qualifications. 
He must be energetic and persevering, indus- 
trious and of resolute purpose, and must 
have the ability to see and utilize favorable 
opportunities or to make them where none 
e.xist. These qualifications are salient points 



in the character of Mr. Chandler, who ranks 
deservedly high in commercial circles and at 
the same time is prominent in other public 
affairs. 

Mr. Chandler traces his ancestry back 
to one of the Revolutionary heroes. His 
great-grandfather served in the struggle that 
happily ended in the establishment of this 
republic and was a representative of one of 
the old Virginia families of colonial dajs. 
The father of our subject, Henry F. Chand- 
ler, was born in Manchester count}', Vir- 
ginia, and when he had arrived at years of 
maturity married Fannie Harbin, a native 
of Pickens county. South Carolina. Her 
father was a native of Scotland and her 
mother lived to the advanced age of ninety- 
seven 3'ears. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler were 
the parents of twelve children, eleven of 
whom reached years of maturity, while 
seven are still living. The father died at 
the age of seventy-two years, the mother at 
the age of fifty-eight. 

Mr. Chandler was a very prominent and 
influential citizen in the community in which 
he lived and was honored with offices of 
public trust. In the years 1852, 1853, 1S54 
and 1855 ^^ was county judge of his coun- 
ty. In 1856 he was elected member of the 
state legislature and served continuously 
through 1859. He labored earnestly for 
the best interests of the district which he 
represented and was an honored member of 
the house. On the bench his rulings were 
models of judicial soundness, ever impartial 
and just, and he had the highest respect of 
ell who knew him. He and his wife were 
consistent and valued members of the Bap- 
tist church and for thirty-three years he 
served as clerk of the Tugaloo Association, 
being the incumbent for twenty-eight con- 
secuti\c years. At the close of his service 



V 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Ut 



the editor of the Anderson (South Carolina) 
Gazette stated in his paper that he had pub- 
hshed the minutes of the association for 
twenty-eight years and had never found an 
ungrammaticai expression or mispelled word 
in the matter furnished by Henry T. Chand- 
ler, — which is certainly a high tribute to his 
scholarship. 

E. H. Chandler is a native of Georgia. 
He was born in Franklin county. May 21, 
1840, and was the youngest son of the 
family. His youth was spent on his father's 
farm and his educational privileges were 
limited to the opportunities offered by the 
common schools. He resided with his par- 
ents until he had reached his majority, and 
on the 20th of August, 1861, became a 
member of Company A, Twenty-fourth In- 
fantry, which was joined to the Army of the 
Potomac. Soon afterward he was trans- 
ferred to the Third Georgia Battalion of 
Sharpshooters and participated in many hard- 
fought battles, which called forth the bravery 
of the men on both sides. Loyal to the 
cause which he enlisted to defend he partici- 
pated in the battles of Yorktown, Williams- 
burg, Seven Pines, Gaines' Farm, Savage 
Station, Malvern Hill and the second battle 
of Manassas. The regiment of which he was 
a member was next sent to Chickamauga, 
and after the battle at that place met the 
union troops at Ringgold, Georgia, and par- 
ticipated in the siege of Kno.xville, after 
which they spent the remainder of the win- 
ter at Gordonville, Virginia. In 1864 Mr. 
Chandler participated in the battles of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Horse Shoe and 
Hanover Junction, and afterward proceeded 
to Richmond, thirty miles distant. So con- 
stant was his service that from the 12th day 
of May until the 3d of June Mr. Chandler 
was never able to laj' aside his clothing as 



he sought a night's repose, being constantly 
ready for duty at a moment's notice. He 
was in the service around Petersburg until 
the surrender of that city, and after receiv- 
ing his parole started for home, making the 
long weary journey of four hundred and fifty 
miles on foot. He received his first com- 
mission from General Lee, May i, 1862, 
when he was promoted to the rank of second 
lieutenant, and later he was commissioned 
first lieutenant. 

When the war was over Mr. Chandler 
went to Atlanta, Georgia, where for eight 
months he was engaged in teaming. He 
was married May i, 1866, to Miss Mattie 
Mintz, a native of that state and a daughter 
of Major M. and Joyce (Anderson) Mintz, 
the latter a daughter of General Anderson, 
of Florida, who was one of the most brilliant 
commanders during the late war. Major 
Mintz was a native of Virginia. On the 
1st of September, 1866, Lieutenant Chand- 
ler and his bride started for Texas with a 
horse and wagon, and on the 27th of Novem- 
ber reached the Brazos river at the place 
where Granbury is now located. He pur- 
chased three hundred and twenty acres of 
land from Major Boyd and began the task 
of transforming it into rich fields, placing 
one hundred acres under the plow. In 1870 
he removed to Glen Rose and bought a 
tract of Milam county school land, and 
improved one hundred and seventy acres 
and followed farming until 1888, when he 
came to Bluff Dale and entered the lumber 
business, establishing the yard which he 
still conducts and building the first house in 
the place. He has a good trade as a lum- 
ber merchant, and in addition to his opera- 
tions in this line he has, since 1895, owned 
and conducted a drug business, having the 
only drug-store in the place. Courteous 



il4 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



treatment and well-known honesty in all 
transactions have secured liim a good patron- 
age, and he is recognized as one of the lead- 
ing business men of the count}-. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Chandler, 
four in number, are as follows: William B. , 
Fred H., Emma F. and T. E. The Chand- 
ler household is noted for the hospitality 
which is so truly a southern characteristic, 
and the friends of the family form an ex- 
tended circle. In his political views Mr. 
Chandler is a Democrat, zealously advo- 
cating the principles of the party. In 1881 
he was appointed to the position of deputy 
sheriff of Hood county and was later elected 
sheriff of Somervell county, acceptably 
serving in that position for a term of si.x 
years, ever discharging his duties with 
marked fidelity and promptness. He is 
connected with several civic orders, includ- 
ing the Masonic lodge at Glen Rose and the 
Odd Fellows society at Bluff Dale. His 
wife is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church and a most estimable lady. 



Q.\RK HERRING, whose identifi- 
cation with the agricultural in- 
terests of Erath count}' covers a 
period of thirty years, was born 
in Fayette county, Georgia, May 3, 1844, a 
son of Thomas and Mary Ann fMoore) Her- 
ring, the former a native of South Carolina, 
and the latter born in Georgia, both of 
Irish lineage. 

During the greater part of his youth Mr. 
Herring attended school. His father died 
when Mark was eight years of age and he 
lived with his mother until the breaking out 
of the civil war. He joined the "boys in 
gray" in July, 1861, becoming a member of 
Company E, Thirteenth Alabama Volunteer 



Infantry. The regiment was attached to 
the Army of Virginia and participated in the 
battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, the 
seven-days battle of the wilderness, Sharps- 
burg, Gettysburg, and the campaign in 
western Virginia to Petersburg, where Mr. 
Herring was wounded. His skull was frac- 
tured, which necessitated the removal of a 
piece of the bone two inches square. On 
account of his wound he was granted a fur- 
lough and returned home, where he was at 
the time the war was brought to a close. 

With his mother Mr. Herring had re- 
moved to Alabama about 1856. When 
hostilities had ceased he went to Mississippi, 
%vhere he conducted a blacksmith and car- 
riage shop for two years. In the fall of 
1866 he came to Te.xas, and after a year 
spent in Hood county took up his abode in 
Erath county, which was then a frontier 
locality, the land being wild and unimproved, 
while the Indians who visited the region 
were far more numerous than the white 
settlers. He located on Buck creek and 
engaged in the stock business. The settlers 
had to be constantly on the watch in order 
that the Indians should not make away with 
their cattle and horses, and through the 
I depredations of the savages Mr. Herring 
[ lost a number of horses. He continued in 
t the stock business until 1881, when he 
began the task of improving his present 
1 farm. He now has one hundred and si.xty 
acres of land, one half of which is now 
highly cultivated. His success is all attrib- 
utable to his own energy and capable 
management and shows what can be accom- 
plished by determined effort. 

While in Alabama Mr. Herring was mar- 
ried, October 30, 1864, to Miss Melissa F. 
Hightower, a native of Alabama and a 
daughter of Josiah and Nancy (Collier) 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



?15 



Hightower, the former a native of Georgia 
and the latter of North CaroHna. Mr. and 
Mrs. Herring have eleven children, as fol- 
lows: Lulu, wife of Henr}' Goodman, of 
Erath county; Joshua F., of Erath county; 
Lena, wife of Frank Huffman, of Erath 
county; John W. ; Laura; Lamorah; Robert; 
Franklin A. ; I^illian M. ; one who died in 
infancy, and Lester, who died at the age of 
four years. Mrs. Herring is a member of 
the Baptist church and presides over her 
household with gracious dignit}-. In politics 
Mr. Herring upholds the principles of De- 
mocracy. 



w 



LONG, a farmer and stock- 
raiser of Erath count}-, Texas, 
.'as born in Rutherford county, 
North Carolina, on the 6th of 
April, 1834, a son of W. J. and Mary (Mor- 
rison) Long. Oh both sides he comes of 
famihes that have long been identified with 
this country. The Longs are of Dutch and 
English ancestry, and at an early day in the 
history of the state the great-grandfather of 
our subject removed from Pennsylvania to 
North Carolina, where W. J, Long was 
born. The latter's wife was also a native 
of North Carolina and a daughter of John 
Morrison, who was taken to McDowell 
county. North Carolina, when an infant, by 
his father, who was a native of Ireland and 
crossed the Atlantic to America in colonial 
days. The maternal grandfather of our 
subject was one of the heroes of the Revo- 
lution, and on the day that he was si.xteen 
years of age he took part in the battle of 
King's mountain. 

The parents of W. T. Long were mar- 
ried in Rutherford county, North Carolina, 
and resided there until 1851, when they 



moved to what was then Gilmore but is 
now Pickens county, Georgia, where Mr. 
Long carried on agricultural pursuits. They 
had four sons and three daughters, and 
three of the number are yet living. Mr. 
Long served as a captain in the militia for 
twenty years, and was a man of considerable 
prominence in the community in which he 
resided. He and his wife were consistent 
members of the Presbytarian church. They 
continued to reside in Georgia until 1871, 
when they came to Texas, making their 
home with their son W. T. until called to 
the eternal home. The father died in 1886, 
at the age of eighty-three years, and the 
mother passed away in 1888, at the age of 
eighty years. 

Mr. Long of this review was reared on 
his father's farm and remained under the 
parental roof until twenty-two years of age, 
when he began business on his own account. 
The work with which he had been familiar 
from boyhood became his manhood's occu- 
pation, and he is now a successful agricul- 
turist and stock-dealer. He chose as a 
companion on life's journey Miss Rebecca 
Williams, their marriage being celebrated 
on the 2d of October, 1856. The lady is a 
native of North Carolina, and a daughter 
of William and Jane (Wellborn) Williams, 
who were reared in Surr\' county. North 
Carolina. In 1848 the family moved to 
Georgia, where the daughter formed the 
acquaintance of the gentleman who became 
her husband. 

Mr. Long continued to cultivate his land 
until after the civil war was inaugurated, 
when, on the 19th of October, 1861, he 
joined Company D, Twenty-third Georgia 
Infantry, which was sent to Virginia and 
stationed at Yorktown. After the retreat 
from that place the regiment was with Gen- 



716 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



eral Joseph E. Johnston, returning to Rich- 
mond, and later joined the -forces of Lee, 
participating in the battles of Seven Pines, 
Bull Run, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, 
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At the 
last named the Twenty-third Georgia was 
left to hold the enemy in check, while the 
corps passed and then the regiment surren- 
dered. Our subject, who at the time was 
performing some detached service, succeeded 
in making his escape and after the battle 
he went to North Carolina, where he joined 
his command two months later. He then 
spent two months in Newman, North Caro- 
lina, after which he went to Williamsburg, 
thence to Charleston and for eight months 
participated in the bombardment of that 
place. On the 1 2th of February, 1863, the 
troops left Charleston and went to Jackson- 
ville, Florida, and after two months to 
Richmond, Virginia. They also stopped at 
Petersburg and on the i6th of May partici- 
pated in the battle of Duvall's Bluff. Re- 
crossing James river they returned to Pe- 
tersburg, where Mr. Long was stationed at 
the time of the great explosion there. On 
the 28th of May he was captured and 
taken to Fort Delaware, where he remained 
until hostilities had ceased. 

The war having ended Mr. I-ong returned 
to his home, where he found his family in 
an almost destitute condition, owing to the 
country having been ravaged by both arnn'es. 
He followed (arming there until 1870, when 
he emigrated to Johnson county, Texas, 
and a year later came to Erath county. In 
the fall of 1872, in company with his father 
and brother-in-law, he purchased six hun- 
dred and thirty-eight acres of wild land, and 
at once began the difficult task of clear- 
ing and developing the land, and now has 
one hundred acres under a high cultivation. 



His land property comprises four hundred 
and twenty-five acres, and he is now doing 
a profitable business as a general farmer 
and stock- raiser. 

Mr. and Mrs. Long have nine children: 
Mary O., who became the wife of F. M. 
Coleman and died in 1S80, leaving one 
child; Jane A., wife of W. R. Killian, of 
Erath county; William T. , who died at the 
age of eighteen years; Henrietta, who died 
January 11, 1895; one who died in infancy; 
James O., who died at the age of sixteen 
years; R. A., a teacher of Erath county; 
Wilbur Harden and John A. The parents 
belong to the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church and in everything that pertains to 
its upbuilding and advancement are deeply 
interested. Their friends throughout the 
community are many and their home is the 
abode of that true hospitality for which the 
south is so justly noted. In politics Mr. 
Long is a conservative Democrat. 



>^OHN W. TATE, one of the vener- 
■ ble and honored citizens of Coman- 
^ 1 che and an extensive landowner and 
leading agriculturist, was born in 
Tennessee near the old homestead of James 
K. Polk, February 20, 18 18, and is a son 
of George Tate, who was born in Orange 
county, North Carolina. His grandfather, 
James Tate, was born in Ireland, and many 
of his descendants have been prominent in 
public and business life. George Tate was 
reared on a farm in his native state and 
married Nancy Wertz, daughter of J. 
Wertz, also of North Carolina. In 1807 
he removed to Maury county, Tennessee, 
making the journey with pack horses and 
cart beds and carrying little with him be- 
I sides clothing on account of the difficulties 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



717 



of the trip. In 1825 he went to Carroll 
county, Tennessee, and our subject saw the 
ground cleared for the first courthouse there. 
In I 841 the family went to Pontotoc county, 
Mississippi, arriving there soon after the de- 
parture of the Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Tate 
had eight children, namely: James, Mar- 
garet, Sarah, Jenny, Michael, Polly, Nancy 
and John. Their father died in 1842, at the 
age of seventy-si.x years. He had been a 
planter throughout life and in his political 
views was a Democrat. He allied himself 
with no church, but his wife was a member 
of the Presbyterian church. 

John W. Tate was reared on a farm in 
Tennessee and acquired his education in a 
log schoolhouse with dirt floor, slab seats, 
huge fireplace and other primitive furnish- 
ings. He aided in caring for his father's 
family until all the children were able to 
maintain themselves, and his life has been 
one of industry. He was married in Pon- 
totoc county, Mississippi, to Caroline Hamp- 
ton, daughter of Thomas and Rena Hamp- 
ton, relatives of the renowned Wade 
Hampton. Her parents both died in Mis- 
sissippi. 

Mr. Tate served in the civil war for one 
year and participated in the battle of Selma, 
Alabama. After the war he lived in Missis- 
sippi, first in Pontotoc county and later in 
De Soto county, near Memphis, where he 
purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
of heavy timber land, which he cleared and 
developed from it a good farm, later selling 
the same at a good profit. In 1890 he 
came to Comanche county, where he pur- 
chased a section of land, of which five hun- 
dred acres are now under cultivation. This 
is one of the highly improved and valuable 
properties in this section of the state. 
In 1894 Mr. Tate raised two hundred 



bales of cotton, and in 1896 has three hun- 
dred acres planted to cotton. In 1895 one 
man through thirty- one days' work raised 
one thousand bushels of corn. He has an 
orchard of three hundred trees, substantial 
buildings, and a comfortable residence, good 
fencing and all the improvements and ac- 
cessories of a model farm of the nineteenth 
century. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tate are the parents of six 
children: Jefferson; John; Charles; Ann, 
wife of S. Morrow; Mollie, wife of S. 
Counts; and Etta, at home. One of the 
greatest sorrows thaL has ever visited this 
household came in the death of their son 
George, a young man of promise who died 
at the age of twenty-one. 

In politics Mr. Tate is a Democrat, but 
political office has had no attraction for 
him, he preferring to give his attention to 
his business interests. He has met success 
in his undertakings, and his property has all 
been acquired through his own energy and 
industry. 



^^AMUEL HANBY. — Through the 
f^^^kf era of greatest development in cen- 
J\.^ _y tral Texas this gentleman has been 
a resident of Brown and Comanche 
counties and has been a leading factor in 
the work of progress and development that 
has brought material prosperity to the local- 
ity. He was also one of those who wore 
the blue for the perpetuation of the Union 
and truly deserves the recognition of a grate- 
ful nation. 

Mr. Hanby was born in Virginia and 
reared in Kentucky, — a state noted for its 
brave men. His father, John Hanby, was 
born in the old Dominion and served his 
country in the war of 1S12. His grand- 



ri8 



HISTORT OF TEXAS 



father, Jonathan Hanby, was of English 
descent, and was one of the heroes of the 
Revohition, so that the family has ever been 
noted for its loyaky anil valor at a time 
when the country needed aid of her true 
sons. 

The mother of our subject bore the 
maiden name of Nancy Gaines, and was 
born in \' irginia, a daughter of George W. 
Gaines, one of the prominent officials of 
that state. He served as magistrate and 
justice of the peace, and his home was al- 
ways headquarters for military training. 
The parents of our subject died on the old 
home farm in Kentucky, the father at the 
age of sixty-three, the mother when seventy 
years of age. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat. They had nine children, namely: 
Susan, James, Samuel, Polly Ann, Louisa, 
Thomas, Joe, Sarah Jane and one deceased. 

Our subject was reared in the biue-grass 
region of Kentucky, and in that region, 
famous for its good stock, early became an 
excellent judge of the same. When the 
civil war came on he joined the Third Ken- 
tucky regiment in defense of the republic 
which his grandfather had helped to found 
and his father to preserve. Afterward he 
was a member of the state home guards in 
Wayne and Pulaski counties. 

When the war was over Mr. Hanby 
came to Texas and for six years engaged in 
handling cattle in Tarrant county. In 1872 
he c'ame to the region comprised in Brown 
and Comanche counties, where he engaged 
in stock dealing for some time. Subse- 
quently he purchased a farm and now has a 
valuable place of four hundred acres, of 
which one hundred and fifty acres is under 
a high state of cultivation, eighty-five acres 
being planted to cotton. His fine orchard 
comprises sever) hundred trees, and in addi- 



tion to this property he owns a block of val- 
uable lots in West Comanche, improved 
with good cottages, which he rents, deriving 
therefrom a good income. 

When twenty-six years of age, Mr. 
Hanby was married, in Nashville, Tennessee, 
to Sally Hudson, a relative of Daniel Boone, 
the honored Kentucky pioneer. They had 
four children, — Brenda T. , William, Calla 
and Velma, the last named living in Texas 
with her grandmother. The mother of 
these children died in 18S6, mourned by 
many friends. Mr. Hanby is a stalwart Re- 
publican, unswerving in his support to the 
party. He has traveled all over Texas in its 
pioneer days, and has witnessed its wonder- 
ful development. He is a highly esteemed 
man, as true to-day to his duties of citizen- 
ship as when he followed the old flag that 
stood for the defense of the nation. 



>-T*AMES A. WYATT is the owner of 
m one of the valuable farms of Co- 
A J manche, and is numbered among 
the leading agriculturists of this 
community. In 1884 he located at his 
present home, where he owns one hundred 
and sixty acres of valuable land, of which 
one hundred and thirty acres are in a high 
state of cultivation. The farm adjoins the 
corporation limits of De Leon, and is most 
highly improved, with a comfortable resi- 
dence, substantial barns, cribs and other 
necessary buildings, and a fine orchard 
yields its fruits in season. The neat and 
thrifty appearance of the place well indi- 
cates the careful supervision of the owner 
and tells of his energetic labors. 

Mr. Wyatt is a native Texan, his birth 
having occurred in Jefferson, Upshur coun- 
ty, October 18, 1853. He comes of one of 



HIS Ton r OF TEXAS. 



19 



the old families of Mississippi, his grand- 
father, a native of that state, being of 
Scotch ancestry. His wife, Salhe Wyatt, 
was also a representative of one of the old 
families of the state, and both were Bap- 
tists in religious faith. Dr. Joseph Wyatt, 
father of our subject, was born in Missis- 
sippi about sixty-eight years ago, and ac- 
quired a good education for those days. 
He married Serena J. Wyatt, a cousin, who 
was born in the same state, and was a 
daughter of Reuben Warren Wyatt. By 
this union were born eleven children, name- 
ly: Mary Ellen, James A., Sarah Frances, 
Reuben, Warren, Joseph, Nancy, Mattie, 
Ada and two who died in infancy. The 
parents removed to Upshur county, Te.xas, 
in 1852, and afterward went to Fannin 
county, then to Comanche county. The 
mother died near De Leon, at the age of 
forty-four years. She was a lady of rare 
Christian \-irtues, and her kindness and 
charity made her beloved of all. The father 
is a local minister of the Methodist church, 
and is now living in the Indian Territory. 
He was one of the pioneers in the service of 
the Master in this state, and his well-spent 
life is worthy of emulation. 

Our subject was reared on the frontier of 
Texas, working on the home farm and ex- 
periencing the usual hardships of pioneer 
life. He acquired a good education in the 
public schools. He came to the site of 
De Leon before the town was founded and 
engaged in merchandising and in conduct- 
ing a hotel at this point. In 1884 he re- 
moved to his farm, and has since given his 
time and attention to the improvement of 
his property, meeting with good success in 
his underta'kings. 

At the age of twenty-five Mr. Wyatt was 
piarried, in a log cabin where De Leon now 



stands, to Miss Martha Ellen Crawford, a 
lady of intelligence and good family. She 
was born in Tennessee, and is a daughter 
of Thomas and Ann (Ferguson) Crawford. 
Her father is now deceased and the mother 
now lives with Mrs. Wyatt. Our subject 
and wife have six children, — Leathie Flor- 
ence, Sue Myrtle, Sarah Julia, Katie A., 
Loretta Jane and James Hayden. The 
parents and two of their children are mem- 
bers of the Methodist church and are deeply 
interested in its welfare. Mr. Wyatt is a 
Democrat in politics, and is a progressive, 
public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in 
all that pertains to the welfare of the com- 
munity. 



QAJORJ. B. THOMPSON.— The 
soldierly qualities of this well- 
known resident of Comanche 
county were fully demonstrated 
through a number of years of arduous serv- 
ice on the western frontier, where he faced 
danger and death in an effort to quell the 
rebellious Indians. Thus prominently con- 
nected with the early history of this section 
of the country as a defender of the homes 
and rights of the pioneers of his own race, 
he well deserves honorable mention in this 
volume. 

Born in Botetourt county, \"irginia, on 
the 2d of July, 1S34, the Major is a son of 
Bartlett Thompson, a native of the Old 
Dominion and a grandson of John Thomp- 
son, who was also a native of the same 
state and one of the patriots who fought for 
the independence of the nation in the Revo- 
lutionary war. He was wounded at the 
battle of Guilford Court House and died 
during the war. He came of Scotch-Irish 
lineage and the family of which he was a 



720 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



representative was prominent in public 
affairs in Pennsylvania and Virginia. He mar- 
ried a Miss Mills, of the latter state and of an 
old Virginian family, and both died in the 
Old Dominion. The Major's father was 
reared there, and when he had attained to 
mature years he wedded Matilda L. Tuck, 
a native of the same state. He was a 
planter and an engineer and assisted in lo- 
cating the old Stone Pike Road. In his 
business dealings he was successful and was 
a most reliable man. Socially he was a 
Master Mason; religiously he was a Baptist, 
and in the church to which he belonged 
served as deacon. His death occurred at 
the age of fifty-nine. His wife was a faith- 
ful Christian woman, loved by all who knew 
her, and at her death, which occurred at the 
age of sixty, was mourned by her many 
friends. They had eight children, namely: 
Sarah, Virginia, John B., Nathan G., Sam 
C, Jane M., Francis and Ben P. 

J. B. Thompson was reared in the state 
of his nativity and acquired an excellent 
education, — obtained in the public schools, 
an academy and college, — and when a young 
man entered upon his business career as 
clerk in a store in Fincastle, and later was 
employed in a similar capacity in Lynch- 
burg, Virginia. In 1856 he entered the 
army. With the blood of Revolutionary 
forefathers flowing in his veins, and with a 
brave and loyal spirit he wished to do some 
service for his country and entered the mili- 
tary department which was engaged in fight- 
ing the Indians in the southwest, mainly in 
Texas, New Mexico and Indian Territory. 
He was a member of the First Regiment 
Mounted Rifles, a command which was 
particularly noted for its courage and fight- 
ing qualities when on the field of action. He 
was wounded by the savages in New Mex- 



ico and had many fierce encounters with 
Apaches and Comanches on the plains of 
that region, fighting the foes who are more 
dangerous to meet than the well drilled com- 
panies of a civilized race, for their methods 
are treachery, deceit, ambush and strategy. 
In 1 86 1 Mr. Thompson returned to Virginia 
and was commissioned major of the Twenty- 
seventh Virginia Battalion. He led his 
regiment over many a hotly-contested 
battlefield, participating in the engagements 
of Morristown, Knoxville, Bull's Gap and 
Janesville, where a large force of the enemy 
was captured, and the seven-days fight be- 
fore Richmond. On one occasion he was 
wounded in the forehead. 

When the war was over Major Thomp- 
son returned to Washington county, Vir- 
ginia, and afterward removed to Crawfords- 
ville, Indiana, where he engaged in teaching 
school. Later he returned to his native 
state, where he remained until coming to 
Texas in 1872, taking up his abode in Col- 
lin county. In 1878 he came to Comanche 
county, where he is now carrying on farm- 
ing and stock-raising as the proprietor of a 
valuable property known as the Logan Val- 
ley Holstein Farm. This comprises three 
hundred and twenty acres, of which one 
hundred acres are devoted to the raising of 
those crops needed for the provision of his 
home and for the feeding of his stock. He 
has one of the best herds of Holstein cattle 
to be found in the state, including a number 
of very fine representatives of this breed. 
His pastures rival those of the famous blue- 
grass region of Kentucky, and the improve- 
ments upon his place include a good orch- 
ard, barn and substantial residence. 

The Major was married August 20, 1862, 
in Virginia, to Miss Sarah E. Miller, a lady 
of culture and intelligence, who was reared 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



n\ 



and educated in Virginia, a daughter of 
John and Mary (Musek) Miller. They have 
four children, namely: Fannie, wife of 
S. O. Tuper, of Brown county; J. B. ; 
Sarah J., wife of J. F. Smith, of Comanche 
county; and Mary, wife of B. B. Forehand, 
of Comanche county. 

In his political affiliations Major Thomp- 
son is a Democrat and for two years served 
as county assessor in a most creditable 
manner. He belongs to the Masonic fra- 
ternity, having united with the order in 
1862. Frank and genial in manner, he has 
won many friends, and his military career 
and his private life have been characterized 
by those qualities which everywhere insure 
respect. 



• HOMAS J. HOLMSLEY, president 
of the Comanche National Bank, 
Comanche, Te.xas, has for over 
twenty years been a resident of 
Comanche county, has figured conspicuously 
in various honored positions and is to-day 
ranked with the wealthy and influental citi- 
zens of the county. It affords us pleasure 
in this connection to make personal mention 
of him, and also of the important financial 
institution of which he is at the head. 

The Comanche National Bank was es- 
tablished si.\ years ago. It opened its doors 
for business March 17, 1890, with the fol- 
lowing named officers: Thomas J. Holms- 
ley, president; R. V. Neely, vice-president; 
W. B. Cunningham, cashier; and F. H. 
Oberthier, assistant cashier; and since that 
date there has been no change in the official 
management of the institution with the ex- 
ception that Mr. Neely has been succeeded 
by H. L. Oberthier as vice-president. The 
bank has a paid up capital of fifty thousand ' 



dollars and a surplus of ten thousand dollars, 
is in correspondence with the principal cities 
of the state, and has from the start done a 
conservative and prosperous business. 

Mr. Holmsley is probably one of the 
heaviest taxpayers of Comanche county. 
During his more than twenty years of resi- 
dence here he has from time to time made 
profitable investments, acquiring large tracts 
of land and entering extensively into the 
stock business. At this writing his landed 
estate comprises thousands of acres, and in 
the immediate vicinity of Comanche he has 
no less than eight hundred acres under cul- 
tivation. In public life, as stated at the be- 
ginning of this sketch, he has figured promi- 
nently. He at one time was clerk of 
Uvalde county and also he has the distinc- 
tion of being the first sheriff of Comanche 
county, having been elected to the latter 
office in 1856. His public service was char- 
acterized by the strictest fidelity to every 
trust reposed in him, and in his private life 
he has always borne a character above re- 
proach, his every transaction on the square 
and his word as good as his bond. 

Mr. Holmsley is a native of Arkansas. 
He was born September i, 1834, son of 
Burl and Lucinda (Wagner) Holmsley, the 
former a native of South Carolina and the 
latter of Indiana. Burl Holmsley first 
came to Texas as early as 1834. He has 
been deceased for man}' years. In their 
family were nine children, Thomas J. being 
the second born. Thomas J. Holmsley was 
united in marriage, in October, 1856, to 
Miss Elizabeth Cunningham, a native of 
Texas and a daughter of Captain James 
Cunningham, a Texas pioneer of the early 
'40s. With the passing years sons and 
daughters to the number of nine came to 
bless and brighten their home, their names 



7-22 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



being as follows: Mary, wife of M. B. Pullin; 
William L. ; Clara, wife of James Meddovvs; 
Lou, wife of Willis Johnson; Mintie, wife of 
R. E. Chandler; Amanda, wife of F. H. 
Oberthier; Fannie, wife of Robert Afoore; 
Thomas R. and James. Besides these 
named they have two daughters deceased. 
Fraternally, Mr. Holmsley has a mem- 
bership in both the F. & A. M., and the 
I. O. O. F. 



aOLONEL WILLIAM C. BURNS, 
whose residence in Brown county 
dates from 1875, has been promi- 
nently identified with the develop- 
ment and progress in this region during the 
period of its greatest advancement, and his 
name is inseparably connected with its his- 
tory. He is a man of remarkable ability, 
whose well-conducted business interests are 
crowned with success because they are care- 
fully managed. He is energetic, tireless 
and progressive, and no man in the commu- 
nity takes more interest in the welfare of 
Brown county than he. 

The Colonel was born near Waynes- 
boro, Wayne county, Tennessee, June 15, 
1829, and was of Irish lineage, coming of 
a family whose men were brave in war and 
prominent in times of peace. His ancestors 
came to America at an early day in the his- 
tory of this country and settled along the 
shore of the Atlantic in the southern states, 
following the occupation of farming. In 
religious belief they were Baptists and Meth- 
odists. 

The father of our subject, William 
Burns, was born in South Carolina and 
spent his youthful days there. He was a 
soldier in the early wars and was married in 
North Carolina to Elizabeth Biffle, a native 



of that state and a daughter of Jacob Bififle, 
a successful planter of German descent. 
After their marriage William Burns and his 
wife removed to Giles county, Tennessee. 
The father died in Wayne county when our 
subject was only two years of age, leaving 
to his family a good plantation and twenty 
negroes, so that they were well provided 
for. In the family were thirteen children, 
namely: Jacob J., E. D., S. L., William 
C. , Allie, Polly, Nancy, Susan, Millie, 
Elizabeth, Ellen, Esley and Cathie. In his 
political views William Burns was a stalwart 
Democrat and served in county offices, also 
represented his district in the state legisla- 
ture with credit and honor. He was one of 
Wayne county's most prominent and valued 
citizens, and was active in club work. His 
wife died at the age of sixty-six years, a 
consistent Christian woman who instilled 
into the minds of her children the precepts 
and principles which if followed make hon- 
orable men and women that command the 
highest respect everywhere. 

Colonel Burns, whose name introduces 
this notice, was reared on the old Tennes- 
see plantation in Wayne ccJunty and his 
careful training developed those traits of 
character which make him to-day the hon- 
orable, staightforward man that all know 
him to be. He received a good education 
which fitted him for life's practical duties, 
and entered upon his business career a farmer 
and stock dealer. Being an excellent judge 
of stock he was very successful in this ven- 
ture and thereby acquired the means to pur- 
chase property later on. During the war 
he was a zealous advocate of the Confed- 
eracy and served for a time in the Second 
Tennessee Cavalry under Colonel Biffle, 
who was a relative. Later he was ap- 
pointed government agent, with the rank of 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



723 



colonel, and was stationed at Waynesboro, 
where he was engaged in purchasing stock 
for the Confederacy. He was ever true to 
the interests of the cause he espoused, was 
wise in council, brave and energetic in ac- 
tion, unflagging in zeal and ever watchful 
of the trust reposed in him. 

Mr. Burns continued his residence in 
Tennessee from the close of the war until 
1873, when he cKme to Texas, and in 1875 
settled in Brown county, which was then 
new and wild, being a frontier region. In 
1882 he moved to his present farm, where 
he has a valuable tract of two hundred acres 
of land, of which eighty acres is valley 
land, and is highly cultivated, having been 
transformed into rich and productive fields. 
His comfortable home is situated on a natu- 
ral building site which commands an excel- 
lent view of the mountains and valley, — a 
scene which an artist might well wish to 
place upon canvas. He has good stock and 
owns a fine thoroughbred saddle horse, — 
Tom Hal, — one of the best horses to be 
found in the country. 

When twenty-four years of age the Col- 
onel was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
W. Tyree. a cultured lady who was born in 
North Carolina and is a daughter of Cyrus 
and Emily (Pitts) Tyree, both of whom 
were natives of North Carolina and are now 
deceased. To our subject and his wife have 
been born the following children: Arthur, 
Nat, William C, James H., Samuel Thomas, 
John L. , Lizzie Coffey, Sally Wilks, de- 
ceased, Nannie, Jennie and Patty. The 
children have been carefully trained to the 
responsibilities which rest upon each indi- 
vidual, and have become useful and re- 
spected members of society. The parents 
and family are members of the Methodist 
church of Turkey Peak, 



Mr. Burns belongs to the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. His sixty-seven 
years rest lightly upon him and he is still 
of a military bearing, with a bright eye and 
pleasant voice and the vigor that belongs to 
a man much his junior. He is well in- 
formed, a good conversationalist, and the 
latchstring on the hospitable home of the 
Burns family is always out. 



<>^ ANIEL S. HANDY, M. D.— There 
I I is no fisld of endeavor that should 
J^^J yield its harvests in return for abil- 
ity to a greater extent than the 
medical profession. Success in curing the 
sick can be attained only through merit. It 
cannot be secured by purchase, by gift or 
by the aid of influential friends. Careful 
study and preparation must be supplemented 
by accurate judgment and a keen sympathy 
for one's fellow man, and those qualities 
combined with indefatigable industry make 
the successful physician. Such is the char- 
acter of Dr. Handy, one of the most able 
medical practitioners of central Texas, a 
man whom to know is to respect and honor. 
Dr. Handy was born in Shelby county, 
Indiana, on the 3d of September, 1843, a 
son of A. C. and Marietta ( Stone) Handy. 
The father was a native of Kentucky, born 
in Scott county in 1812, and a son of Will- 
iam Handy, who was a native of Maryland 
and of English descent, belonging to one of 
the old colonial families. He became one 
of the pioneers of Scott county, Kentucky, 
and took an active part in its development. 
There the Doctor's father remained until he 
had attained his majority, and for seven 
years was a machinist's apprentice in Lex- 
ington, Kentucky. When he had arrived at 
man's estate he went to Indiana and assisted 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



in erecting the first capitol building in that 
state. He was married in Shelby county, 
Indiana, to Marietta, a daughter of Ashbei 
Stone, a native of New York, born of 
Scotch parentage. When the Doctor was a 
child of seven summers his parents removed 
to Wisconsin, where the mother died in 
1868. The father afterward returned to 
the Hoosier state and spent his last days in 
Hancock county, where he departed this 
life in 1890. 

During the days of his childhood and 
youth Dr. Handy worked on the home farm 
and attended the public schools in the neigh- 
borhood. In 1859 he went to Mercer 
county, Kentucky, where he attended school 
until the breaking out of the civil war, when 
he put aside his text-books and became a 
soldier. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted 
in Company D, First Tennessee Cavalry, 
which was attached to the first battalion of 
cavalry that was formed in Tennessee for 
the war. His first duty was to aid in cover- 
ing a retreat of the infantry troops. Later 
he received a thirty-days furlough, and later 
re-enlisted for three years' service or "dur- 
ing the war," and was attached to General 
Breckenridge's body guard. Subsequently 
he joined Morgan's command, with which 
he was connected until after the cessation of 
hostilities. In Jul}', 1863, near Lancaster, 
Kentuck}', he was taken prisoner and most 
of the time was held at Camp Douglas, in 
Chicago, Illinois, receiving his liberty in the 
spring of 1865. While incarcerated there 
he suffered a severe attack of brain fever, 
which almost terminated his life. But fate 
had decreed that many years of usefulness 
were yet to form a part of his career. 

When the war was over the Doctor re- 
turned to his native state. He had pre- 
viously spent some time in the study of 



I medicine and now continued his preparation 
for the profession under the preceptorship 
of Dr. J. G. Wolf, of Morristown, Indiana. 
He took his first course of lectures in the 
winter of 1858-9, in the University of Michi- 
gan, at Ann Arbor, obtained his degree in 
the spring of 1866, in the medical depart- 
ment of the Western Reserve University, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, and located in Flat Rock, 
Shelby county, Indiana, where he engaged 
in practice for two years. On the expira- 
tion of that period he removed to Arkansas, 
locating twenty-five miles from Little Rock, 
where he continued for three years. 

It was in the spring of 1871 that Dr. 
Handy came to the frontier of Texas, locat- 
ing in Erath county. He made the journey 
on horseback, for no railroads had then been 
constructed in this part of the state, and 
settled on Burton's creek. It was not long 
before the people recognized that an able 
physician had taken up his abode in their 
midst, and soon he was enjoying a very 
extensive practice, extending over parts of 
Erath, Eastland, Palo Pinto and Hood 
counties. The region was wild and the 
rougher element that always infests frontier 
settlements was found here in a degree, but 
the passing of years brought an excellent 
class of people and his business grew in pro- 
portion. He has always been a student of 
his profession, keeping abreast with the 
progress made in the science of medicine, 
and his abilities well entitle him to the suc- 
cess that has crowned his efforts. In addi- 
tion to his practice he has also engaged in 
farming and stock-raising and is now the 
owner of one hundred and eighty acres of 
valuable land, of which forty acres are in a 
good state of cultivation. 

In 1872 the Doctor was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Eugenia Steffe, a native of 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



725 



Texas, and a daughter of Clayburn and 
Sara (Hane) Steffe. The father, a native of 
Pennsylvania, was of German descent, and 
the mother was born in Canada. Their 
marriage was celebrated ii Indiana, where 
for many years they resided. Dr. and Mrs. 
Handy had seven children, four of whom 
are living, namely: William, John Morgan, 
Bazil Duke and James Earnest. The parents 
are members of the Christian church, and 
are most highly esteemed people. Our sub- 
ject is a member of Barton Lodge, No. 564, 
F. & A. M., and served as its master for 
one year. In politics he is a stalwart Demo- 
crat, but has neither time nor inclination for 
public office, preferring to devote his ener- 
gies to the interests of his profession. He 
was one of the organizers of the West Texas 
Medical Association, and is an important 
factor in all that will promote the calling 
with which he is connected. 



I A. HARRIS.— In a brief sketch of 
any living citizen it is difficult to do 
exact and impartial justice, — not so 
much, however, from lack of space 
or words to set forth the familiar and pass- 
ing events of his personal history as for want 
of the perfect and rounded conception of his 
whole life, which grows, develops and 
ripens, like fruit, to disclose its true and 
best flavor only when it is mellowed by 
time. Daily contact with the man so 
familiarizes us with his many virtues that 
we ordinarily overlook them and commonly 
underestimate their possessor. Neverthe- 
less, while the man passes away his deeds 
of virtue live on, and will in due time bear 
fruit, and do him the justice which our pen 
fails to record. There is no man in central 
Texas who has the higher regard of his fel- 



low citizens or is more worthy their esteem, 
for his life has ever been honorable and up- 
right and his record is unclouded by any 
shadow of wrong. 

Mr. Harris was born in Heard county, 
Georgia, on the 17th of February, 1838, 
and is a son of John and Nancy (Hastings) 
Harris. The paternal grandparents were 
John and Sarah (Smith) Harris, who were 
probably natives of South Carolina, and the 
former died three months before the birth 
of his son John. The maternal grandfather 
was born in Europe and emigrating to Amer- 
ica in colonial days he identified himself with 
the interests of the colonists and aided in 
the struggle for American independence. 
The parents of our subject were married in 
Georgia, where the father carried on agri- 
cultural pursuits until 1867, when he re- 
moved with his family to Mississippi, where 
his death occurred in 1869, at the age of 
fifty-five years. His wife survived him un- 
til 1876, when, at the age of sixty-five, she 
was called to the eternal home. This 
worthy couple were the parents of eleven 
children and with one exception all reached 
years of maturity, while five are still living. 

The member of the family in whom our 
readers are most interested is I. A. Harris, 
and we now give attention to his personal 
career. He was reared on the old home 
farm and early became familiar with all the 
duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, 
spending the greatest part of the time in the 
fields in assisting his father in the cultiva- 
tion of the land. When he was twenty years 
of age his father gave him his time and 
he secured employment with farmers in the 
neighborhood for a year. In March, 1859, he 
went to Mississippi, where he followed agri- 
cultural pursuits until the country became 
involved in civil war, the sectional differences 



72(5 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



culminating in the struggle which showed 
forth the bravery of men of both the south 
and the north. 

In the spring of 1 86 1 Mr. Harris joined 
an independent cavalry company, with 
which he continued for about a year, when 
he became a member of C. H. Skiilford's 
Company, which was attached to Colonel 
Alpheus ISaker's Regiment and joined to the 
western army. The command to which he 
belonged participated in the battle of New 
Madrid and Island No. lo, and at the latter 
place were obliged to surrender. The 
troopswere first sent to Madison, Wiscon- 
sin, and later were held as prisoners of war 
at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, for si.x 
months, when they were taken to Vicks- 
burg and exchanged. With his old colonel 
Mr. Harris then joined the Fifty-fourth 
Alabama Regiment and participated in the 
battles of Baker's creek, Atlanta and Peach 
Tree creek. At Atlanta he was wounded in 
the right breast and left hip, and for twenty- 
two months carried the ball in his person, 
suffering severely from the wound during the 
greater part of the time. Being thus in- 
capacitated for service he went to the home 
of his uncle in Georgia and there remained 
until the close of the war. 

Mr. Harris was married on the 29th of 
June, 1865, to Mrs. Fannie Sa.xon, a daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Moore) Her- 
ring, a most estimable lady and a member of 
the Baptist church. By her first marriage she 
had one son, Robert B. Saxon, now of 
Stephenville, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Harris 
were the parents of eight children; Loring 
Tullalor, wife of S. A. Barham, of Erath 
county; Ida, who died at the age of four 
years; I. C, of Erath county; Ida, John, 
Yulla Claud and Earl, all yet at home. 

After his marriage Mr. Harris returned 



to his" old home in Mississippi and there 
followed farming for four years, when he 
decided to try his fortune in the Lone Star 
state and forthwith took up his residence 
near Stephenville. For six years he rented 
land and then purchased a tract which was 
wild and unimproved, not a furrow having 
been turned or an improvement made 
thereon. He now has a fine farm of two 
hundred and twelve and a half acres, of 
which ninety acres are in a high state of 
cultivation. He is a progressive and practi- 
cal farmer, follows improved methods and 
utilizes every possible means for advance- 
ment. Thus he has become the possessor 
of a handsonie competence and is numbered 
among the substantial citizens of the com- 
munity. He has neither time nor inclina- 
tion for public office, but is a stalwart sup- 
porter of the Democratic principles and 
always casts his ballot for the men and 
measures of that party. Socially he is con- 
nected with Stephenville Lodge, No. 167, 
A. F. & A. M.. His name is synonymous 
with honorable business dealing and in all 
the relations of life, whether public or pri- 
vate, he has been found as a straightforward 
honorable man, commanding the confidence 
and respect of all with whom he come in 
contact. 



J. SHEFFIELD is the owner of a 
good farm of two hundred and 
seventy-six acres in Erath county, 
and is one of the influential and 
progressive agriculturists of the community. 
He was born in Morgan county, Georgia, 
February 11, 1837, a son of Jacob and 
Mary (Hollis) Sheffield, both natives of the 
same, state and of English ancestry. The 
father was a farmer and wheelwright, and 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



721 



died in Georgia at the age of sixty-five 
years. The mother spent her last days in 
Texas, her death occurring at the age of 
seventy years. 

Our subject was reared on a farm and 
resided with his parents until the father's 
death, after which he continued to make his 
home with his mother until he had arrived 
at years of maturity. His early educational 
privileges were supplemented by two years' 
study at Newborn, Georgia, and after leav- 
ing school he went to Florida, wh°re he en- 
gaged in farming for five years. In i860 
he came to Texas, locating in Grimes coun- 
ty, where he followed agricultural pursuits 
until after the commencement of the civil 
war. 

On the ist of October, 1861, Mr. Shef- 
field enlisted in Company A, Tenth Texas 
Infantry, and was mustered into the service 
on the 20th of the month. His regiment 
was attached to the Trans-Mississippi army 
until after the fall of Arkansas Post, and 
then transferred to Bragg's army. Mr. 
Sheffield participated in the battle of Arkan- 
sas Post, was captured and sent to Camp 
Douglas, Chicago, where he was held as a 
prisoner of war for three months. He was 
then exchanged, and later was in the battles 
of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and 
at the latter was wounded in the right arm 
by a minie ball, which necessitated the am- 
putation of the arm in 1863. This disabled 
him for further service, and he went to 
Florida, spending the succeeding five years 
in that state. 

Coming to Texas, Mr. Sheffield pur- 
chased an improved farm in Navarro coun- 
ty, where he continued farming until com- 
ing to Erath county in 1890. While in the 
former county he was elected county treas- 
urer, serving most acceptably for three 



years. Six years have passed since he pur- 
chased his present farm, — -j'ears in which he 
has made many excellent improvements 
upon his place until it is to-day one of the 
finest farms in the locality. He raises prin- 
cipally cotton and corn. 

Mr. Sheffield has been married twice. 
On the iith of December, 1865, he was 
joined in wedlock to Miss Martha A. Odom, 
a native of Georgia and a daughter of John 
and Maria Odom. Three 'children were 
born of this marriage, namely: John, Lela, 
who died in childhood, and Fletcher, who 
also died in early life. The mother of these 
children was called to her eternal rest on 
the 9th of February, 1872, and many friends 
mourned her loss. On the 17th of Septem- 
ber, 1872, Mr. Sheffield was again married, 
his second union being with Miss Ella G. 
Beauchamp, a native of Alabama, born in 
Barbour county, and a daughter of J. C. and 
Sallie S. (Blount) Beauchamp, the former 
born in Alabama and the latter in Georgia. 
Mrs. Sheffield c^me to Texas in 1873, and 
their marriage was celebrated in Freestone 
county. Twelve children have been born 
to them, as follows: Ida, wife of S. T. Pat- 
terson; Edwin, who is living in Erath coun- 
ty; Charlie and George, who aid in the cul- 
tivation of the home farm; Sallie M., who 
died at the age of one year; Mattie Susan, 
Mary Emma and Birdie E. , all with their 
parents; Ella May, who died at the age of 
four months; William Henry, Delia and 
Roy. 

The parents belong to the Methodist 
Episcopal church and take an active interest 
in its work and upbuilding. Mr. Sheffield 
belongs also to the Order of Chosen Friends, 
and in his political adherency he is a Demo- 
crat. All his property has been acquired 
through his own labors. He is energetic 



72S 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



and persevering, and though he suffered the 
loss of his arm in the war he has not allowed 
the misfortune to prevent him from secur- 
ing a competence, and is now the pos- 
sessor of an excellent property. 



>j'ACOB C. WRIGHT.— There may 

m be found in almost all American com- 
/• 1 munities quiet, retiring men who 
never ask public office or appear 
prominent in public affairs, yet who never- 
theless exert a widely felt influence in the 
community in which they live and help to 
construct the proper foundation upon which 
the social and business world is built. Such 
a man is Mr. Wright, who for almost thirty 
years has been identified with Erath county 
and its best interests. He is one of those 
honored pioneer settlers who have aided in 
opening up the region to civilization and 
have left the impress of their own honor- 
able individuality upon the community. It 
is with pleasure therefore that we present 
to our readers the record of his career, 
knowing that it will prove of interest to 
many. 

Mr. Wright comes of an old southern 
family, his ancestors in both the maternal 
and paternal lines having located in North 
Carolina at an early day in the history of 
that state. His father, Dr. James Henry 
Wright, was a native of Tennessee, and in 
the Big Bend state married Miss Elizabeth 
Cody. Not long afterward he removed 
with his wife to Alabama, where he en- 
gaged in farming until his death, which oc- 
curred when Jacob was a small boy. 

Our subject was born in Marion county, 
Alabama, on the 17th of December, 1841, 
and after his father's death lived with his 
mother until the civil war was inaugurated. 



He was among the first to offer hjs services 
and become a member of the boys in gray, 
enlisting in May, 1861, as a member of 
Company G, Sixteenth Alabama Volunteer 
Infantry. He served under General Bragg 
in the Army of the Tennessee and partici- 
pated in the battles of Fisher's creek, Per- 
rysvilie, Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, 
and at the last named was shot in the neck 
and also wounded in the leg, which incapac- 
itated him for service for three months. 
When he had sufficiently recovered he 
joined the cavalry service and was engaged 
in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi until 
the war was ended. He manifested the 
bravery and fidelity to duty which marks 
the true soldier everywhere, and the war 
record which he made was an honorable one. 
Returning to his old home Mr. Wright 
then made preparations for business life and 
for a year engaged in farming in Mississippi. 
In 1867 he arrived in Texas and spent one 
year in Hood county, while his residence in 
Erath county dates from the ist of Januar}', 
1868. He purchased land in the northern 
part of the county, but a flaw in the title 
afterward caused him to lose all he had in- 
vested. He then became owner of one 
hundred and ninety-five acres, pleasantly 
located four miles east of Stephenville, to 
which he afterward added eighty-eight acres, 
transforming the whole into a fine farm, 
upon which he resided until November, 1890, 
when he effected the sale of this property 
and bought his present farm. His present 
landed possessions aggregate five hundred 
and fourteen acres, of which two hundred 
and twenty acres are in a high state of culti- 
vation, being divided into fields of convenient 
size, and their richness yielding a good return 
for the labor he bestows upon them. His 
farm is neat and thrifty in appearance and 



History of texas. 



729 



its improvements are in keeping with the 
progressive spirit of the owner. 

The home of Mr. Wright is shared by 
an interesting family. He was married 
November i8, 1871, to Miss Martha 
J. Riggers, a native of Mississippi and a 
daughter of John Biggers, who came to 
Erath county in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Wright 
are the parents of ten children, nine yet 
living, one having died in infancy. The 
others are Lizzie, wife of C. F. Roberts, of 
Stephen ville; Mary H.,wifeof O. G. Roberts, 
of Erath county; James R. , John W. , Ira 
J. , Robert Lee, Lola, Samuel Earl and Etta. 
Mr. Wright is a valued member of the 
Masonic fraternity of Stephenville, in which 
he has taken the Royal Arch degree and also 
belongs to Stephenvilbe Lodge, No. 166, 
I. O. O. F., and the Farmers' Alliance. 
Politically he is a Populist. 



*y-* F. GORDON, one of the leading 
I I and influential citizens of central 
B j^ Te.Kas, is at the head of a large 
general mercantile store at Bluff 
Dale. He belongs to that class of Ameri- 
can citizens, progressive and enterprising, 
who promote the public welfare while ad- 
vancing individual prosperity, and in this 
volume, devoted to the best residents of 
central Texas, he well deserves representa- 
tion. For almost a quarter of a century he 
has been a resident of this locality and his 
name is synonymous with honorable dealing 
and with all that is commendable in private 
life. 

Mr. Gordon is a native of Georgia, his 
birth having occurred in Barton county on 
the 31st of August, 1852. He is the third 
son and youngest child of William and 
Emeline (Padon) Gordon, both natives of 



South Carolina, the former of Scotch and 
the latter of Irish lineage. They lived on a 
farm and there our subject was reared, 
making his home with his mother until 
coming to Texas, when a young man of 
eighteen. It was in 1871 that he bade 
adieu to his old home and came to the 
west, locating in Hood count}', where he 
embarked in the grocery business in con- 
nection with his brother, A. P. Gordon. 
Thus was formed the well-known firm of 
A. P. & L. F. Gordon, which has since 
been so prominently identified with com- 
mercial interests in this section of the state. 
They continued in the grocery trade alone 
for four years and then opened a general 
mercantile store, which from the beginning 
has been attended witli success, owing to 
the high reputation which the proprietors 
bear. Their trade grew and in 1890 justi- 
fied the establishing of a branch house, 
which was opened in Bluff Dale in the spring 
of that year, our subject taking charge of it, 
while his brother continued in charge of the 
store in Granbury. In both stores they 
have a large and well selected stock, and 
their courteous treatment of their patrons 
and their straightforward dealing insures 
them a liberal patronage. Their efforts 
have not been confined alone to merchan- 
dise, but have been extended in other direc- 
tions. They own and operate a cotton gin 
both in Granbury and in Bluff Dale, and 
have large landed interests, including four 
hundred acres of rich land under cultivation. 
On the 13th of November, 1873, was 
celebrated the marriage of L. F. Gordon 
and Miss Fanny Love, a native of I\en- 
tucky and daughter of William Love. Her 
father was an invalid, and with the hope of 
restoring his health he and his daughter 
traveled extensively, spending some time in 



730 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



thirteen different states of the Union. Three 
children were born by the marriage of Mr. 
Gordon and his estimable wife, a son and 
two daughters, iiamelj : Lena Loeta, born 
December i6, 1876; Fred, born December 
19, 1885; and Kittic, born July 16, 1890. 
The parents holt! a membership with the 
Methodist Episcopal church and are deeply 
interested in ail that will promote its wel- 
fare. In social circles they occupy an 
enviable position and their home is noted 
for its hospitality. Mr. Gordon is a valued 
member of several civic societies, including 
the Granbury Lodge, No 327, I. O. O. F., 
and Myrtle Lodge of the Knights of Pythias 
fraternity. In his political views he is a 
Democrat, having supported that party since 
attaining his majority. 

Mr. Gordon has not circumscribed his 
enterprise and progressive spirit within selfish 
and narrow boundaries, but has ever stood 
ready to lend influence and tangible aid in 
furthering such interests as will be of benefit 
to the city and its people, being broad- 
minded and public-spirited and a business 
man whose value to the community is not 
to be lightlv estimated. 



*» ^ B. WRIGHT.— Everywhere in 

1'^^^ our land are found men who have 
\ ^ P worked their own way upward from 
humble beginnings, achieving suc- 
cess and becoming recognized as important 
factors in the communities in which they re- 
side. It is one of the glories of our nation 
that it is so. It should be the strongest in- 
centive and encouragement to the youth of 
the country that it is so. Prominent among 
the self-made men of central Texas is the 
subject of this sketch, — a man honored, 



respected and esteemed wherever known, 
and most of all where he is best known. 
He is co-day ranked among the leading agri- 
culturists of Erath county, one of those who 
have taken advantage of the resources which 
nature has provided here, and secured 
through his own labor a handsome home 
and property. 

Mr. Wright is a native of Kentucky, his 
birth having occurred in I'emberton county, 
on the loth of October, 185 r. The family 
is of English origin and his first American 
ancestors came to the New World at an 
early da)'. The grandfather of our subject, 
Lewis Pemberton Wright, removed from 
Virginia to Kentucky during its pioneer era, 
and during the war of 1812 he entered his 
country's service and helped to maintain the 
dignity of the new republic by his loyal 
defense. The parents of our subject were 
Lewis Pemberton, Jr., and Susan Margaret 
(Newell) Wright. They passed their entire 
lives in Pemberton county, Kentucky, and 
became the parents of eight children, six of 
whom are jet living. 

No event of special importance occurred 
during the childhood and youth of H. B. 
Wright. He had the careful home training 
of wise parents and formed habits of indus- 
try and energy through the assistance given 
to his father in the work of the farm. At 
the age of twenty years he started out in 
life for himself, and the obstacles and diffi- 
culties that have blocked the path to suc- 
cess he has overcome through persistent 
effort, unfaltering purpose and well-directed 
energy. He chose as a companion and 
helpmeet on life's journey Miss Cordelia 
Lewis, a native of Hickman county. Ken- 
tucky, a daughter of W. C. and Susan Lewis, 
who prior to locating in Kentucky lived in 
Tennessee The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



731 



Wright was celebrated on the 14th of Feb- 
ruary, 1S76, and five children were born by 
that union, of whom four are still living, 
namely: William O., Susan Margaret, Ella 
and Adolphus. 

In 1S80 Mr. Wright bade adieu to his 
old home and with his family came to Texas. 
His first purchase of realty made him owner 
of a tract of eighty-nine acres of wild land, 
on which stood a cabin. He at once began 
to clear and improve the place, and it was 
not long before the farm showed that one 
who thoroughly understood his business had 
the matter in hand, for richly cultivated 
fields took the place of the once non-pro- 
ducing waste, and the accessories and con- 
veniences of a model farm were added. The 
boundaries of the place were also extended 
until it now comprises two hundred acres, 
one-half of which has been placed under 
the plow and yields to the owner a good re- 
turn for his labor. His residence, one of 
the finest country homes in the county, 
stands on an eminence that commands a 
fine view of Stephenville and the surround- 
ing country. An orchard, covering an acre 
and a half, also adds to the delight of the 
premises, and the place is justly considered 
one of the most desirable throughout the 
region. 

The Wright household is noted for its 
hospitality, and the latchstring always hangs 
out. The friends of the family are many, 
and our subject and his wife hold an envia- 
ble position in social circles. In politics 
Mr. Wright is a Democrat, and is a mem- 
ber of Stephenville lodge. No. 166, I.O.O.F. 

His activities during his entire life have 
been such as to distinctively entitle him to 
a place in this publication, and, although his 
career has not been filled with thrilling in- 
cidents, probably no biography published in 



this book can serve as a better illustration 
to young men of the power of honesty and 
integrity in insuring success. 



SI 



G. GENTRY, ex-county com- 
missioner of Erath county, Texas, 
and one of the prominent farmers 
of the community where he has 
had his abiding place for a period of twenty 
years, is, by virtue of his high standing here, 
entitled to biographical honors. 

W. G. Gentry is a native of Alabama 
and dates his birth in Jackson county, June 
12, 1S50, his parents being Calvin and 
Polly (Thorp) Gentry, both natives of Ala- 
bama. In the year 1854 Calvin Gentry 
brought his family to Texas. He at first 
sojourned in Titus county, where he culti- 
vated and gathered a crop. The next year 
he moved to Wood county, secured a tract 
of land, improved a portion of it, and made 
his home there until the fall of 1869, when 
he sold out and took up his abode in Tar- 
rant county, and there he has since lived, 
enjoying the respect of all who know him. 
His good wife, the mother of our subject, 
passed away in 1889. She was a faithful 
member of the Baptist church for many 
years, and in her religious devotion was 
joined by her husband, who is still an act- 
ive and zealous worker in the church. Dur- 
ing the civil war Calvin Gentry spent two 
years, 1863 to 1865, in the Confederate 
service. He was at heart a Union man. 
Circumstances, however, forced him, as 
they did many other Union men of the south, 
into the Confederate ranks, and being un- 
able physically to do active service he was 
on post dut}'. He was at Alexandria, 
Louisiana, at the time of General Lee's 
surrender, and from there returned to his 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



home and family in Texas. Of his children, 
seven in number, we make the following 
record: W. G., whose name appears at the 
head of this sketch, is the eldest; Moses N., 
the next born, died in 1881; Mary J., wife 
of Martin Kizer; Arean, wife of William 
Douty; Laura, wife of M. I\eynolds; Sarah 
E. , wife of Porter Greer; and Ambrose L. , 
— the sons all farmers and the daughters all 
wives of farmers. 

At the time the Gentry family came to 
Texas the subject of our sketch was very 
young. Here he grew up amid frontier sur- 
roundings, was early inured to various kinds 
of farm work, and had very limited educa- 
tional advantages. When he married he 
left his father's home and rented a farm in 
Tarrant county. He farmed rented land 
there till 1876, the year he purchased his 
present farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
near Dublin, then all unimproved land. 
Here he has made substantial inprovements, 
including a good residence and outbuildings, 
and has about sixty acres under cultivation, 
his crops being diversified. He raises only 
enough stock for the support of his farm. 
For the most part he has been successful in 
his operations, but a few times his crops 
have been cut shori by frost and drouth. 

Mr. Gentry was married in 1868 to Miss 
Mary I. Grogan, whose birth occurred in 
Georgia in 1852. She is a daughter of 
Henry and Ann (Lemon) Grogan, natives of 
Georgia. The Grogan family came to Texas 
in 1853, first settled in Harrison county, 
from there moved to Fannin county, and 
subsequently to the county of Wood, where 
the father died. He was a good business man, 
public-spirited and generous, and was highly 
esteemed by the people in whatever com- 
munity he made his home. During the war, 
like the senior Mr. Gentry, he was a Union 



man, and was forced by circumstances to 
enter the Confederate service, where he per- 
formed post duty. Both he and his wife 
being members of the Baptist church, they 
reared their family in that faith. The 
mother is still living, owning and occupying 
the old homestead in Wood county. Her 
children are Mary I., wife of Mr. Gentry; 
Sally, deceased wife of J. H. Fra^ier, left 
one child; Jane, wife of William Lemon, a 
farmer; Georgia, wife of G. W. Cowan, a 
teacher and merchant; Aary, wife of B. Ed- 
wards; Ettie, wife of J. H. Frazier; and 
William H. Mr. and Mrs. Gentry are the 
parents of twelve children, viz.: Henry B., 
a resident of Dublin; Polly A., wife of 
Henry Alexander, a farmer; David L. , a 
farmer; Laura J., who married W.W. Hood, 
a farmer; Jessie, wife of W.W. Hudson, also 
a farmer; Robert L., who died at the age of 
eleven years; John A., who died at the age 
of eight years; and George S., Hinton, Sally, 
Josie and Samuel, at home. 

Mr. Gentry has always affiliated with the 
Democratic party and been a stanch sup- 
porter of its principles, and while he never 
sought official preferment he has been twice 
honored by election to the office of county 
commissioner, which office he filled from 
1884 to 1S88, rendering intelligent and ap- 
preciative service. Mrs. Gentry is a member 
of the Baptist church. 



■^^ P. I\UCKEI-i is a typical American, 
C starting out in life a poor young man 
A 1 with no other capital than a strong 
physique and a determination to suc- 
ceed, and by honest toil and the exercise of 
good judgment in managing his affairs, ris- 
ing step by step until now we find him oc- 
cupying a place in the front ranks of the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



733 



prominent and wealthy farmers of Erath 
county, Texas. As such his Hfe history is 
both interesting and instructive and well de- 
serves a place in this biographical record. 

J. P. Rucker dates his birth in Franklin 
county, Georgia, March 15, 1837, his par- 
ents being Jepsa and Alea (Moldin) Rucker, 
both of Georgia birth. George Rucker, 
the grandfather of our subject, was a \'ir- 
ginian of Irish descent, who moved from 
the Old Dominion at any early day and 
made settlement in Georgia, where he was 
engaged in farming for many years and 
where he reared his family. He died in 
Georgia. Jepsa Rucker moved west to Ar- 
kansas in 1857, where he bought a mill and 
was engaged in both milling and farming the 
rest of his life, dying there in i860. He 
was identified with the Missionary Baptist 
church, in politics was a Democrat, and in 
every way was a man who stood high in the 
esteem of all who knew him. Richard 
Moldin, the maternal grandfather of J. P. 
Rucker, was a resident of Georgia and an 
early settler and prominent and respected 
farmer of his locality. He had three sons, 
— Epps, Hal and Mordecai, — none of whom 
ever came to Texas. After the death of his 
father the widowed mother of our subject 
kept her family together for a time and 
about 1868 moved with her children to 
Texas, locating in Wood county, where she 
bought a farm. Subsequently she came to 
Erath county, and here in 1877 she died at 
the ripe age of seventy-seven years. Fol- 
lowing are the names in order of birth of 
her children: J. P., whose name forms the 
heading of this sketch; George R., a resi- 
dent of Arkansas; Lindsay, a farmer of 
Erath county, Texas; Elizabeth C., unmar- 
ried; Emily, wife of J. P. Swaner; Oliver 
J., a farmer and stock man of Callahan 



county; Lucy, wife of Abram Bailey; and 
Calvin, who owns and operates a mill and 
gin at De Leon, Texas. 

The subject of our sketch was reared on 
his father's farm in Georgia, removed with 
his parents to Arkansas, and remained a 
member of the home circle until the second 
year of the war, when he severed home ties 
and went out as a private in the Confederate 
ranks. It was in 1862 and as a member of 
the Twelfth Arkansas Infantry that he en- 
listed. He was with General Bragg in the 
raid through Kentucky, and was at Port 
Hudson during the siege of that place; was 
captured there, paroled, and came home. 
The latter part of his service, which ex- 
tended until the close of the war, was on the 
west side of the Mississippi. 

In August, 1865, Mr. Rucker came to 
Texas, making his way as far west as Cooke 
county in his search for employment and a 
desirable location, but did not remain long 
in Cooke county. Returning to Wood coun- 
ty, he located there, and the following year, 
1866, married and settled down on a rented 
farm. Farming has ever since claimed his 
attention. He continued to reside in Wood 
county until 1873, when he came to Erath 
county, first stopping at Dublin, then a 
small place, and remaining there one year. 
In 1874 he purchased three hundred and 
twenty acres of unimproved land, where he 
has ever since lived, and to which he adcied 
by subsequent purchase one hundred and 
sixty acres of land adjoining it. Also he 
now owns another farm, two hundred and 
forty-four acres, eighty-five acres of which 
are under cultivation. Of his home farm he 
cultivates one hundred and forty acres. 
Thus it is seen that in the twenty-odd years 
of his residence in this county he has accu- 
mulated over seven hundred acres of land, 



734 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



nearly a third of which is under cultivation; 
and besides this propertj' he has other in- 
terests. Both he and his wife are stock- 
holders in a co-operative merchandise busi- 
ness at Dublin. During the early years of 
his residence here Mr. Rucker gave much 
of his attention to the raising of cattle and 
horses, but of late it has been his intention 
to keep only stock enough with which to 
carry on his farming operations. 

Mrs. Rucker was formerly Miss Martha 
Thomas, and their marriage, as already 
stated, occurred in Wood county in 1866. 
She was born January 20, 1845, and, al- 
though Tennessee is her native state, Texas 
is the only home she has ever known, as it 
was the year following her birth that she 
was brought to this state by her parents, 
Elijah and Eliza (Long) Thomas, natives of 
Tennessee. Their first location in Texas 
was in Upshur county, where they opened 
a fartn and remained for several years. Then 
they sold out and removed to Wood county, 
where they pushed forward the work of im- 
proving another farm. Mr. Thomas re- 
mained in Wood county the rest of his life. 
He was a great hunter in his day. Many a 
deer and bear did his unerring shot bring 
down. Game here was plenty then, and 
this new, wild life had many fascinations for 
him. He died in 1875. His good wife 
shared with him the pleasures and priva- 
tions of pioneer life, and survived him three 
years, her death occurring in 1878. Both 
were earnest, active Christians and members 
of the Missionary Baptist church. Of their 
large family we make the following epito- 
mized record: James T., a member of the 
Seventh Texas Infantry, died in Kentucky 
during the war; Mary is the wife of George 
Martin; Martha, now Mrs. Rucker; Julia 
A., married; George W,, deceased; Mar- 



garet, wife of Colonel Thacker; Alice, now 
Mrs. Winnis; Sunda, now Mrs. Combs; 
Laura, who also married a Mr. Combs; Lot- 
tie, wife of H. Winkle; Virginia A., wife of 
James Sims; and Robert, a resident of 
Wood county. Mr. and Mrs. Rucker have 
been blessed in tlu' birth of ten children, 
two of whom died in infancy, the others 
being as follows: Lucy A., wife of Frank 
Dotson, died August 9, 1890; James, a 
prosperous farmer; Almeda, wife of Joseph 
Cathcart; Elizabeth, wife of H. E. Hutson; 
and Dora, William J., McKinney and Rob- 
ert E., — all at home. 

Of his political views, we would state 
that Mr. Rucker has always been an advo- 
cate of the Democracy. In local affairs he 
has been more independent than many, 
never himself aspiring to office and always 
casting his vote for the man he believed best 
fitted for the office, regardless of party lines. 
Both he and his wife are members of the 
Missionary Baptist church. 



QG. JONES, Highland, Texas.— 
No biographical record of the 
representative people of Erath 
county would be complete did it 
not include honorable mention of this 
wealthy and influential farmer and stock 
man, M. G. Jones, who has been a resident 
of the county for over twenty years and 
whose identity with the state dates back to 
1857. A resume of his life is as follows: 

M. G. Jones was born in Oglethorpe 
county, Georgia, September i, 1835; was 
reared on his father's plantation, and in the 
common schools of the vicinity received a 
fair education. His parents, Moses and 
Martha , (Mathews) Jones, were Georgia 
people, as also were their parents before 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



735 



them, all occupying prominent and useful 
positions in the communities in which they 
lived. Moses Jones and his father were 
large landowners and slave-owners. Both 
took part in the Creek and Cherokee Indian 
wars, the elder Mr. Jones serving as a cap- 
tain in the Creek war and in one engagement 
being wounded in the shoulder. Moses 
Jones was given the rank of lieutenant, and 
he too was wounded, a ball piercing his 
thigh. Both men were public-spirited and 
courageous, were by nature suited to the life 
of frontiersmen, and acted well their part in 
their day and place. Thomas Mathews, the 
maternal grandfather of our subject, was 
likewise a wealthy planter and a man inter- 
ested in all measures intended to advance 
the public good. He served in some im- 
portant official capacities, distinguished him- 
self for his ability and won the favor of all 
with whom he was associated. He was a 
Democrat. The Joneses also have long given 
their allegiance to this party, our subject 
not excepted. Moses Jones and his first 
wife had children as follows: Toliver M., a 
brigadier general in the late war, was killed 
in battle at Vicksburg; Mary H., wife of 
John Jackson; M. G., whose name graces 
this sketch; Caroline, wife of Dr. Haley; 
Charles, a veteran of the civil war, died in 
Ellis county, Texas; Jane, wife of A. Milli- 
gan, an attorney of Alabama; Martha E., 
'wife of John Court; M. O., a veteran of the 
late war and now a prominent farmer of 
Erath county, Texas; C. T., wife of Isaac 
Prinn, of Alabama; Berry T., a Baptist min- 
ister of Alabama; Fayette, also a resident 
of x\labama; and .A.lford M., a prominent 
citizen of Erath count}'. The mother of 
this large family died in 1852. By a sub- 
sequent marriage the father had other chil- 
dren, namely: Robert, a farmer of EUis 



county, Texas; Forest, also engaged in 
farming in Ellis county; Minnie; and one 
who died at the age of thirteen years. The 
father was a man of deep piety, was a mem- 
ber of the Missionary Baptist church, and 
sought both by teaching and example to 
rear his children in the straight and narrow 
way. His wives also were members of this 
church. 

M. G. Jones remained with his parents 
until after he was of age and in 1857 left 
the old home and its associations and came 
to Texas to make his fortune. In Upshur 
county he secured a position as overseer on 
a large farm, remained there two years, and 
at the end of that time purchased a small 
tract of land in Comanche county, on the 
Leon river, where he settled and gave his 
attention to the cultivation and improve- 
ment of his place. Game of all kinds 
abounded through this part of the country 
then, and Indians, too, were not infre- 
quently seen, their raids being a source of 
dread to the scattered settlers. And here, 
farming and hunting and keeping a lookout 
for the red men, was Mr. Jones when the 
civil war came on. In the fall of 1861 he 
enlisted as a member of Company D, Wal- 
ler's company, Hopp's regiment, which 
was assigned to the Department of Mis- 
souri and Arkansas. He was at different 
times under command of Generals Price, 
Marmaduke, Fagan, Cooper and Hineman; 
was in numerous battles and skirmishes, a 
record of which would cover much of the 
history of the war in the west; and on one 
occasion was wounded in the thigh by a 
minie ball, th"e bone being broken, and from 
the effects of this wound he was laid up in 
hospital four months. His whole service 
was characterized by courage and faithful- 
ness; he never shirked a duty; and his waf 



786 



HISTORr OF TEXAS. 



record is one of which he may be justly 
proud, although the cause for which he 
fought was lost. 

At the close of the war Mr. Jones was at 
Shreveport, Louisiana. From there he di- 
rected his course to Upshur county, Texas, 
where he married, and, accompanied by his 
wife, went back to his land in Comanche 
county. This land was all he had left when 
he returned from the army. He continued 
his residence in Comanche county until 
1875, when he sold out and came to Erath 
county, choosing a location on Armstrong 
creek and purchasing three hundred and 
twenty-five acres, he being the outside set- 
tler on the creek. Here he commenced 
opening up a farm, prospered from the first, 
and from time to time was able to purchase 
other lands. Soon his acres ran up to a 
thousand and ere long more than doubled 
that amount. His several purchases in- 
clude tracts containing the following num- 
ber of acres: 325, 493, 246, 646, 324, and 
400, amounting in all to 2,434. Of this he 
has cleared and put under cultivation six 
hundred and thirty acres. And all these 
years he has been more or less interested 
also in the stock business, usually keeping a 
large number of cattle and horses. His in- 
vestments in real estate have not been con- 
fined to farm lands. He has valuable prop- 
erty in Dublin and elsewhere, speculates 
whenever he finds a good opportunity, and 
thus makes his means bring in the largest 
possible returns. In all his business trans- 
actions he has been straightforward and up- 
right and his word has ever been as good 
as his bond. Recently he 'entered suit 
against the Dublin bank. With this excep- 
tion he never brought suit against any one, 
nor was he ever sued. Few men who have 
bad as extensive business dealings and come 



in contact with as many different classes of 
people as has Mr. Jones, can say as much. 
Mr. Jones was married at the close of 
the war to Miss Mary H. Crowder, who was 
born in Georgia, August 24, 1846, daughter 
of Dr. O. W. Crowder. Dr. Crowder was 
a native of South Carolina, was married in 
Georgia, and in 1857 came from the latter 
state to Texas, settling in Upshur county, 
where he opened up a farm and at the same 
time practiced his profession, continuing his 
abiding place therefor eight years. In 1865 
he moved to Comanche county, where he 
died the following year. He was the father 
of eleven children, viz. : Lucretia, wife of 
C. Jones, a resident of Ellis county, Texas; 
William, a farmer and Baptist minister of 
Erath county; Mary H. ; Joseph, who died 
when young; Louis F., deceased; Henry, 
who died at about the age of twenty years; 
John, who died in early life; Frances, wife 
of J. Vestel, Ellis county; Sarah, wife of F. 
Parrish, a farmer of Ellis county; Street, a 
farmer of Ellis county; and Rachel, wife of 
j James Perkins, also of Ellis county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jones have nine children, namely: 
Henrietta, wife of James Jones; Street, a 
farmer; Rachel, wife of Samuel Chipman; 
Ella, wife of Robert Burnett; Moses, a 
farmer; and Eppa, Warren, Minnie, and 
Carmine at home. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members 
of the Missionary Baptist church, her par- 
ents, like his, having been active and zeal- 
ous workers in that church, and thus are 
our subject and his estimable wife following 
in the footsteps of their honored parents and 
bringing up their own children in the same 
religious faith. Mr. Jones has always been 
liberal in the support of the church and has 
also contributed freely of his means for the 
advancement of educational interests. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



r37 



HLFORD M. JONES.— Owning and 
occupying a fine farm in the vi- 
cinity of Highland, Erath county, 
Texas, and figuring as one of the 
leading farmers of the county, is found the 
gentleman who constitutes the subject of 
this biographical mention. His iyentity 
with his present location covers a little 
more than the past decade. 

Mr. Jones is a Georgian by birth and 
traces his ancestry back to the Emerald 
isle. His parents, Moses and Mattie 
(Mathews) Jones, were natives respectively 
of Virginia and Georgia, Moses Jones being 
a son of Alford Jones, who had come to this 
country from Ireland at an early day and 
made a settlement in the Old Dominion. 
From Virginia Alford Jones moved with his 
family to Georgia, then on the frontier, and 
in the newer state took front rank with the 
leading men of his day, becoming a large 
slaveholder and owning and operating a 
farm, gristmill, sawmill, distillery and cot- 
ton-gin. He was the father of the following 
named children: Henry, Moses, William, 
Alford, Emma and Martha. Moses grew 
up on the farm and in the mill, and when he 
married and settled in life for himself it was 
as a farmer. Later, however, he turned his 
attention to merchandising, which he fol- 
lowed successfully for many years. He was 
a participant in some of the Indian wars, 
had not a few e.xciting experiences with the 
red men, and met with some narrow escapes. 
In ante-bellum days he owned a large num- 
ber of slaves. He died in 1880, at an ad- 
vanced age, and left a large family of chil- 
dren. By his first wife, nee Mattie Mathews, 
he had sixteen children, fi\e of whom died 
in infancy, the names of the others being 
Toliver M., Mollie, Mason G., Carrie, 
Charles W., Jennie, Alford M., Warren F., 



Berry T., Talitha C. and Allie. The mother 
of these children died when our subject was 
about ten years of age. Their father was 
married twice afterward, the second wife 
dying without issue, and the third bearing 
him five children, — Forrest, Robert, Mattie, 
Minnie and Grace. Altogether he had 
twenty-one children, and he sent seven of 
his sons to the war, — a remarkable record, 
indeed! From this sketch of his ancestry 
we would now direct attention to the life of 
Alford M. Jones, our immediate subject. 

Mr. Jones was born in Heard county, 
Georgia, October i, 1840, and as the son of 
a prominent and well-to-do man received 
good educati jnal advantages. He remained 
at home until he attained his majority, and 
at that important period of his life the civil 
war broke out. He at once enlisted in the 
Fifteenth Alabama Infantry, was mustered 
in as a private at Fort Mitchell, Alabama, 
and from there went to the scene of action 
in Virginia. Bull Run was his first battle. 
There he fought under " Stonewall " Jack- 
son, and remained in his command until 
that great hero fell at Chancellorsville. To 
give a detailed account of the army life of 
Mr. Jones would be to write a history of 
much of the war. Suffice it to say in this 
connection that he perhaps saw as much 
hard service as any man in that sanguinary 
struggle; that he participated in no less 
than twenty- seven battles, and that he was 
slightly wounded and twice taken prisoner. 
He was first captured at the battle of Cedar 
Run, and was paroled on the spot. At 
Knoxville, Tennessee, he, with a number of 
others, was captured and taken to Nash- 
ville, from there to. Louisville, and a month 
later to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was 
held eighteen months, at the end of that 
time being released on parole of honor and 



7'SS 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



given transportation to the mouth of the 
James river. At Lynchburg he sojourned 
three months before he was enabled to get 
home. 

In the fail of 1865 Mr. Jones married 
and took charge of a large plantation be- 
longing to his father-in-law. This planta- 
tion he superintended for five years. In 
that time he made and saved enough money 
to buy a farm, to which he moved and on 
which he remained the ne.xt five years. 
Then he sold out and went to Troy and en- 
gaged in merchandising, remaining there and 
doing a successful business ten years. Thus 
was he occupied up to i<S85, when he came to 
Texas and bought his present farm. His 
purchase here comprised three hundred and 
si.xty acres and had some improvements 
thereon, but he has since sold some of this 
tract, now retaining two hundred and 
twenty-nine acres, of which one hundred 
and thirty are under cultivation. Mr. Jones 
has built a comfortable home, planted an 
orchard and made other impro\ements, and 
gives his attention to diversified farming and 
stock-raising. 

Turning now to that page of his history 
which is more purely domestic, we find that 
Mr. Jones has been married three times, 
each time to a widow. He first married 
the widow of Dr. Worthing, a cultured and 
most amiable woman whose life was blended 
with his for more than twenty years, her death 
occurring October 8, 1887, two years after 
their removal to this state. She was a de- 
voted Christian and a member of the Bap- 
tist church. Her father, the Rev. P. M. 
Caloway, prominent for many years in Ala- 
bama as a preacher, lawyer, merchant and 
farmer, is still living in that state, having 
attained the ripe age of eighty-seven years. 
At one time he was the owner of many 



slaves. He served two terms in the Ala- 
bama state legislature, and at the end of his 
second term refused further honors of that 
kind. Of his eight children, Mrs. Jones was 
the only one that came to Texas. By this 
wife Mr. Jones had seven children, viz. : 
Charles A. and Lee, both engaged in farm- 
ing; Dora, wife of Stephen Kirth; He, wife 
of George Allison; Buna, wife of George 
Kirth; and Whipple and Mamie, at home. 
July 2, 1 89 1, Mr. Jones married Mrs. Fan- 
nie L. Copeland, daughter of Rev. John 
Copeland. This union proved unsatisfact- 
ory and a separation followed. Then, Jan- 
uary 13, 1895, he vvedded Mrs. L. E. Moss, 
of W^aco, Texas, daughter of D. M. and 
Sarah F. (Bragg) Lewis, natives of Ala- 
bama. Mr. Lewis and his family moved to 
Texas in 1892 and located in Coryell coun- 
ty, where he died in March of that year. 
Mrs. Lewis is a resident of Arlington, Tar- 
rant county, Texas. By her first marriage 
Mrs. Jones has one child. Miss Fannie Moss. 
Mr. Jones and his family are all members 
of the Baptist church. Politically, his sup- 
port has always been tendered the Demo- 
cratic party. 



*y» EWIS COMER SMITH, for more 
I r than a quarter of a century a resi- 
1 ^ dent of Texas and now a well- 
known citizen and farmer of Ham- 
ilton county, dates his birth in Humphreys 
county, Tennessee, July 26, 1826. His 
parents were Joel and Lydia (Davis) Smith. 
At the age of eighteen he began work for 
his brother John, a tanner, of whom he 
learned the trade and with whom he was 
associated in business for about twenty-two 
years, the brothers being in partnership 
most of that time. In 1858 the subject of 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



739 



our sketch went to White county, Arkansas, 
where, with Mr. William Petty as a partner, 
he started a tannery. He remained in that 
business there until 1864, when he turned 
his attention to farming. In the fall of 
1870 he left Arkansas and came to Texas, 
landing in McLennan county on the 8th of 
December. There he purchased land and 
farmed until December, 1876, when he re- 
moved to Hamilton county and bought three 
hundred and fifty acres near Carlton, which 
continued to be his home until 1886. liis 
next move was to a farm two miles north of 
Carlton, in Erath county, and in October, 
1895, he came from there to his present 
home, five miles east of Carlton. His land 
purchase here comprised five hundred and 
fourteen acres. Recently he has divided 
this tract up among his children. 

Mr. Smith was first married in Tennes- 
see, July 24, 1852, to Melvina D. Parker, 
daughter of James and Anna Parker. She 
was born December 7, 1833, in Tennessee, 
and departed this life December 28, 1862. 
The children of their union are as follows: 
Amanda Victoria, born June 14, 1853; 
Eudora Caroline, June 14, 1854; John Dan- 
iel, January 14, 1856; James Lawrence, 
March 14, 1858; William Samuel, Decem- 
ber 25 i860; and Benjamin Lewis, Febru- 
ary 14, 1862. All are living except Will- 
iam S., who died August 28, 1868. Febru- 
ary 26, 1863, Mr. Smith was married in Ar- 
kansas to Miss Zenobia Kirkland, who was 
born in Humphreys county, Tennessee, 
February 7, 1840, daughter of Aaron and 
Nancy (Allen) Kirkland. Her father died 
when she was four years of age, and her re- 
moval to Arkansas was only a few years 
previous to her marriage, being in January, 
1 86 1. Following are the children of this 
marriage: Robert Adolphus, born September 



16, 1865; Joel Aaron, July 2, 1867; Ida Jane, 
October 12, 1869, died August 20, 1870; 
Jackie Nora, May 18, 1871; Mary Frances, 
February 14, 1873; Nancy Emma, December 
31, 1874; Claudius Comer, February 10, 
1878; Eugene D., May 17, 1879, and Otis 
Allen, February 5, 1882. 

In the various localities where he has lived 
Mr. Smith's influence has ever been directed 
on the side of truth and right. For forty- 
six years he has been a consistent member 
of the Methodist church, of which religious 
denomination his family also are members. 
Politically, he has during the past three 
years been a supporter of the Populist party. 
His identity with the Masonic fraternity dates 
back to 1852, when he was initiated into the 
mysteries of that order in New Portland 
Lodge, Tennessee. On his removal to Ar- 
kansas he affiliated with a lodge in that 
state, and his name is on the list of charter 
members of two Texas lodges, his present 
membership being at Carlton. 



>^OHN CONWAY, one of the most 
M prominent and representative men of 
A 1 Hood county, was born at Montreal, 
in the province of Quebec, Canada, 
March 22, 1845, and is of Irish descent. 
His parents, David and Bridget (McRory) 
Conway, had' a large family of children, 
most of whom died in early life, our subject 
and his sister Mary Ann being the only 
ones that arrived at maturity. The latter 
became the wife of Michael Keefe, and died 
in Montreal, August 20, 1876, leaving three 
children, — David, Mary E. and Joseph; but 
the last named is now deceased. 

When Mr. Conway was four years of 
age his father died, and one year later 
death deprived him of the tender care of his 



740 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



mother, after which he made his home with 
his aunt, and received a good education in 
the public schools of St. Bridget, Quebec. 
He grew to manhood on a farm, but was 
always rather delicate physicall}-. Owing 
to ill health he took a trip to the Rocky 
mountains, in 1S69. He was in the employ 
of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
and assisted in constructing telegraph lines 
in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and other west- 
ern territories. In 1873 he came to Texas 
and for about a year and a half followed the 
same line of work, during which time he 
superintended the construction of the tele- 
graph lines from Marshall to Sherman and 
from Longview to Fort Worth. 

In 1874 Mr. Conway bought one hun- 
dred and twenty-six acres of land in Hood 
county, about seven miles north of Granbury, 
where he now resides, and began its im- 
provement and cultivation. He has con- 
tinued the business of farming and stock- 
raising ever since his settlement in the 
county with the exception of one summer, 
when he built the telegraph line from Whites- 
boro to Fort Worth. In his undertakings 
he has prospered, and from time to time 
purchased additional land until he now owns 
one thousand acres situated on Long Creek, 
about one hundred and twenty of which is 
under cultivation. His pleasant and attract- 
ive country home is presided over by his 
niece. Miss Mary E. Keefe, and is the abode 
of genuine, open-handed hospitality, all of 
the surroundings bearing evidence of the 
thrift and enterprise of the owner. 

Mr. Conway is a quiet, unobtrusive man, 
of wide and varied reading, and has always 
taken an interest in the affairs of men and 
always keeps himself well informed on the 
public questions of the times. In politics he 
is a stanch Democrat, and a recognized 



leader in the counsels of his party. In 1886 
he was- elected county commissioner, to 
which position he was three times re-elected, 
acceptably filling the office for eight consecu- 
tive years, and for about five years of that 
time served as justice of the peace, both by 
election and appointment. In the various 
positions he has been called upon to fill, he 
has proved himself true to every trust re- 
posed in him, and as a private citizen his 
straightforward business methods and ster- 
ling integrity have won for him the confi- 
dence and respect of the entire community. 
Enterprising and public -spirited he gives his 
support to every measure for the public 
good. In his religious opinions, as in all 
things else, he is broad and liberal, but ad- 
heres strictly to the faith of the Roman 
Catholic church, in which he was reared. 



aHARLES CRESSON STEWART, 
is a citizen of Hamilton, Texas, 
where he is greatly respected not 
only on account of his editorial 
ability but also for his personal character. 
Mr. Stewart is a native of the City of Broth- 
erly Love, having been born in Philadelphia, 
where he was a student in the public schools 
until the age of sixteen. He then struck 
out for himself, and when he had reached 
the age of eighteen dared to go to Chicago, 
where he set up in business as a printer, 
making use of a printing-press which he had 
received from his grandparents when a mere 
boy. What he used at first as a mere play- 
thing presentl}' became an instrument of 
business, and was the determining agent in 
marking out his life career. He continued 
in Chicago for some two years, and then 
found his way back to Philadelphia, where 
he remained for some months. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



The east, however, was not to receive 
the devotion of a life of labor, and on the 
1 1 th day of October, 1876, our subject made 
his appearance in that state which has been 
to him a home land. He was employed for 
some four years in the printing-office of 
B. B. Paddock, in the city of Fort Worth, 
Texas, where he was regarded as a capable 
and trusty job printer. He then found 
work at Weatherford, where he was engaged 
for a portion of the time in conducting a 
small newspaper. In 1884 he left that city 
for Shreveport, Louisiana, where he en 
gaged with the Shreveport Times to travel 
in its interests in the states of Louisiana and 
Arkansas, in which occupation he was busy 
until 1887. In that year Mr. Stewart re- 
moved to Galveston, and was for a time in 
the employ of Clark & Courtz, proprietors 
of the most extensive printing-house in the 
state. After this engagement the fortunes 
of our subject bore him to Houston, where 
he was with J. J. Pastareza, and onward to 
Lampasas in 1890. Here he found the po- 
sition of foreman in the ofifice of the Lam- 
pasas Leader vacant, and, securing it, made 
himself so essential to the business that he 
became established in the city to that e.xtent 
that he was able to marry and become the 
head of a family. 

Mr. Stewart had been identified with the 
Democratic party until this time, but in the 
year 1891 he came out as a pronounced 
Populist, and was instrumental in the estab- 
lishment of the Lampasas Journal, in the 
interest of that movement, associating him- 
self first with J. P. Wood, and afterward 
with Will Moore, who finally became sole 
possessor of the newspaper. Our subject 
was next engaged with the Gatesville Voice 
for some six months, and in the first part of 
the year 1894 purchased the Hamilton Prog- 



ress, which he renamed the Hamilton Jour- 
nal, and has conducted it to the present 
time as an able and interesting advocate of 
the principles of the Populist party. In the 
month of August of the next year he started 
the Hico News, in company with Captain 
W. H. Hawkins, both papers being pub- 
lished from the Hamilton office. Mr. 
Stewart has proved himself a man of much 
more than usual business ability, having 
bought the Progress on time and paid for it 
.entirely out of its earnings. Both of these 
papers have grown into important publica- 
tions, and are good paying property. 

Mr. Stewart has been twice married, 
choosing for his first wife Mamie Levy, 
daughter of T. L. Levy, a prominent con- 
tractor and architect of Worthington. She 
was the mother of two children, both of 
whom are now dead, and died herself in 
1884, after a married life of only three 
years. He was married a second time in 
Lampasas, February 18, 1890, to Miss Lulu 
McWhirter, daughter of J. C. and Josephine 
McWhirter, by whom he has had three chil- 
dren, — Frank, Grace and Cresson. 

He has associated himself with the Epis- 
copal church, and is superintendent of its 
Sunday-school, and is regarded as a reliable 
supporter of that order. His voice is wide- 
ly heard and heeded, and he is a man of 
much influence not only with his immediate 
party but also with the community gen- 
erally. 



,>^OBERT S. WHITEHEAD, a 

I /^ thorough and skillful farmer, pleas- 

1 . y antly located six miles southeast 

of Granbury, in Hood county, is a 

native of Virginia, born in Pittsylvania 

county, November 11, 1846, and is a son of 



:4-2 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



Raleif,'h and Elizabeth (Rossor) Whitehead, 
also natives of the Old Dominion. The 
family is of English origin and was founded 
in America during colonial times. His pa- 
ternal grandfather, James L. Whitehead, 
had two brothers who valiantly aided the 
colonies in their struggle for independence. 
His maternal grandfather was Colonel Jack 
Rossor, of Virginia. From their native 
state the family removed to Polk county, 
Georgia, where the father engaged in farm- 
ing and where both parents spent their re- 
maining days. To them had been born 
three children: John R., deceased; Robert 
S., of this sketch; and Martha, who also 
died in Georgia. 

Mr. Whitehead grew to manhood upon 
his father's farm, receiving a good education 
in a private school, and remained at home 
until December, 1862, when he enlisted in 
the Confederate army and was assigned to 
Company A, First Georgia Cavalry, Wheel- 
er's corps, with which he served until the 
close of the war. When that terrible strug- 
gle was over he returned home, but in 1866 
sold out his interests in Georgia and came 
to Texas, stopping for a few months in 
Panola county. Later he was engaged in 
the cattle business farther west, which he 
continued for four years. 

On the 17th of September, 1874, 
Mr. Whitehead led to the marriage altar 
Miss B. E. Moore, a native of Lincoln 
county, Tennessee, and a daughter of A. 
E. Moore. Eight children have been born 
to them, namely: Raleigh M., Dolly B., 
A. E., R. R., N. N., Rosa K , Henry G. 
and R. S. The same year of his marriage, 
Mr. Whitehead returned to the old home- 
stead in Georgia, which he had in charge 
about ten years, when he settled up his 
father's estate and again came to Texas, 



since which time he has been successfully 
engaged in farming in Hood county, having 
a tine place of two hundred acres, a half of 
which he has placed under the plow. No 
man takes a deeper interest in the prosperity 
of his adopted county, and it is safe to say 
that few have contributed in a larger degree 
to bring about its results. He is an ardent 
Populist in politics, taking a lively interest 
in the success of his party, and religiously, 
both himself and estimable wife are faith- 
ful members of the Missionary Baptist 
church. 

A. E. Moore, the father of Mrs. White- 
head, has been identified with the interests 
of Hood county since 1872. He was born 
in Lincoln county, Tennessee, on the 15th 
of February, 1821, and is a son of Andrew 
and Kindness (Meek) Moore, the former a 
native of North Carolina and the latter of 
Tennessee. The maternal grandfather of 
Mr. Moore left Virginia and located in the 
wilderness of Tennessee as early as 1806. 
Andrew Moore conducted a grist and saw 
mill, also a gin, and managed a farm. By 
his marriage to Kindness Meek he became 
the father of ten children, eight of whom 
grew to maturity, and six are still living. His 
death occurred in 1826, and his wife's a year 
later. 

A. E. Moore was reared by his uncle, 
Captain John Clark, until twelve years of 
age, during which time he became familiar 
with agricultural pursuits, and then entered 
upon a five-years apprenticeship to the tan- 
ner's trade under his oldest brother. While 
with him he was able to attend the common 
schools, and when his apprenticeship had 
expired he worked as a journeyman for nine 
years. 

In 1849 Mr. Moore was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Nancy J. Motlow, a native 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



743 



of Tennessee and a daughter of Zadock 
Motlow, who was from South CaroHna. 
Four children were born to them: Mary 
Elizabeth, the wife of Robert S. White- 
head; Andrew Zadock, who died at the age 
of two years; Kindness R. , at home; and 
Granville Jones, of Coke county, Texas. 

After his marriage, Mr. Moore continued 
to engage in farming in Tennessee until 
coming to Texas in icS/a, when he purchased 
two hundred acres of partially improved 
land on the Brazos river, where he has since 
been identified with the agricultural inter- 
ests. In politics he is a Jacksonian Demo- 
crat. 



^-t'C'SIAH CLINTON GOODWIN, 
fl whose residence in Hood county 
/• 1 dates from i860, has been identified 
with the region through the import- 
ant era of its development. When he lo- 
cated within its borders, the lands were 
wild and there was little promise of develop- 
ment. Long stretches of unimproved 
prairies, broken by the forests which bor- 
dered the streams, were the haunt of wild 
game and were frequently traversed by the 
Indians. The work of reclaiming this re- 
gion was an arduous one, but resolutely the 
pioneers began the task and the rich fertil- 
ity of Hood county, its many natural re- 
sources and the advantages added by man 
have made it a most desirable place of resi- 
dence. Among the worthy pioneers is num- 
bered the gentleman whose name introduces 
this review, and his name is inseparably 
linked with the history of this locality. 

His parents, Newton and Jane (Wake- 
field) Goodwin, were natives of North Caro- 
lina, the former born February 21, 1804, 
and the latter November 6, 1807. They 



were married in Tennessee and afterward 
removed to Talladega, Alabama, where they 
lived for twenty-six years. It was during 
that time that Josiah C. was born, on the 
23d of January, 1844. They left Alabama 
in 1859 and started to Texas, but before 
reaching this state spent one year in Arkan- 
sas. Their first home in the Lone Star 
state was in Hood county, then a part of 
Johnson county, they effecting a settlement 
a mile east of Acton, in i860. There Mr. 
Goodwin improved a farm and planted an 
orchard. He was also engaged in merchan- 
dising for two years in Acton, and of this 
county continued a resident until 1874, 
when on account of impaired health he re- 
turned to Alabama, his death occurring 
there January 2, 1875. His widow is still 
living and makes her home with a daughter 
in Arkansas. 

Mr. Goodwin, of this review, was reared 
under the parental roof, acquired his educa- 
tion in the common schools near his home, 
and at the age of fifteen became a resident 
of Hood county. Among the soldier boys 
of the civil war he is numbered. They 
were boys in years, but men in fearless de- 
votion to duty, and he made for himself an 
honorable military record. In 1861 he 
joined the Confederate service and became 
a member of Company I, Tenth Texas In- 
fantry. After the capture of that command 
at Arkansas Post he was assigned to the 
Thirty-first Cavalry and took part in all the 
engagements of the regiment. He was 
loyal to the cause which he espoused and 
no time-honored veteran could have been 
more faithful than the boys who with reso- 
lute courage followed wherever duty led. 

When hostilities were over Mr. Goodwin 
returned to his home and in 1866 and 1867 
he was a student in Oakland College, in 



HJSTORT OF TEXAS. 



Johnson county, under the direction of J. C. 
Collin. When his education was completed 
he entered upon the more serious duties that 
come to each one as he lays aside his text- 
books. He was married and began farming, 
which occupation he has since continued in 
connection with stock-raising. He has 
labored energetically and his work has 
brought to him a good income, making him 
one of the substantial agriculturists of the 
community. 

In his political views Mr. Goodwin is 
a Democrat, but has never sought office, 
preferring to devote his attention to his busi- 
ness interests and the enjoyments of home 
life. He was married December 19, 1867, 
to Sarah Margaret Cornelius, a native of 
Arkansas and a daughter of Dr. J. C. Cor- 
nelius. They had four children, namely: 
Jackson C, Josiah Newton, Charles Augus- 
tus and Hartwell Albert. Mrs. Goodwin 
died April 3, 1879, and many friends 
mourned her loss. Mr. Goodwin is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
south, and his excellencies of character gain 
him high regard. 

The Goodwin family is of Scotch origin 
and was founded in America during colonial 
times. Two great-grandfathers of our sub- 
ject were heroes of the Revolution, and 
William Goodwin, an uncle of our subject, 
was a defender of the coimtry in the war of 
1 8 1 2, serving under Jackson. His death oc- 
curred at New Orleans, during the battle 
there in our war with Great Britain. 



>j»OHN MANOAH WILLIAMS is a 
m representative of the pioneers of 
A 1 central Texas and now one of the 
largest landowners and the wealthi- 
est man in Hood county. He was born in 



west Tennessee, January 23, 1832, a son 
of David and Nancy Ann (Brock) Williams, 
the former a native of North Carolina, the 
latter of Alabama. His paternal grand- 
father was Isaac Williams, a soldier of the 
war of 181 2. The mother of our subject 
died during his early childhood, leaving two 
sons, the older brother being William V. 
Williams. The father of this family was 
again married and seven children were born 
of the second union. His death occurred 
in Brazos county in 1895, at the age of 
eighty-nine years. 

John M. Williams received but limited 
school privileges and since seventeen years 
of age has been dependent upon his own 
resources. Within the first year of its state- 
hood he came to Texas, locating in Chero- 
kee county, where he engaged in farming. 
He was one of the first settlers of that lo- 
cality and had to endure all the hardships 
incident to pioneer life. In his business 
dealings he was successful and continued to 
make his home in that locality until i860, 
when he came to Hood county, which then 
formed a part of Erath county. He owned 
a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in 
Cherokee county, which he traded for cat- 
tle, bringing the same to Hood county to 
graze on its broad prairies. He engaged in 
the stock business and at one time was largely 
interested in cattle, having about eight hun- 
dred head. He also had thirty horses. 
When he arrived in this locality there were 
but few settlers on Squaw creek, and the 
country abounded in game and wild animals. 
Like other early settlers Mr. Williams suf- 
fered losses through Indian depredations and 
for about four years most of his time was 
passed in assisting to drive away the sav- 
ages. He participated in several different, 
battles, in one of which his party lost twen- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



m 



ty-one men. On different occasions he lost 
his entire stock of horses, — atone time five 
head, one of which he had refused two hun- 
dred dollars for. At another time the Indi- 
ans drove his horses away in broad daylight 
and Mr. Williams could only look on pow- 
erless to prevent them, for had he attempted 
resistance he would undoubtedly have been 
killed. -He had to content himself with going 
about on foot until he had secured money 
enough to purchase others. In 1864 the In- 
dians killed Mr. Bryant and a negro, and Mr. 
Green and Dr. McBride died from injuries 
sustained in the battle. Mr. Williams took 
part in the killing of the seven Indians, six 
men and one squaw, at Star Hollow. Dur- 
ing these troublous times his wife remained 
at home and not only had to care for her 
children but also had to look after the cattle 
and was in constant fear that the Indians 
would come and murder the entire family. 

At length the days of trial, danger and 
hardship passed, and Mr. Williams, assisted 
by his good wife, has met with marked suc- 
cess. From time to time he has added to 
his property until now his landed posses- 
sions aggregate two thousand acres, most 
of which is either under cultivation or is 
capable of being cultivated. His large es- 
tate has been acquired through his own in- 
dustry, perseverance and capable manage- 
ment, and he has earned the right to the 
proud American title, a "self-made man." 

In Cherokee county, Texas, September 
5, 1855, Mr. Williams married Miss Sar.ah 
Ann Prestidge, who was born in Mississippi, 
but came to the Lone Star state in early 
childhood with her parents, Obadiah and 
Mary Prestidge, who located in Cherokee 
county, whence they came to Hood county 
in 1870, and here spent their remaining 
days. Both have now passed away. Mr. 



and Mrs. Williams have had nine children, 
two of whom died in infancy, while John M. 
died at the age of eighteen years. Those 
living are Mary, wife of Thomas Cruce; 
Sarah A., wife of Gordon Trammel; David, 
who is married and follows farming in Hood 
county; James, a farmer, also' married; 
Nancy A., wife of Bradford Mitchell; and 
Larkin, who is unmarried. Those who 
have left the parental roof are living on 
Squaw creek, near the old homestead. 

In his political views Mr. Williams is a 
Democrat, but has no aspirations for office. 
He has always taken an active interest in 
those things which pertain to the public 
good, and as far as lay in his power has 
aided enterprises for the promotion of the 
public welfare. He has witnessed the en- 
tire growth and development of this region 
and borne his share in the pioneer labors. 
It requires a courageous, energetic spirit to 
meet the hardships of frontier life, especially 
when they are accompanied by the danger 
of losing one's life at the hands of hostile 
savages; but those troublous times at length 
passed, wild land was transformed into good 
farms, towns sprang up, the comforts and 
conveniences of civilization were added, and 
the pioneers may well feel a just pride as 
they think of their labor which has changed 
this from a wild western region to a pros- 
perous, productive locality, peopled by 
happy, contented men and women. 



^"V* ERASTUS UMPHRESS, one of 
•^^^^ the extensive landowners of Hood 

K^ J county, is a representative and 

leading farmer, possessed of the 

true progressive spirit of the age, which is 

so rapidly transforming this state from a 



74G 



HISTORT OF TEXAS 



wild, uninhabited region into beautiful 
homes and farms and placing; it on a par 
with the states that have been much longer 
settled. He comes from the peninsular 
state of the Union, — Florida, — his birth 
having occurred there, in Jefferson countj-, 
on the 4th of June, 185 1. His parents, 
Mitchell and Martha (Horton) Umphress, 
were both nati\-es of Georgia. They had 
five sons and three daughters, only four of 
whom are living at this writing (summer of 
1896), namely: Artemissa, wife of Levi 
Horton, of Dallas county, Texas; John, a 
farmer of that county; Arphaxad, who car- 
ried on agricultural pursuits in Dallas county ; 
and the gentleman whose name introduces 
this notice. 

S. E. Umphress was reared to farm life 
on the old homestead, and what little edu- 
cation he acquired in his youth was under 
the instruction of his parents. The father 
died in Florida in March, 1859, but the 
mother is ntnv living in Dallas county, 
Texas, with her daughter, Mrs. Horton. 
Our subject continued under the parental 
roof until nearly twenty-two years of age 
and then started out in life for himself, 
without assistance from relatives or friends. 
In 1872 he came to Texas, a poor young 
man, and being unable to purchase a farm 
he rented land in Dallas county, on which 
he raised two crops. He then removed to 
Hood county and purchased one hundred 
acres where he now lives, about nine miles 
south of Granbury. He has since profitably 
followed farming and stock-raising, and as 
his financial resources have increased has 
bought other property, until his landed 
possessions now aggregate nine hundred 
acres, seven hundred of which are in one 
body, with two hundred and eighty acres in 
a good state of cultivation. The well-tilled 



fields indicate his careful supervision, and 
the many excellent improvements stand as 
monuments to his thrift and enterprise. 
He has a handsome frame residence, good 
outbuildings, a wind pump and the latest- 
improved farm machinery. He raises stock 
of good grades, and his capable manage- 
ment and earnest efforts have brought to 
him a comfortable competence. 

On the 25th of October, 1872, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Umphress and 
Miss Maggie Grubbs, daughter of John and 
Rebecca (Kinsey) Grubbs, both natives of 
Florida. They had an interesting family 
of eight children and have lost one. Those 
who still survive are Lola, wife of C. W. 
Jones, of Hood county; William, Rollins, 
Augustus, Lela, Olen and Maggie. The 
parents are members of the Missionary Bap- 
tist church, and contribute liberally to its 
support and do all in their power for its 
promotion. Their home is a hospitable one 
and their friends throughout the community 
are many. Mr. Umphress belongs to the 
ancient and honored society of Masons, his 
membership being in Granbury Lodge, No. 
392, F. & A. M. His political support is 
given to the Democracy, but he is by no 
means a politician, caring not for the hon- 
ors or emoluments of public office, content 
to faithfully discharge his duties of citizen- 
ship in ia quiet way. He is an intelligent 
and broad-minded man, public-spirited and 
progressive, and takes a commendable in- 
terest in all that pertains to the welfare and 
upbuilding of the community. Churches 
and schools find in him a friend, and during 
the quarter of a century that he has resided 
in Hood county he has ever been known as 
the champion of right and order. In man- 
ner he is social and genial, and is highly 
esteemed for his sterling worth. 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



747 



%^/'\ K- G. B. WALKER, who is living 
I I '^ retired life at his pleasant home 
/^^_^ in Hood county, comes of an hon- 
ored family that has been promi- 
nent in the military history of the country. 
His great-grandfather, John Walker, was 
a native of the Emerald Isle and reared 
seven sons and several daughters. In co- 
lonial days he crossed the broad Atlantic to 
America, taking up his residence in Penn- 
sylvania among its early settlers. He and 
his sons served in the Revolutionary war 
and were fearless patriots, ever loyal to the 
cause of independence and of liberty. John 
Walker also became the possessor of con- 
siderable wealth, and when he refused to 
disclose the hiding place of his fortune to the 
Tories he was arrested and tortured. His 
thumbs were pulled in a vise and his feet 
were burned, but he possessed a fearless de- 
termination that physical suffering could not 
quell and he told his captors that they 
might kill an old man, but he would die be- 
fore he would yield. Finding that they 
could gain nothing by this torture, the 
Tories finally released him and he lived 
to a good old age to enjoy the freedom for 
which he had so bravely battled. His death 
occurred in Pennsylvania. 

The grandparents of the Doctor were 

John and (Wright) Walker, natives of 

Georgia, whence they removed to Dallas 
county, Alabama, where they spent the re- 
mainder of their lives. They had two sons, 
one of whom served under General Jackson 
in the war of 1812 and more firmly estab- 
lished the reputation of the family for valor 
in times of their country's danger. 

The Doctor's parents were William W. 
and Elizabeth (Green) Walker, natives of 
Georgia, and in 1818 they removed to Ala- 
bama. For many years they were residents 



of that state, where the father engaged in 
the work of the ministry as a preacher of 
the Baptist denomination. At length he came 
to Texas, in 1853, settling in Leon county, 
where he made a permanent home, purchas- 
ingland on which he spent his remaining days. 
He brought to the state with him his wife and 
five children, namely: Jefferson, Betty, 
Reuben,, George and Frank. Three other 
children, G. B., John W. and James, did 
not accompany the parents at the time, and 
John lived and died near the old homestead 
in Alabama, but the others afterward became 
residents of Te.xas. Rev. William Walker 
was a man of fine intellectual talents and a 
preacher of great force. He did much to 
raise the standard of Christian excellence 
among the people wherever he lived and 
worked, and his noble life left its impress 
for good upon all with whom he came in 
contact. Old and young, rich and poor 
were his friends, and his death was deeply 
mourned by all who knew him. He passed 
to his final home in 1863, at the age of sixty 
3?ears; and his wife, who was born in 1805, 
was called to her final rest in 1864. 

Dr. Walker, of this review, is one of the 
worthy citizens that the Cotton state has 
furnished to Texas. He was born in Dallas 
county, Alabama, in 1822, and acquired his 
primary education under the tutelage of 
private instructors. Determining to enter 
the medical profession he began his prepar- 
ation for that work by reading in the office 
of Drs. Eddings and Schaffer, who were his 
preceptors for three years. He had pre- 
viously read medicine for a year under 
another physician, and practiced with his 
preceptors for a brief time in Greenboro, 
Alabama. Removing to Jefferson, Alabama, 
he opened an office and continued the active 
prosecution of his profession from 1846 until 



748 



NISTORT OF TEXAS. 



January, 1850, at whicli time he removed to 
Arkansas, locating near the boundary Hne of 
Louisiana, where he practiced until 1857. 
Since that year he has been identified with 
the interests of Texas. 

Making his home in this state he was 
soon recognized as one of its most capable 
and progressive physicians and enjoyed a 
large patronage. He afterward practiced 
in Johnson county for two years and in 1872 
came to Hood county, locating at Thorp 
Spring. He is now living upon his excellent 
farm, which comprises three hundred and 
twenty acres of rich land, of which two 
hundred and forty acres are under a high 
state of cultivation and yield to him a good 
income in return for the care and labor be- 
stowed upon it. The improvements are 
modern and well kept and indicate the en- 
terprise and thrift of the owner. 

In 1853 was celebrated the marriage of 
Dr. Walker and Miss Rachel Kennedy, who 
died on the 9th of March, 1889, at the age 
of fifty-seven years. They had ten children, 
seven of whom reached adult age, while six 
are now living. 

The Doctor has now laid aside the cares 
of active business life and is resting in the 
enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. 
He has always been a deep and earnest stu- 
dent, not only of his profession but also of 
many other topics, and is especially well in- 
formed on all matters of general interest, 
incUuling the current events of the day. As 
a converser he is entertaining and instruct- 
ive, and his hospitable home is a favorite 
with many friends. To do good has been 
the motto of his life, yet those acts of kind- 
ness, generosity and charity which have won 
him the gratitude of many and the respect 
of all have ever been performed in a most 
unostentatious manner. In his political 



views he has ever been a Democrat of the 
Jacksonian school. Every enterprise hav- 
ing for its object the promotion of the best 
interests of the county is sure of his co- 
operation and support, and he is a valued 
citizen that the community could ill afford 
to lose. 



aL. McELHANEY is one of the 
progressive, well-to-do citizens of 
Erath county, who has won a com- 
fortable competence as a farmer. 
He is now the owner of a valuable and de- 
sirable country home, comprising three hun- 
dred and thirty acres of land, pleasantly 
situated about three miles from Stephenville. 
One hundred and sixty-two acres of the 
farm are under a high state of cultivation 
and give evidence of abundant harvests. 
The improvements upon the place consist 
of good fences and substantial and commo- 
dious barns and other outbuildings, together 
with a comfortable residence, and all are 
indicative of the enterprise and thrift which 
are so characteristic of the owner. 

Mr. McEIhaney well deserves to be 
numbered among the leading farmers of 
Erath county, and it is with pleasure that 
we present the record of his life to our 
readers. He was born in Marshall county, 
Tennessee, in 1 844, a son of James and 
Paulina M. (Reed) McEIhaney, natives of 
the same state. The father died in Ten- 
nessee, but the mother is still living. 

The early life of our subject was passed 
on the old family homestead, where he 
received such educational advantages as 
were afforded by the common schools of the 
neighborhood. When the civil war was in- 
augurated he went forth in defense of his 
beloved south, and the principles which had 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



140 



been familiar to him from earliest boyhood, 
enlisting in 1861 as a member of Company 
A, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry. It fell 
to the lot of few gallant southerners to take 
part in more daring charges and hard-fought 
engagements than did Mr. McElhaney. He 
served for a long time in General Hood's 
army, and under command of that intrepid 
leader he met the Union forces in battle at 
Shiloh, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Baton 
Rouge, Murfreesboro and participated in the 
daily encounters that took place between 
Dalton and Jonesboro. In the latter battle 
he was taken prisoner, sent to Camp Doug- 
las and there incarcerated until the war was 
ended, — a period of nine months. 

On his return home he took up his resi- 
dence in Tennessee and was married there 
on the 1 2th of August, 1869, to Miss Nannie 
McCrory. He afterward removed to Ken- 
tucky and for four years was a resident of 
Calloway and Graves counties, following 
farming. In 1875 he emigrated to Texas, 
and was a resident of Johnson county until 
1890, which year dates his advent into 
Erath county. Purchasing his present farm 
he has continued its further development 
and cultivation, and his home is now most 
pleasant. This is partly due to the efforts 
of the estimable wife whose delight in her 
domestic duties has made her home the 
abode of good cheer, and true hospitality 
also abounds there. The parents have nine 
living children, — Willie L., Otho, Mertie L., 
Walter B., Eddie, Charles, Luther, Babe 
and Patrick. 

In his political views Mr. McElhaney is 
a stanch Democrat, unwavering in his sup- 
port of the party principles. His life has 
been that of the practical business man, 
and he is a worthy representative of that 
class upon whom the stability and welfare 



of the country depends. His friends are 
many and his friendship is prized most by 
those who know him best. 



^ y' W. BISHOP, whose residence in 
M Comanche county covers almost a 
A 1 quarter of a century, is a popular 
citizen, having many friends, and we 
therefore feel assured that this record of his 
life will prove of interest to many of our 
readers. He was born in Hancock county, 
Georgia, on the 8th of September, 1833, 
and is a son of Asa Jones Bishop, who was 
born in North Carolina and was a repre- 
sentative of one of the old colonial families 
of English origin. In the state of his na- 
tivity he was reared, and when a young 
man removed to Georgia, where he met and 
married Miss Elizabeth Breedlove, a native 
of Virginia, whose mother belonged to the 
prominent Foster family of the Old Domin- 
ion. Her people were wealthy and exten- 
sive planters and very influential citizens. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were born five 
children: Martha, Sarah E. , Francis, 
George W. and J. W. The father was a 
blacksmith and wagon-maker and possessed 
considerable mechanical ingenuity. In poli- 
tics he was a Whig and a warm admirer of 
Henry Clay. His death occurred in Wilkin- 
son county, Georgia, when he had reached 
the age of fifty-two years. His wife long 
survived him and passed away at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-five. She was a faith- 
ful Christian woman, possessed of many 
virtues, and was loved by all who knew her. 
The boyhood days of our subject were 
quietly passed on his father's farm in Georgia, 
where he early became familiar with all the 
duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. 



750 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



He also worked at the blacksmith and car- 
penter's trade for ten years, and in his child- 
hood learned the lessons of industry and 
energy which have been followed throughout 
his entire life and have led to his success. 
He made for himself an honorable record as 
a brave soldier during the civil war, enlisting 
in the Twenty-second Georgia Infantry, 
under Captain Johnson and Colonel Baird. 
He participated in a number of skirmishes 
and battles, and during the engagement at 
Mansfield was struck by a ball in the left 
shoulder, which was afterward taken out of 
the right side. He was also wounded in the 
right arm. He faithfully defended the cause 
under whose banner he enlisted, and at the 
close of hostilities went to Louisiana, v;here 
he resided until 1874, the year of his arrival 
in Texas. 

Mr. Bishop came at once to Comanche 
county and has since been identified with its 
agricultural interests. He has two good 
farms of two hundred and forty acres, and 
one hundred and twenty acres is planted to 
crops which yield him a good return. He 
has modern improvements upon his place 
and "in his operations is meeting with a fair 
degree of success. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat, but has been contenj: to let others hold 
office, while he gives his attention to his 
business interests. 

Mr. Bishop was married in Georgia to 
Nancy Dupree, a lady of refined and cultured 
tastes who has been a faithful companion 
and helpmeet to her husband. She was 
born in Georgia, a daughter of John and 
Mary (Taylor) Dupree, the former of French 
extraction and the latter of an old Georgian 
family. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop have six chil- 
dren, as follows: Aurora, Talitha, Melissa, 
Elizabeth, Sienna and Fanny. Mr. Bishop is 
a wide-aw£ike, enterprising man, keeping up 



with the progress of the time, and the ster- 
ling worth of his character has won him the 
respect of all. 



at 



ILLIAM THOMAS BYRD.— Ina 
country where any avenue of busi- 
ness is open to all men and where 
the humblest born may aspire to 
the highest position, it is not unusual to find 
men who have worked their way steadily 
upward; yet success in America, as in every 
country, is the outcome of persistent effort, 
good management and perseverance. These 
three qualities are prominent points in the 
character of the gentleman whose life is 
now under review; and they have brought 
to him prosperity, while his straightforward 
dealing and unimpeachable conduct have 
won him the respect of all with whom he 
has been brought in contact. 

Mr. Byrd, a well known farmer of Co- 
manche county, was born in Lincoln county, 
Tennessee, April 2, 1833, and comes of one 
of the old Virginian families of Irish lineage. 
The paternal grandfather was a native of 
the Old Dominion, and both he and his wife 
lived to the unusual age of about one hun- 
dred years. His father, William Byrd, was 
born in Virginia and was reared in Scott 
county, near the Tennessee line. He mar- 
ried Nancy Blakemore, who also was born 
and reared in Scott county and belonged to 
one of the prominent families of the state. 
She was a daughter of Joseph Blakemore 
and a sister to Joseph Blakemore, Jr., and 
T. J. Blakemore, — both of whom were in 
Texas as early as 1835, participated in the 
battles of Hempstead and Houston in this 
state, and were also in the Mexican war; 
Joseph was a commander in the latter. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



751 



Mr. William Byrd was a planter and was a 
man of sterling worth. His wife was for 
forty years a member of the Methodist 
church, dying in the faith. He died in 
1865, at the age of sixty-si,\ years, and she 
in Virginia, at the age of seventy-nine years, 
passing away in the 5'ear 1869. They had 
nine children, eight of* whom reached years 
of maturity, namely: Francis Jehu, Joseph, 
Letitia, Narcissa, Daniel, Minerva, William 
Thomas, Helen and one who died in infancy. 

The subject of this biographical notice 
was reared on a farm in the state of his na- 
tivity, spending his youth at work in the 
fields or in attendance at the public schools 
of the neighborhood, where he acquired a 
common-school education. In 1861 he en- 
tered the southern army and first was with 
General Johnston but later with the fearless 
and gallant Stonewall Jackson; and still 
later he was under Longstreet. During his 
service he participated in many battles and 
was seriously wounded in the right thigh 
during one of the engagements, where he 
was under the command of General Vaughn, 
near Ivnoxville, Tennessee. 

After the war Mr. Byrd lived mostly in 
Virginia, until 1871, but spent two years in 
California, to which state he went in 1872 
and engaged in mining until 1874. Return- 
ing, he located in Comanche county, Te.xas, 
where he has since maintained his residence. 
From his parents he inherited some five 
hundred acres of land, but he disposed of all 
that excepting about two hundred and fifty 
acres of wild land, which he has transformed 
into a valuable farm, with one hundred acres 
under a high state of cultivation, richly im- 
proved and with all the modern accessories 
and conveniences of a farm well cared for. 
This very valuable property is a monument 
to his thrift and enterprise, for his posses- 



sions have all been acquired through his own 
efforts. 

In September, 1880, was celebrated the 
marriage of Mr. Byrd and Miss Marianne 
Elizabeth Yarbrough, a lady of intelligence 
and culture. She was born in Alabama but 
educated in Texas. Her parents were Isaac 
E. and M. A. (Priestj Yarbrough, of East- 
land county, Texas. Their family included 
the following named: James W. , Moses, 
William F. Charles Lee, Wiley O., Sabra 
C. , Francis, Joseph, Elisha, Joel and Elza, 
who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Byrd 
have two sons and two daughters: Francis 
Jehu, William Isaac, Joseph Robert and 
Mary Narcissa Maria. 

In his political adherency Mr. Byrd is a 
Populist, and in religious belief a Methodist. 
He takes an active interest in church work, 
having served as steward and trustee and 
also as superintendent of the Sunday-school. 
He is a man of intelligence, of broad and 
progressive views and gives a hearty indorse- 
ment to educational, religious and temper- 
ance movements and all other interests that 
have for their object the uplifting of human- 
ity. In manner he is frank and cordial, 
possessing the true southern hospitality 
characterizing the best people of the south, 
and in every way he is a very popular man. 



eD. R. STANLEY is one of the 
worthy farmers of Texas. Long- 
fellow wrote, "We judge ourselves 
by what we feel capable of doing, 
while others judge us by what we have al- 
ready done." If this golden sentence of the 
New England poet were universally applied 
many a man who is now looking down with 
haughty stare upon the noble toilers on land 
and sea, sneering at the cut of his neigh- 



752 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



bor's coat or the humbleness of his dwell- 
ing, would be voluntarily doing penance in 
sackcloth and ashes, at the end of which 
self-chastisement he would handle a spade, 
or, with pen in hand, burn the midnight oil 
in his study, in the endeavor to widen the 
bounds of liberty or to accelerate the ma- 
terial and spiritual progress of his race. A 
bright example of one of the world's work- 
ers is the man whose name introduces this 
review. The oldest industries, and those 
which have been the means of bringing 
prosperity and plenty to every nation that 
has been so blessed, he is now following, — 
for he is engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing in Comanche county. 

Mr. Stanley was born in Alabama, No- 
vember 22, 1844, a son of Andrew H. and 
Martha (Mose) Stanley. His father was 
born in Tennessee, and was a son of Na- 
thaniel Stanley, a native of North Carolina, 
who descended from the Puritan stock that 
early settled on American shores. The fam- 
ily has furnished many prominent repre- 
sentatives to the country, including General 
Stanley, of Revolutionary fame. The mother 
of our subject was born in Virginia, and be- 
longed to a leading family of that state. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Stanley were born fifteen 
children, eleven of whom reached years of 
maturity, namely: E. R. , William A., 
James M., Albert Sidney, Lewis Pinkney, 
Joseph Bolinger, Martha Frances, Susan, 
John W., Emmand and Walter. Four of 
the family died in early childhood, and Ann 
Eliza died at the age of ten years. The 
father was a farmer by occupation and spent 
his last days in Alabama. His political sup- 
port was given the Democracy. He held 
membership in the I^aptist church, in which 
he was a deacon and ordained minister, and 
was a most prominent Sunday-school worker, 



lecturing before many Sunday-school asso- 
ciations and in other ways laboring in this 
branch of the Lord's work. His wife, who 
died in Alabama, was a noble Christian 
woman, and was his able assistant in his 
work. 

Mr. Stanley, of this review, was reared 
on a farm and acquired his education in the 
public schools. In 1861 he enrolled his 
name as a member of the Sixteenth Ala- 
bama Infantry under Colonel U. B. Woods, 
and for four years followed the flag of the 
south. He participated in the hard-fought 
battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Farming- 
ton, Chickamauga, and at the last named 
was three times wounded by grape-shot, a 
ball striking him in the right thigh, the left 
side and the left heel, — all within fifteen 
minutes! He was then sent to the hospital, 
and afterward returned home on a three- 
months furlough. When he again joined 
the army he took part in the battle of Nash- 
ville, and on the close of the war he was 
paroled as second sergeant of Company B, 
Sixteenth Alabama Infantry. 

Mr. Stanley continued to make his home 
in Alabama until 1873, when he removed to 
Arkansas, living in Sebastian county, then 
in Norton and later in Woodruff county until 
1883, when he went to Brown county, Texas. 
His present farm comprises six hundred and 
eight acres of land. When it came into his 
possession a log cabin stood upon it, but he 
has since erected a comfortable stone resi- 
dence, at a cost of twenty-five hundred dol- 
lars, standing on a natural building site. 
He has placed one hundred and fifty acres 
of land under a high state of cultivation and 
has made his farm a very valuable property, 
owing to the man}' modern improvements 
he has placed upon it. 

When twenty-five years of age Mr. Stan- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



753 



ley was married, in Arkansas, to Miss Luella 
J. Hammond, a native of Alabama, and 
reared and educated in Arkansas. Nine 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Stanley, namely: Martha Esther, Hattie 
L., Ed Don, Dudley Monroe, William A., 
Anna, Grover, Berta Lee and Tabitha. Mr. 
Stanley is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, and in politics is a Democrat, having 
voted with that party since attaining his 
majority. He holds a membership in the 
Baptist church, and both he and his wife 
are very active in Sunday-school work. He 
has served as superintendent of the school, 
and is untiring in his efforts to instill into 
the minds of the young those lessons which 
shall serve as guides on life's journey and 
make them honored men and women. His 
life furnishes many examples that are worthy 
of emulation, and his sterling integrity and 
noble career, entirely free from ostentation, 
has won him the esteem of all with whom 
he has come in contact. 



m 



[LLIAM MOSES JOHNSON.— 
Occupying a representative posi- 
tion as identified with the ginning 
interests of Bibb, and also as one 
of Comanche county's farmers, stands the 
subject of this review, William Moses John- 
son. 

He is a native of Dallas county, Te.xas, 
born August lo, 1851. Thomas Nelson 
Johnson, his father, was by birth a Carolin- 
ian, born ill the Old North state, and a de- 
scendant of one of the first families that set- 
tled there. When quite young he went to 
Missouri, where he grew up on a frontier 
farm, whence at the age of si.xteen he came 
to Te.xas, stopping in Dallas county. In 
this state he wedded Miss Susan Snider, a 



native of Iowa and of German extraction, 
whose untimely death occurred when she 
was only twenty-seven years of age. She 
left three children, — William Moses, Albert 
and Francis Marion, the eldest, our subject, 
being six years old at the time he was de- 
prived of a mother's loving care. His fa- 
ther also died in the prime of life, he being 
forty-one at the time of death. His life had 
been -passed in farming and stock-raising, he 
was in politics a Democrat; and as an hon- 
orable and upright man he enjoyed the con- 
fidence and respect of the pioneer community 
in which his lot was cast. 

The son of a farmer and stock dealer, 
young Johnson, as he grew up became 
familiar with every detail connected with 
farm work and the care of stock, and his 
education was received in the common 
schools of his native county and in the dear 
school of experience, chiefly in the latter. 
In 1870, at the age of nineteen, he went to 
Hamilton county, where he then spent one 
year. The next year he was in Dallas 
county. That was followed by another 
year in Hamilton county; from there he 
went to Erath county, and subsequently he 
came from the latter place to Comanche 
county, with which he has ever since been 
identified. He has since 1892 maintained 
his home on his present farm, a tract located 
near Bibb and comprising one hundred and 
sixty acres, nicely improved with comfort- 
able residence, good barn and orchard, and 
having seventy acres of the land under cul- 
tivation. And while he is successfully car- 
rying on farming operations he gives his 
chief attention to his gin and mill, in which 
he does a good business and has gained an 
enviable reputation as a gin man. 

Mr. Johnson was married March 31, 
1869, to Rebecca Humphrey, a most estim- 



HISrORT OF TEXAS. 



able woman and a member of a good family, 
her parents being Horatio and Mary (Key) 
Humphrey. Mrs. Johnson is a native of 
Tennessee. Their children are: Mrs. Kox- 
ana Jackson, of Sidney, Te.xas; Thomas A., 
Charles W., Nora Josephine, Anta Custa, 
and Essie Pearl. Also they have two de- 
ceased: Warner William, who died at the 
age of one year, and an unnamed infant. 

Like his father before him, Mr. Johnson 
is a supporter of the Democratic party. 
Personally, he is frank and genial, is fair 
and square in all his business dealings, and 
has the happy faculty of making friends 
with all with whom he comes in contact. 



>Y»UDGE C. W. CARNES, one of 
C Comanche's most highly esteemed 
A 1 citizens and a pioneer of the county 
of 1858, comes of a family of brave 
pioneers and soldiers of Irish blood. He 
was born in Carroll county, Georgia, Jan- 
uary 6, 1832, descending from one of the 
heroes of the Revolution. His grandfather, 
Joseph Carnes, aided the colonies in their 
struggle for independence, and had one son, 
James, who was a soldier in the war of 18 12 
and was a major in the United States Army. 
Johii Carnes, father of our subject, was 
born in North Carolina and was reared in 
South Carolina and Georgia, living on his 
father's farm. He wedded Mary Small- 
wood, a native of Georgia and a daughter of 
J. Smallwood, who was of Dutch descent 
and belonged to one of the old families of 
Georgia. The town of Carnesville, Georgia, 
was named in honor of the family of which 
our subject is a representative. His parents 
had the following children, namely: David, 
Gene, Brooks, Shipley, Clinton V., C. W., 
Rachel, Elizabeth, Mary and Nancy. The 



father followed the occupation of farming 
and died in Polk county, Georgia, in 1857, 
at the age of si.xty-five years. In politics he 
was a Democrat. The mother came to 
Comanche county with her daughter, Nancy, 
and died at the age of sixty-five. She was 
a member of the Primitive Baptist church 
and was a sincere Christian woman, who 
had the regard of all. 

The subject of this review passed his 
youth at his parents' home and acquired his 
education through attendance on the public 
schools of the neighborhood and by private 
study. He also studied medicine, and when 
he had prepared himself for practice was 
thus engaged in Georgia from 185810 i860. 
During the war he joined the Confederate 
troops of Texas — which was noted for its 
valiant soldiers — and served until the close 
of hostilities, holding the rank of first lieu- 
tenant. He led his company in many a 
movement against the enemy, and was under 
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gid- 
dings, Colonel G. W. Carter and General 
Marmaduke. With his lieutenant colonel 
he was captured at the battle of Helena, 
and taken to St. Louis, where he was soon 
after exchanged and then returned to the 
service. 

When the war was over Mr. Carnes 
turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
developing a farm of one hundred and fifty- 
four acres on Rush creek. On selling that 
property he bought two hundred and ninety- 
four acres of rich bottom land lying along 
Savannah creek, and he now has one hun- 
dred acres under a high state of cultivation. 
He has upon the place three tenement 
houses and good buildings for the care of 
grain and stock. He also owns nineteen 
acres of land adjoining the old town of 
Donoton, which is also cultivable land. Hi§ 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



755 



land is particularly adapted for the produc- 
tion of vegetables and fruits of all kinds, 
and the fine crops which he raises, selling 
readily on the market for the highest prices 
given, afford him a good income. 

In May, 1872, was celebrated the mar- 
riage of Judge Carnes and Miss Eleanor 
Taylor, daughter of M. Taylor, who belonged 
to one of the prominent old Georgia families. 
They became parents of ten children, seven 
of whom are living, namely: Smallwood, 
Edna, Elizabeth, wife of John Rhodes, 
Shipley, Brooks, Mary and Thomas P. The 
other three children died in early life. 

In his political views the subject of this 
sketch is a Democrat. Before the war he 
served as county judge, discharging his 
duties with strict impartiality and in a man- 
ner that reflected credit upon himself and 
his constituents who chose him for the office. 
Judge Carnes is now sixty-four years of age, 
but is much younger in appearance and 
manner, and his genial, social disposition 
makes him very welcome to his many friends. 



>Y* C. BRANNAN, proprietor of a good 
^ farm of three hundred and twenty 
A 1 acres in Bosque county, is one of its 
most substantial and thrifty farmers 
and stock-raisers. He settled upon his pres- 
ent place in 1881, and from the uncultivated 
soil built up a valuable homestead, which 
will remain as a monument of his industry 
and enterprise for generations to come. He 
has been particularly wise in his investments 
and possesses e.xcellent business capacity, 
making the most of his opportunities, and 
all through the changes of a busy life and 
while laboring for his own interest has in 
no wise set aside the interests and well- 



being of the community around him. He 
has labored in common with other intelli- 
gent men of Bosque county to advance its 
interests, and make it a point of attraction 
for immigration and settlement. 

Tennessee, which has given so many of 
its sons to the building up of Texas, was 
the birthplace of our subject. He was born 
December 4, 1825, and is the son of Robert 
Brannan, a native of South Carolina. James 
Brannan, the paternal grandfather, was 
born near Dublin, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry, and was a Protestant. He wed- 
ded Elizabeth Hood, whose birth occurred 
in South Carolina. Her ancestors were 
from Ireland, and her brother, George Hood, 
aided the colonies in their struggle for in- 
dependence. 

Robert Brannan was united in marriage 
with Miss Elizabeth Carson, a native of 
Williamson county, Tennessee, and a daugh- 
ter of Thomas Carson, who was born in 
Virginia, and served as a soldier in the war 
of 1 81 2, under General Jackson. Nine 
children were born of this union: J. C, 
Thomas C, H. K., W. H., Willis, Robert, 
Molly, Henry and Albert. The mother 
died at the age of forty-four, and for his 
second wife the father chose Elizabeth 
Swann, by whom he had one daughter, — 
Rebecca. He was a farmer, a Democrat 
and member of the Baptist church, and died 
at the age of sixty years. 

Our subject was reared -on a farm and 
received a good education in his native 
state, where for a time he was successfully 
engaged in teaching after leaving school. 
He also carried on merchandising there for 
a number of years. On the 4th of Decem- 
ber, 1 86 1, he enlisted in the Forty-fourth 
Tennessee Infantry as a member of Company 
B, under Colonel McDonald, and was mus- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



tered in as private, but was soon promoted 
as quartermaster and later as captain, for 
gallant conduct and bravery on the field of 
battle. He led his company at Shiloh, 
where in making a charge he was wounded 
by aminie ball in the left arm, which 
caused him to resign his commission and 
return home. Later, however, while in 
company with some Confederate soldiers, 
he was taken prisoner, between Chatta- 
nooga and Nashville, Tennessee, and was 
sent to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was 
held for eleven months. 

Returning to his home in November, 
1864, Captain Brannan continued to reside 
in Tennessee until 1872, when he came to 
Te.xas, spending the first year in Red River 
county, but since that time has made his 
home in Bosque county. Most of his land 
is used for-pasture. the Little Bosque run- 
ning through the entire farm, making it an 
excellent place for stock-raising; but he also 
Jias eighty-five acres in high cultivation. 

On reaching his majority, Mr. Brannan 
was married, in Tennessee, August 9, 1846, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Martha J. 
Nichols, a most estimable lady, who has 
been a true wife and partner to her husband 
on life's journey. She was born in Jackson 
county, Alabama, June 4, 1826, and is the 
daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hedges) 
Nichols, who were the parents of the fol- 
lowing children : John, James, William, 
Polly, Joseph, Terry, Frank, Betsy, David, 
Martha J. and two who died in infancy. 
Their father was of Irish and English lin- 
eage and was the son of John Nichols, who 
served for seven years in the continental 
army during the war of the Revolution. 
Their mother died at the age of fifty-eight 
years, but he lived to be one hundred and 
ten! Both were active members of the Bap- 



tist church, and he was an ardent Democrat 
in politics. 

There came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Brannan nine children, six of whom are still 
living, namely: Sarah, Emily, Thomas, Will- 
iam, H. King and W. C. Elizabeth died at 
the age of si.xteen years, Ann at the age of 
thirty-three, and Albert C. ut the age of 
twenty-one. The parents are earnest and 
conscientious Christians, faithful members 
of tile Baptist church, and have gathered 
around them numbers of friends composed 
of the best people of the community, by 
whom they are held in universal respect. 



^VAMES M. FULTON.— Among the 
■ substantial and enterprising agricul- 

A 1 turists of Bosque county whose 
names are scattered through the 
pages of this volume, none are more worthy 
of mention than the gentleman whose name 
heads this brief biographical notice. A na- 
tive of Illinois, his birth occurred in Moul- 
trie county, August 12, 1841, and he is a 
son of Thomas Fulton, who was born in 
the blue-grass region of Kentucky, — noted 
for brave men, beautiful women and fine 
horses. 

On reaching manhood Thomas Fulton 
was married, in Kentucky, to Miss Patsy 
Hayes, also a native of that state, and to 
them were born eight children: Jane, Mar- 
garet, Elizabeth, John, William, Amelia, 
James W. and Patsy. When our subject 
was only three years old his mother died, 
and his father later wedded Elizabeth 
Fletcher, also of Kentucky, by whom he had 
six children: Zerrilda, Thomas, Amy, Isaac, 
Robert, and one that died in infancy. The 
father, who was one of the early settlers of 
Illinois, took part in the Black Hawk war. 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



757 



and as a life work chose farming, which he 
continued to follow until his death, at the 
age of seventy-five years. His political 
support was ever given the Democratic 
party, and he was a member of the United 
Brethren church. 

In his native state, James M. Fulton 
passed the days of his boyhood and youth 
upon the home farm, and there acquired a 
practical but rather limited education. At 
the age of twenty-three he was joined in 
wedlock with Miss Mildred Ann Humble, 
who has been a most faithful and devoted 
helpmeet to her husband. She was born 
near Louisville, Kentucky, and belonged to 
a good family, her parents being Paul and 
Mary (Criest) Humble. The father died in 
Illinois, but the mother passed away at the 
home of her daughter in Texas. The three 
brothers of Mrs. Fulton are Henry, who 
died in Fannin county, Texas, in 1895; 
Grondeson, of Stephens county, this state; 
and Oliver, of Dublin, Texas. 

Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Fulton 
emigrated to Texas by team and wagon, 
and at first located on the Dysit farm in 
Bosque county, which he operated for two 
years. He then purchased his present 
place, which is now considered one of the 
best farms in the locality. He has placed 
two hundred and fifty of his four hundred 
acres under a high state of cultivation and 
the land mostly lies in the Bosque valley. 
The soil is rich and very productive and yields 
a ready return for the care and labor ex- 
pended upon it. He makes a specialty of 
raising hogs and now has a fine drove of 
seventy-five head. His comfortable home is 
surrounded by an excellent orchard, good 
barn and other outbuildings, and the fields 
are all well fenced. 

Five children bless the union of Mr. 



Fulton and his most estimable wife, who in 
order of birih are as follows: Thomas, who 
is married and living in Bosque county; Sa- 
mantha Jane, wife of Jack Phillips, a rail- 
road man; John B. , who is a student in the 
college of Hillsboro, Texas; James W. and 
Nettie Elizabeth. The family occupies a 
prominent position in the esteem and confi- 
dence of the community, and the parents 
are both earnest members of the Christian 
church. In manner Mr. Fulton is frank 
and genial, and his sterling qualities com- 
mand the respect and confidence of all and 
have secured for him the high regard of a 
large circle of friends. During his resi- 
dence in Bosque county he has been num- 
bered among its valued citizens who have 
been devoted to the public welfare. 



eW. SANDERS, a thorough and 
skillful blacksmith, and a business 
man of more than ordinary capac- 
ity, is now living upon a one-hun- 
dred-and-fifteen-acre tract of land near Ire- 
dell, where he has a pleasant home and 
good orchard upon the place, and is also 
engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. 
Being an excellent workman, his shop se- 
cures a large share of the public patronage. 
He is recognized as an important factor in 
preserving the reputation of the county as 
one of the best in the state. 

Mr. Sanders was born in Oglethorpe 
county, Georgia, November 20, 1845, of 
English ancestry, and is the son of Arglus 
and Sally (Williams) Sanders, also natives 
of the same state, where they both died, at 
the age of sixty years. By trade his father 
was a carpenter, but he also engaged in 
farming. For many years he served as 
deacon in the Baptist church, of which he 



75S 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



was a devout member, and his wife was 
also a good Christian woman, who reared 
her children to " fear the Lord and "keep his 
commandments." In the family were eight 
children, two sons and six daughters. 

During early life, our subject early be- 
came familiar with agricultural pursuits upon 
the home farm, but his literary training was 
more meager. However, he learned readily, 
studied at home, and through travel and 
business has secured a practical education. 
He was reared in F"loyd county, Georgia, 
and though a mere boy when the civil war 
broke out he joined the Confederate forces, 
becoming a member of the First Georgia 
Cavalry, under Colonel Morrison, with 
which he served for three years, during 
which time he participated in the important 
battles of Richmond, Lookout Mountain 
and Kno.xville, Tennessee. At Murfrees- 
boro he was wounded in the left leg by a 
ball. 

\\'hen hostilities had ceased, Mr. San- 
ders went to Paulding county, Georgia, 
where at the age of twenty-three he married 
Miss Leander Moody, who belonged to one 
of the old and highly respected families of 
that state. Three years later he removed 
to Floyd county, the same state, where he 
remained until 1885, when he came to his 
present home. Eight children came to 
gladden the household, namely: Thomas 
Jeffer.son, John Green, Josephus, Ellen, 
Sarah Jane, Cassie Viola, Samuel Elijah 
and George Homer. The family is one of 
prominence in the community, where 
its members are widely and favorably known, 
and the oldest five are now married and lo- 
cated in homes of their own. 

Politically, Mr. Sanders is a stalwart 
Democrat. Himself, wife and six children 
hold a membership with the Baptist church, 



of which he is serving as deacon, and has 
ever been quite active and zealous in all 
church work, while socially he is connected 
with the Masonic lodge No. 405, F". &A. M., 
of Iredell. He is a man of unquestioned 
integrity, upright and honorable in all 
things, and his frank and cordial manner 
has gained him a host of warm friends. 



HNDREW JACKSON GLENN.— 
He whose name is at the head of 
this article, is distinctively one of 
the most progressive and foremost 
business men of Bluff Dale and Erath 
county, and has by his enterprise and ener- 
getic methods contributed in a material way 
to the advancement of the locality, and is 
regarded as a representative citizen in every 
sense of the term. Of keen discernment, 
he has in the course of an honorable busi- 
ness career been most successful in the en- 
terprises with which he has been concerned, 
and is well deserving of consideration in this 
connection. He is deserving of much credit 
for his success, for his childhood and youth 
were entirely without advantages of any 
kind. He well merits the proud American 
title, a "self-made man." 

Mr. Glenn was born on Cane creek, 
Pickens county. South Carolina, on the 15th 
of January, 18 17, and was left an orphan 
when eight years of age. He was then 
bound out and the next eight years of his 
life were filled with many hardships. He 
received little consideration from his em- 
ployer and at last he determined to run 
away. He went to the gold mines of Geor- 
gia, where he arrived without a cent. He 
accepted a position to work in the mines for 
the meager salary of six dollars and a half 
per month, but saved his earnings and after 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



759 



a year and a half he opened a small grocery 
store, continuing in the business for nine 
months, during which time he made five 
hundred and fifty dollars. On the ist of 
December, 1836, he entered the army un- 
der Captain William E. Doth and General 
Wool, serving one year. After a period of 
fifty-seven years he was granted a pension 
by the government of eight dollars per 
month. He was mustered out of the serv- 
ice November 30, 1837, and then pur- 
chased a plantation of one hundred and 
sixty acres in Gilmer county, Georgia, turn- 
ing his attention to farming and stock-rais- 
ing, which he carried on successfully for 
some years. He also established and oper- 
ated a tan-yard, and during the civil war he 
carried on the tannery in the interests of the 
Confederate government. His son, Andrew 
J., Jr., was captain of a company in the 
Twenty-third Georgia Infantry, which com- 
pany our subject clothed at his own expense. 
On the 3d day of May, while in his own 
home, he was captured by the federalists, 
and his stock and goods were all taken from 
the place and destroyed. He was sent to 
Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he remained 
until the 12th of May, 1865. While held 
within the Union lines he was not idle. He 
engaged in building houses on leased land 
and these he sold at a good profit, so that 
on his return home he was the po.ssessor of 
twenty-three hundred dollars. 

On reaching Georgia once more Mr. 
Glenn found that his slaves and stock were 
gone and that nothing was left to him of all 
the accumulations of many years; but with 
characteristic energy he began life anew. 
He rebuilt his tannery and in three years 
had made fifteen thousand dollars, which 
he brought with him to Texas in 1881, in- 
vesting the same in land in Hood, Bosque 



and Erath counties. He made his home at 
Bluff Dale and gave the railroad the right of 
way through three farms, also ten acres of 
land to locate the town of Bluff Dale. He 
has a landed property of twelve hundred 
acres, of which two hundred are under a high 
state of cultivation. 

Mr. Glenn was married on the 3d of De- 
cember, 1835, to Miss Lucinda Langandon, 
who was born in South Carolina and reared 
in Georgia. They were the parents of nine 
children, seven of whom lived to be grown, 
while four still survive Louisa became the 
wife of John Halden and died leaving six 
children; C. V. makes his home in Bosque; 
Captain A. J. died in 1865, in Richmond, 
Virginia, while in the service of the south 
during the civil war; Malinda became the 
wife of H. V. Sterns and died leaving one 
child; Clarissa Lucinda is the wife of Frank 
Harris, of Erath county; Milliam is the vvife 
of Joseph Pickett, of Bosque county; and 
J. W. makes his home in Glen Dale. 

The parents are members of the Mission- 
ary Baptist church, in which Mr. Glenn has 
held the office of deacon for sixteen years, 
and in the work of tjhe church they are very 
active. In politics he is a supporter of 
Democratic principles and into the myster- 
ies of the Masonic fraternity he was initiated 
in Alleghany, Georgia, in 1850. 



•"-r* ARS OLSON. — A considerable 

I i number of the leading and repre- 
[ ^ sentative citizens of Bosque coun- 
ty are of alien birth, and have 
transported to this land of fertility and 
plenty the thrifty habits of their native 
country. Among these there is no one 
that is better known or more widely re- 
spected than the gentleman whose name 



7G0 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



appears at the head of this sketch. He is 
an extensive farmer and stock-raiser now 
residing near Iredell. 

The birthplace of our subject was at 
Hede Marken, Norwaj-, where he first 
opened his eyes to the light on the 30th of 
October, 1830, and his parents, Ole and 
Carrie Olson, were also natives of Norway. 
In the family were ten children, four of 
whom are still living in their native land, 
and in that country the father died when 
Lars was seventeen years of age. 

Having received a good education, Mr. 
Olson of this review began teaching in Nor- 
way, but at the age of twenty resolved to 
seek his fortune on this side of the Atlantic, 
where he understood that better opportu- 
nities were afforded enterprising young men. 
At a southern port of Norway he took pass- 
age on a vessel bound for New Orleans, and 
on his arrival in that city went direct to 
Galveston, Texas. On foot he made his 
way to Kaufman county, where he worked 
on a farm until the civil war broke out, 
when, in 1862, he joined Company B of the 
Thirty-fifth Texas Cavalry, and did service 
in Arkansas and Louisiana. He participated 
in the battles of Prairie Grove, Mansfield, 
Louisiana, and Pleasant Hill. 

After the close of the war Mr. Olson lo- 
cated in Bosque county, near Clifton, where 
he improved a good farm, on which he re- 
mained until 1884, when he came to his 
present place of one hundred acres near 
Iredell. Here he has a substantial and 
comfortable home, furnished with excellent 
taste, and in keeping with it are the good 
outbuildings and the neat and thrifty ap- 
pearance of the place. He also owns three 
hundred acres near Cransfill's Gap, in the 
same county. 

Near Clifton was performed a wedding 



ceremony which united the destinies of Mr. 
Olson and Miss Mary Olson, also a native 
of Norway, and was eight years of age at 
the time of her arrival in America, where 
she was reared and eJucated. She is a 
daughter of James Olson, who died in 
Bosque county in 1894. Our subject and 
his wife have become the parents of nine 
children: August Leonard, a railroad man; 
Anna K. ; Knute J., of Iredell; James T. , a 
member of the drug firm of Cox & Olson, of 
the same place; John L. , who is attending 
school; Palmer L. and Louisa, at home; 
and two who died in infancy. The children 
have all been supplied with excellent school 
privileges, and the family hold a prominent 
place in the social circles of the community. 
Mr. Olson is an intelligent and enter- 
prising citizen who keeps fully abreast with 
the times, is straightforward and honorable 
in all business dealings, and has the respect 
and confidence of all with whom he comes 
in contact. In religious belief he is a 
Lutheran. 



^j'AMES WILSON McKENZIE, Sr.— 
m It is the pleasure of the biographer 
(%J at this point to direct attention to 
the life history of one whose identity 
with the Lone Star state covers four dec- 
ades, and who now occupies the important 
position of postmaster of Carlton, — James 
Wilson McKenzie, Sr. Before presenting a 
review of his own life we would look back 
over the record of his forefathers; for the 
life of no man can be correctly portrayed 
without some knowletlge of the ancestry 
from which he sprang. 

The McKenzies were many generations 
ago residents of Scotland. In the Scotch 
home, at the most remote period we are 



HISTORY OF TEXA^. 



7(51 



able to trace them, we find a family of eleven 
stalwart sons. About the year 1676 one of 
these sons emigrated to America, landed at 
Cape Hatteras, and from there went inland 
and made permanent settlement. He was 
the progenitor of the family of McKenzies 
in this country. The grandfather of our 
subject, Daniel McKenzie, moved to Pike 
county, Mississippi, in 18 ti, where the rest 
of his life was spent and where he died. He 
and his wife, whose maiden name was Lewis 
and whom lie wedded in Georgia, had a 
family as follows: James, a farmer, who 
lived and died in Mississippi; Susanna, wife 
of James Wolf, passed her life in Pike 
county, Mississippi; Eliza, who also married 
a Mr. Wolf, lived in Pike and Lawrence 
counties and died in the latter county; Alex- 
ander W., the father of our subject; Will- 
iam, who lived and died in Louisiana; Mar- 
tha, who never married; John Benjamin, 
who died in Walker county, Texas; and 
Emily C, wife of Elbert Kelly, is still living 
and a resident of Louisiana. Daniel Mc- 
Kenzie, the grandfather, had a brother 
David, who lived in Marion county, Mis- 
sissippi. 

Alexander W. McKenzie, the father of 
the gentleman whose name graces this arti- 
cle, was born in Pike county, Mississippi, 
November 19, 18 13. He was a man whose 
life was replete with great usefulness. At 
the age of twenty-five he became a minister 
in the Baptist church, and as long as he 
lived continued to preach the gospel, labor- 
ing both in Mississippi and on the frontier 
in Texas, and winning many souls for the 
Master. His first wife, ncc Albany Blount 
Carr, was born in Darlington district. South 
Carolina, June i, 181 1, daughter of Will- 
iam Carr, likewise a native of that state. 
The children born to them were ten in num- 



ber, five sons and five daughters. The 
daughters all reached maturity and married, 
but only two of the sons grew up, James 
W. , our subject, being the younger. Some 
time after the death of the mother of these 
children tne father married again, and was 
living with his second wife at the time of 
their removal to Texas, in 1856. It was 
November 30, 1856, that they left their old 
home in Mississippi and started for Galves- 
ton, Texas. Coming on through to Burle- 
son county, they selected a location seven 
miles from Independence, in a newly settled 
district, stock men being the principal set- 
tlers. There the father bought four hun- 
dred and forty acres of land, at one dollar 
per acre, and upon it resided until August of 
the following year, when he moved to 
Walker county. In 1859 he changed his 
residence to Galveston. He died in Walker 
county in November, j88i. He was a 
slaveholder for many years, and when he 
came to Texas brought three slaves with 
him. 

Having thus traced out the family his- 
tory of Mr. McKenzie, we turn now to his 
own life. James Wilson McKenzie was 
born in Lawrence county, Mississippi, No- 
vember 19, 1839. He accompanied his 
father and family to Texas in 1856, as above 
recorded, and remained with them until 
1859, when he left home and took up the 
burden of life on his own responsibility, 
working for a time in Walker county and 
later going to Madison county, where he 
cultivated land belonging to his father. 
During the war he made his home in Walk- 
er county, but afterward returned to Madi- 
son county and purchased land, one hundred 
and eleven acres at first, and other lands 
later, amounting in all to four hundred and 
thirty-six acres. He continued to reside in 



762 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Madison county till November, 1879. He 
was elected and served as the first sheriff of 
that county after the war, under the recon- 
struction regime. In 1879 he moved to 
Erath county and bought one hundred and 
six acres of land located half way between 
Dublin and Carlton, and December 6, 1889, 
he moved to Carlton, or, rather, to a farm 
near town, he having purchased one hundred 
and nine acres a mile and a half northeast 
of Carlton. On this place he maintained 
his home and carried on farming operations 
successfully until April, 1S93, at which 
time he mo\ed into the town. In May of 
that year he was made postmaster, and has 
since filled the office, performing its duties 
promptl}' and faithfull}- and rendering satis- 
faction to all parties concerned. Also, soon 
after this last move, he formed a partner- 
ship with Dr. J. H. Tull, started a drug 
and stationery store, and in this business is 
still interested. 

Mr. McKenzie was first married, Sep- 
tember 13, i860, to Mary Ann Miller, a na- 
tive of Yazoo county, Mississippi, born July 
8, 1845. But their happy married life was 
of brief duration, ending with her untimely 
death at HuntsviUe, Walker county, Texas, 
December 9, 1864. She left no children. 
November 21, 1866, in Madison county, 
Texas, was consummated Mr. McKenzie's 
marriage to Emeline Winn, daughter of 
Burwel! Green and Syrena (Spillers) Winn. 
She was born in Walker county, this state, 
September 30, 1848, and during the past 
thirty years has shared with him the vicissi- 
tudes of life. The names of their children 
in order of birth are as follows: Lauren 
Frances, John Alexander, James Wilson, 
Jr., Martha Ophelia and Mary Orelia 
(twins), Burwell Winn, Jackson Carter, 
Walter Hale, William Burton and Clara. 



The eldest daughter, Lauren Frances, born 
February 18, 1868, was married in 1886 to 
George Washington Johnson, and is now 
living in Erath county. They have one 
child, James Washington. John A. Mc- 
Kenzie is a farmer of Erath county. Martha 
Ophelia was married in 1893 to J. D. Up- 
ham and has one child, Ernest Hugh. Mr. 
and Mrs. Upham reside on a farm in this 
county. The other children of Mr. and 
Mrs. McKenzie are at home. 

Besides the offlces already referred to as 
having been filled by Mr. McKenzie, there is 
another, thai of justice of the peace, in 
which he served two terms, having been 
appointed to the office the first time and 
elected for the second term. Since June, 
1895, he has been a notary public. 

In the dark days of the civil war Mr. 
McKenzie was not slow to show his colors 
and prove himself a true southern man. 
He first enlisted in July, 1861, under 
Captain John Cleveland. However, at the 
time Captain Cleveland and his company 
went to the front in Virginia our subject was 
left behind on account of severe sickness, 
and subsequently he was discharged from 
! that command. March 25, 1862, he again 
I enlisted, this time as a member of Company 
j I, Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry, of which 
I X. B. De Bray was Colonel. In speaking 
[ of this, Mr. McKenzie saj's: "On being 
, made a regiment by having several com- 
panies of scouts attached to the battalion, 
General Hebert, who was in command of 
the Western Division of the department at 
the time, announced by special order that 
Samuel Boyd Davis was to be our colonel. 
The men stacked arms and refused to serve 
under any appointed officer, and were then 
allowed to select as their colonel X. B. 
De Bray, the choice being unanimous." 



BISTORT OP TEJ^AS. 



Mr. McKenzie served as high private, and 
operated principally on the coast of Texas. 
For two years he did picket duty between 
Texarkana and Orange. The winter of 
i863-4hespent near the mouth of the Trinity 
river, doing courier service, working about 
four hours every other day. His wife was 
with him at this time, his leisure was 
passed in hunting and fishing, and he refers 
to it now as one of the happiest periods of 
his life. His young wife, on the return to 
Huntsville, contracted her fatal illness. He 
nursed her through this sickness, and after 
her death rejoined his regiment at St. Augus- 
tine, Texas, January i. 1865; was made 
company clerk the same day. Shortly after- 
ward he was elected orderly sergeant, in 
which capacity he was retained until the 
close of the war. During his army life he 
wore out three good horses. 



^^AMES ADDISON ROWLAND, a 
m well known Snd successful manager 
p J of a cotton-gin and a farmer of no 
mean reputation, lives near the Carl- 
ton post-office, in Hamilton county, Texas. 
Our subject was born December 7, 1846, 
in Wake county. North Carolina, and was 
the son of James and Ann Bryan (Atkinson) 
Rowland. In the month of March, 1872, 
he came to Texas by way of Galveston and 
Austin, to Cornhill, Williamson county, 
where he settled on a farm of three hundred 
acres, and held his residence here until De- 
cember, 1S83, when the family moved to 
Hamilton county and purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of the Henry Fuller 
survey. Later on our subject bought 
another place of one hundred and seven 
acres adjoining the first purchase, and still 
later a third purchase of one hundred and 



twenty acres, brought his holdings of land 
up three hundred and eighty-seven acres, — 
an elegant and prosperous farm for any man. 

Mr. Rowland associated himself with 
Charles Smith in the summer of 1885, in 
the building of a cotton-gin of twenty bales' 
capacity. Mr. Smith sold out the next 
summer to his partner and J. S. McLean. 
Mr. McLean did not long remain in the bus- 
iness, but presently sold out his share to 
Daniel M. Hooland. This gentleman re- 
mained in the gin until June, 1895, when he 
sold his interest to his partner, and Mr. 
Rowland became the sole proprietor of the 
enterprise. It is an extensive affair for a 
rural neighborhood, and in a single season 
has packed as high as eleven hundred and 
thirty-eight bales for the cotton market. 
When the gin was first opened the cotton 
seed was regarded as mostly waste and was 
sold to sheep men, but since 1893 it has all 
been taken by the Dublin oil mill. 

Our subject was married December 6, 
1877, to Miss Martha Jane Walker, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Jefferson and Elvira (Cole) 
Walker. The names and birthdays of 
their children are here given: Anna Bryan, 
December 16, 1878; Herbert Ora, Decem- 
ber 12, 1880; Andrew James, December 18, 
1882; and Hat tie Atkins, October 18, 1888. 
He has been a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church since his fourteenth year. 
He is a Democrat in his political affilia- 
tions. In common with thousands of others 
our subject has had a military experience, 
which on account of his extreme 30uth did 
not involve much actual service in the field. 
He was a seventeen -year-old boy conscript 
and was enrolled in the first regiment of the 
North Carolina Reserve in May, 1864, but 
did no fighting in the field. 

James Rowland, the father of our sub- 



7C4 



til STORY OF TEXAS. 



ject, died Jul)' 31, 1S86. He was born No- 
vember 24, 1 8 10, in Wake county, North 
Carolina, and died, as appears from this 
statement, at the age of seventy-six. The 
mother of our subject was born February 
24, 1806, in Cumberland county of the 
same state, and died at the advanced age of 
eighty-one. She was themotherof these chil- 
dren: Anna Jane, born December 12, 1838, 
married William Henry Holland, and died 
November26, 1871. Mary Elizabeth, born 
November 21, 1840, and has been twice 
married, to lea Matthews, who died July 
1 1, 1884, and is now the wife of Asa Waller. 
Sarah Frances, born February 22, 1843, 
died August 5. 1876, and was married to 
J. Walker. Edith Isabella was a mere in- 
fant when she died, leaving her life story to 
be told in these two phrases: Born April 
2, 1845, and died December 9, 1846. Her 
next child was the subject of this writing. 
He was followed by two boys, who died in 
the year of their birth: Lewis Henry, March 
23, and August 20, 1S49; Archibald Alex- 
ander, May 25, 1851, and died September 3. 
1851. The parents of our subject were mar- 
ried May lo, 1836. His mother was twice 
married, her first husband being Call Mc- 
Lean, by whom she had two children: John 
Alexander, who was born June 14, 1829, and 
died June 27, 1891, Mary Ann Rowland be- 
ing his wife. Richard A., the second child, 
was born July 22, 1831, and died October 
14, of the same year. 

The grandfather of our subject died 
shortly before the latter was born. He had 
the following named children: Bennett, 
Isaac, James, William Ira. Mary, Louisa 
and Sarah. The family is of Scotch nativ- 
ity, and have the genuine Scotch charac- 
teristics of sturdy manhood and rugged 
honesty. 



^y^R. FRANCIS MARION CARL- 
I 1 TON, of Carlton, Texas, is thegen- 
J^^_y tleman in honor of whom this 
town was named. As such it is 
of specific importance that biographical men- 
tion be accorded him in this volume, and we 
are pleased to here present the following 
sketch: 

Dr. Carlton traces his ancestry back to 
the Emerald Isle. His grandfather Carlton 
was born in Ireland, came to America in 
early life and lived for many years in the 
south, his death occurring in Georgia at an 
advanced age, when the Doctor was about 
fifteen years old. One of the sons of this 
worthy sire was Jack Carlton, of Atlanta, 
who served through the war, was a promi- 
nent Georgia politician and state senator, 
and who accidentally shot himself. Another 
son, Benjamin, was a respected citizen of 
Georgia, as also was James, the Doctor's 
father. James Carlton was born in North 
Carolina, where his father had first settled 
on coming to this country; was married in 
Georgia to Miss Mary Jane Aiken, a daugh- 
ter of Hilliard Aiken. Grandfather Aiken 
died in Mississippi. Of his children other 
than Mrs. Carlton we record that Isom was 
for years a resident of Bell county, Texas; 
Rhoda was the wife of Oliver Nelson, of 
Mississippi; and Amanda, wife of John 
Spence, was a resident of Texas. James 
Carlton and wife had eight children, — four 
sons and four daughters. In 1834 the par- 
ents left Georgia and moved to Cherokee 
county, Alabama, where they resided on a 
farm until 1841, removing thence to Ita- 
wamba county, Mississippi. In 1859 the 
father came to Texas, bringing with him two 
of the children, Samuel and Ellen, and lo- 
cating in Rusk county. Subsequently he 
returned to Arkansas, where his wife had 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



("65 



died in 1853, and there he continued his 
residence until 1877, when he came back to 
Texas, and from that time until his death in 
1884 he made his home with the Doctor. 

Francis Marion Carlton was born in 
Coweta county, Georgia, April 5, 1831. He 
remained a member of the home circle until 
his twenty-second year, after which he 
started out on his own responsibility and 
for a time was employed in farm work. In 
1854 he took up the study of medicine, with 
Dr. R. E. Burton of Carrollton, Mississippi, 
as his preceptor. In 1856 and 1857 he at- 
attended lectures at the Memphis Medical 
College. After this he began the practice of 
medicine in Mississippi, and at the same 
time ran a small farm with hired help, re- 
maining there until 1861. That year here- 
moved to White county, Arkansas, where 
he farmed and practiced his profession till 
January, 1 876, at that time coming to Texas. 
His first year in this state was spent in 
Coryell county. About the middle of No- 
vember, 1876, he moved to Hamilton 
county and bought one hundred and sixty 
acres of land of Zachariah Taylor. This 
tract was originally surveyed for E. A. Bol- 
ton, but the patent was made out to Dr. 
Carlton. A part of the farm is now in 
Carlton township. The greater part of the 
town site of Carlton was patented to J. M. 
Evans. At the time Dr. Carlton took pos- 
session of his land its only improvements 
consisted of a small log cabin and ten acres 
of land that had been broken. He soon 
had one hundred acres under cultivation 
and subsequently purchased an adjoining 
one hundred and sixty acres, sixty of which 
he improved, forty having already been 
under cultivation. He has disposed of all 
this land except one hundred and twenty 
acres. The little cabin served for his home 



a few months, or until he built his residence, 
which was in 1877. In 1880, in partner- 
ship with Mr. Henry Hendricks, he started 
a general store, and after three years they 
discontinued business. In 1886 we find the 
Doctor disposing of his Texas property and 
removing to Yoncalla, Douglas county, 
Oregon. The Lone Star state, however, 
still had its charms for him, and after a year 
spent in the far west he returned to Carlton, 
took back his property and has since made 
this place his home. It was in the fall of 
1877 that the citizens here organized their 
village, and, as already stated, named it 
Carlton. 

During the war, in April, 1862, Dr. 
Carlton enlisted in the southern army, at 
first in cavalry service and afterward being 
dismounted. At the end of four months he 
was discharged and returned to Arkansas to 
do medical service, being the only physician 
in his section of the country. 

He was married August 4, 1852, to Miss 
Mary Jane Williams, a native of Alabama, 
born December 23, 1836, daughter of Sprat- 
ley and Elizabeth Williams. The children 
of this union are as follows: Susan Fidelity, 
born June 25, 1854, died September 7, 
I S 56; Georgia, born July 26, 1855, died Oc- 
tober 2, 1855; Robert Burton, born Novem- 
ber 18, 1856, died May 16, 1857; George 
Morrow, born September 14, 1858; James 
Spratley born March 31, i860; Benjamin 
Hardy, September 2, 1862; Dell, March 16, 
1864, died July 6, 1893; Ed, September i, 
1866; Robert Nicholas, October 7, 1870; 
Thomas, October 7, 1873; John Rufus, De- 
cember 10, 1875; and Evans, August 3, 
1878. 

In religious, political and fraternal circles 
Dr. Carlton has ever proved himself a valued 
factor, enthusiastic in whatever he under- 



Hisronr of texas. 



takes. He has been a devoted and consist- 
ent member of the Missionary Baptist church 
siiice 1849. Politically, he was a Demo- 
crat until 1890, since which time he has 
cast his vote and iniluence with the Popu- 
lists. While in Arkansas he served as dele- 
gate to the State Democratic convention. 
He was made a member of the Masonic 
order in Center Hill Lodge, No. 114, Arkan- 
sas, in 1862, and for eight years was master 
of that lodge. He served seven years as 
master of Carlton Lodge, No. 519, of which 
he is a charter member. Also while in Ar- 
kansas he was initiated into the mysteries of 
Oddfellowship, but has never affiliated with 
this order since his removal from that state. 



>^AMES ERVIN WELCH, a promi- 
fl nent farmer, near Carlton post-office, 
A J Hamilton county, Texas, was born 
February 17, 1848, in Mississippi 
county, Missouri, his parents being James 
and Elizabeth (Blocker) Welch. At the 
age of eighteen he began working for wages 
and continued in this way until he was 
twenty-two. About this time the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas railroad was being built 
and attracted into its service many of the 
most active and energetic young men of the 
new south. Among them was found our 
subject, who was associated with a party of 
engineers in Missouri and Indian Territory 
for something more than a year. In Octo- 
ber, 1874, he entered Texas and located in 
Marshall county, and spent a winter in a 
sawmill on the Texas & Pacific railroad. 
For two years he was connected with the 
bridge department of this railroad. He 
then transferred his services to the "Sunset 
Route." In Comanche county he took up 
one hundred and sixty acres of school land, 



which he held for a short time, and sold 
out in 1882 at a handsome profit. In June, 
18S3, he moved his family into Hamilton 
county, and while the agricultural possibili- 
ties of his farm seemed promising there 
were as yet no improvements, with the ex- 
ception of the clearing of five acres. They 
lived at first in a small box house, the pres- 
ent handsome and commodious farm house 
not being erected until 1892. Mr. Welch 
has worked hard on this farm, and now has 
over one hundred acres in high cultivation. 

Our subject was married February 13, 
1878, to Miss Susan, daughter of G. W. 
and Susan (Walker) Roberts, and is now the 
father of Chase Edwards, who was born 
January 5, 1879, and is still at home; Mar- 
cus Lee, October iS, 1880; Maggie Bell, 
April 9, 1884; Georgia Celia, December 20, 
1887; and Ervine Duval, September 7, 1891. 
Mrs. Welch was born August 27, 1855, in 
Cleburne county , Alabama. The father of 
our subject died in 1866, aged fifty-three 
years. He first saw the light in Tennessee, 
and was married in Missouri. His children 
were John, Nancy, Elizabeth, Celia, Re- 
becca, Jasper, Sarah and our subject. He 
was married a second time to Miss Emeline 
Williams, who has borne him seven chil- 
dren: Joshua, Eliza, Gatza, William, Jacob, 
Clay and an infant girl. The grandfather 
of our subject was Elijah Welch. 

Mr. Welch, the subject of this sketch, 
has been a member of the Missionary Bap- 
tist cnurch for many years, and is regarded 
as a creditable and helpful member of that 
organization. Politically he is a Democrat, 
and is highly esteemed by his neighbors as 
a good citizen and a man of honor. He is 
also a Mason of considerable standing, 
having been initiated into the order by 
Wolf Island Lodge in the spring of 1869, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



767 



in Mississippi county, Missouri, and is now 
a member of Carlton Lodge. He is also 
associated with the Knights of Honor at 
Hico. 



©EORGE WASHINGTON TABOR, 
a furniture dealer of Hico, Texas, 
and one of the earl}' settlers of this 
part of the state, was born in Scott 
county, Mississippi, July 12, 1838, his par- 
ents being William Washington and Susan 
Elizabeth (McGee) Tabor. He lived in the 
county of his nativity until 1S41, when he 
accompanied his parents on their removal 
to Houston, Texas. He then went to 
Grimes county, then a part of Montgomery 
county, and after two or three years passed 
there the family returned to Mississippi. In 
1846 our subject went with his parents to 
Mobile county, Alabama, and in 1858 he 
took up his abode in Chambers county, 
Texas, whence he went to Galveston, Texas, 
where he was living at the time the civil war 
was inaugurated. 

Mr. Tabor enlisted in the Confederate 
service as a member of Ashville Smith's 
company, of the Second Texas Regiment. 
He enlisted with young Sam Houston, and 
after ten months was transferred to Com- 
pany G, Tenth Texas Infantry, with which 
he was connected until hostilities had ceased. 
Soon after entering the service he went to 
Arkansas and participated in the battle of 
Arkansas Post, where he was captured and 
sent to Fort Douglas. In the spring he was 
exchanged and joined Bragg's army, with 
which he continued until May 27, 1S64, 
when he was wounded at New Hope Church, 
Georgia, the ball entering the wrist. 

When the war was ended Mr. Tabor 
went to Austin county, Texas, where his 



mother was then living, and in September, 
1869, he opened a store in Coryell county, 
Texas, where he remained for a year. On 
the expiration of that period he went to 
Valley Mills, Bosque county, where also he 
spent a year, after which he hved for ten 
years in Duffau, Erath county. He came 
to Hico, Hamilton county, in November, 
1 88 1, and established a general store, which 
he conducted for a year. On the 15th of 
May, 1895, he opened his furniture store, 
which he still maintains, and in that line is 
enjoying a good trade, his liberal patronage 
adding materially to his income. He erected 
the store building in which he is now lo- 
cated, and also put up two other business 
houses, which were destroyed by lire at the 
time of the burning of the town, March 6, 
1 891. His residence was erected in 18S2. 
Mr. Tabor was married in August, 1868, 
to Margaret Malinda Wood, daughter of 
John D. and Annie (Inman) Wood. Their 
children are William Woodson, Lula, John 
W., Ira Nathan, Laura and Cora. They 
have a pleasant home in Hico, and are 
numbered among its most highly esteemed 
residents. In politics Mr. Tabor is a Demo- 
crat. Seventeen years ago he joined Ire- 
dell Lodge, F. & A. M., and is now a mem- 
ber of Hico Lodge of Masons. In 1873 he 
joined the Odd Fellows Lodge at Stephen- 
ville, and is now a member of the Knights 
of Honor. 



eLIAS L. DEATON.— More than 
fift\' years a resident within the 
Texas border, an active participant 
in many of the stirring events 
which mark the early history of the Lone 
Star state, one of the few remaining Indian 



768 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



fighters of the frontier, and an authority on 
these subjects, this worthy pioneer, Elias 
L. Deaton, now living retired in Carlton, is 
one to whose biography the writer reverts 
with no little satisfaction. 

Elias L. Deaton was born on a farm in 
McNairy county, Tennessee, August 4, 
1833, son of John and Catharine (Stewart) 
Deaton. That same year shortly after his 
birth, the family removed to Henderson 
county, Tennessee, and a year later to Fay- 
ette county, Mississippi, where their home 
was maintained until their removal to 
Texas. They emigrated to Texas in 1843, 
crossing the Red river at the mouth of Pine 
creek, Lamar county, on the 25th of March. 
The emigrant party consisted of the parents 
of our subject; H. H. Deaton, wife and 
child; Stephen Jennings, who married Bar- 
bara Deaton; and the other Deaton children, 
— Thomas, Elias L. , Calvin S., Delilah, 
Rachel, Esther, Martha and Sarah. These 
all remained in Lamar county until after 
they had made a corn crop. Their grain 
gathered, they removed to Rains county 
and located on the Sabine river, that being 
in the month of September. There the 
father of our subject, as a member of the 
Mercer colony, received land to the amount 
of six hundred and forty acres, and there 
he passed the remainder of his life and 
died. 

At the time of their emigration to Texas, 
Elias L. was a boy of ten years. He re- 
mained with the home folks in Rains 
county until the spring of 1852, and as a 
matter of course having but few advantages 
in his youth. Of advantages, however, he 
thought little then, enjoying as he did the 
novelties and adventures of the frontier. 
After leaving home in 1852, he remained a 
short time in Rains county and worked for 



wages. Next he went to Fort Gates, Cory- 
ell county, and secured employment on the 
farm of Judge Tyler, and later drove a team 
hauling supplies for the government. Judge 
Tyler being the contractor. Subsequently 
we find Elias L. and his brother Thomas in 
charge of cattle belonging to the Judge, in 
Bell county, and in 1855 ''^^y moved the 
stock for him to Comanche county. Our 
subject's next employer was Mr. Isaac Will- 
iams, for whom he herded cattle until 1857. 
About this time, having taken a pre-emption 
claim to one hundred and sixty acres, near 
the town of Comanche, he made a home on 
it and settled down to farming and stock- 
raising for himself. At the time the civil 
war broke out he had six hundred head of 
cattle, all of which were stolen by the In- 
dians. The unsettled condition of the coun- 
try and the danger from the red men at that 
time made it necessary for him to move his 
family into town, which he did, while he 
entered the frontier service. Early recog- 
nized as a man of more than ordinary 
strength of character and courage, he be- 
came a leader among the early settlers, and 
when he went out in the frontier service it 
was as captain of a company; before his re- 
turn he was promoted to the rank of first 
lieutenant. While he lost all his cattle, as 
stated above, Mr. Deaton managed to keep 
up his ranch during the war period. 

At the close of the war the whole coun- 
try was in a most unsettled state here. Cat- 
tle thieves were numerous, and there was 
no end to their work. Men who had lost 
cattle would go out and herd and drive home 
any stock they could find to the amount of 
what they had lost, and sometimes they 
took more than had been lost by them. It 
was a "grab game:" the strongest and most 
dishonest came out ahead. Although one 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



of the most successful Indian fighters, and 
a man who was thoroughly prepared to 
rough it and hold his own in such a game, 
Mr. Deaton determined not to join in it. 
He had a family of boys who were then in 
their 'teens and he did not care to start them 
in life on such a career, as they would neces- 
sarily have been called to the help of the 
father. So he abandoned his cattle, settled 
up his business in Comanche county, and 
moved to Clifton, Bosque county. Two 
months later he went to Gaudalupe county, 
where he cultivated a crop, and after a year 
spent in that county again sought a change 
of location, next going to Travis county and 
purchasing one hundred acres six miles from 
Austin. This land he improved and on it 
made his home six years. Again thinking 
to improve his condition by a change of lo- 
cation, he came to Hamilton county and 
purchased one hundred and twenty acres of 
land on Honey creek, this being a portion 
of the \V. B. Caleb survey, and bought by 
Mr. Deaton of J. J. Duncan. He has since 
increased this by additional purchase to 
about two hundred acres. Here he lived 
from November i6, 1S75, until November 
12, 1895, when he moved to Carlton, where 
he has since lived retired, having his farm 
rented. 

From the migration of the Deaton fam- 
ily into Texas we passed on rapidly to the 
history of our immediate subject, following 
him through the different localities in which 
he sojourned, and at this point we turn 
back for further account of his parentage. 
The Deatons are of Scotch origin. Grand- 
father Deaton, whose name it is thought 
was Thomas, emigrated from Scotland to 
this country, accompanied hither by two 
brothers, all settling in North Carolina. 
John Deaton, our subject's father, was born 



in La Fayette county, North Carolina; was 
married in his native state, and some years 
later, with his wife and several children, 
removed to McNairy county, Tennessee. 
At the time of his death, which occurred in 
1858, and in Rains county, Texas, as stated 
above, he was sixty-four years of age. Per- 
sonally, he was a man of fine physique, 
weighed one hundred and seventy pounds 
and measured nearly six feet, and his whole 
bearing was that of a gentleman. While a 
farmer all his life, he devoted his closing 
years chiefly to the work of the ministry, 
and was known and welcomed as one of the 
leading Baptist preachers of the frontier. 
Politically, he was a supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party and its principles. The mother 
of our subject died in the spring of 1844, 
aged about sixty-three years. Of the chil- 
dren of this worthy couple, we make an 
epitomized record as follows: Philip, who 
died in Arkansas in 1S79, left a family; 
Branson married and settled in Tennessee 
and never came west; Prety married a Mr. 
Stewart and located in Tennessee; Dana 
likewise married and settled in Tennessee; 
Barbara, wife of Stephen Jennings, died in 
Hopkins, Texas; Esther, wife of a Mr. 
McClintock, came to Texas a short time be- 
fore her death ; Martha, who married Isaac 
Lea, died in Falls county, Texas; Delilah, 
wife of James McBride, died in Hopkins 
county, Texas; Elizabeth married Mr. Stew- 
art and lived in Tennessee; the tenth born, 
a daughter, died in early life; Hiram High- 
tower and Thomas, both men of families, 
died in Hopkins county, Texas, the latter a 
man of considerable prominence, having 
served two years as sheriff of Comanche 
county, and the same length of time in the 
same office in Hamilton county; Elias L. 
was the fourteenth in order of birth; and 



710 



HISrORT OF TEXAS. 



the j-ounfjest, John Calvin, is a resident of 
Erath county, near Gordon. 

EHas L. Deaton was first married Oc- 
tober 25, 1856, to Mary Emily Wright, 
daughter of John F. and Una (Wheeler) 
Wright. She was born in Kentucky, Oc- 
tober 2, 1832, and died March 4, 1880. 
Following are the names of their children: 
William Douglas, born October 3, 1857. 
He was married in the fall of 1880 to Miss 
Ludy Oats, and is now a resident of Lewis- 
town, Fergus county, Montana. He served 
as sheriff of that county for some time but 
at this writing is engaged in the stock busi- 
ness; Thomas Jarvis, born January 2, i860, 
was a young man of ability and bright 
promises, and serving as deputy. sheriff un- 
der A. P. Shockly, sheriff of Hamilton 
county, at the time he met his death. 
While attempting to arrest a desperado, 
known as Jim Jones, at Fairy, Hamilton 
county, December 8, 1893, young Deaton 
was shot by Jones and instantly killed, the 
murderer making his escape and thus far 
avoiding apprehension, although every pos- 
sible effort has been made to secure his 
arrest; David Calvin, born April 20, 1865, 
was married in January, 1894, to Miss 
Georgia Webb, and is engaged in che livery 
business in Lewistown, Montana; Joseph, 
born February 19, 1867, died May 22, 1870; 
Mary Emily, born November 13, 1870, was 
married in October, 1888, to J. E. Arnold, 
a descendant of Benedict Arnold, and they 
are living in Ellis county, Texas; Kate 
Catharine, born June 11, 1873, is the wife 
of W'aldon J. Henderson, and resides on 
Honey creek, in Hamilton county. The 
subject of our sketch married for his second 
wife, July 18, 1880, Mrs. Harriet Olivin 
McCarty, widow of James Wesley McCarty 
and daughter of Amasa and Elizabeth (Har- 



mon) Nelson. Mrs. Deaton was born May 
20, 1832, in Greene county, Alabama; was 
married to Mr. McCarty May 23, 1850, and 
following are the children of their union: 
Mary Elizabeth, born February 15, 1851, 
died October 18, 1S94; John Amasa, born 
July 24, 1852, died July 12, 1883; Henry 
Wallace, February 2, 1855, is a resident of 
Comanche county, Texas; Emma Catharine, 
born April 10, i860, is a widow and a resi- 
dent of Hamilton county, her husband, who 
was a member of the Twenty-seventh Ala- 
bama Infantry, having been killed during 
the last year of the late war; and James 
Franklin, born March 26, 1863, died Sep- 
tember 6, 1869. Mrs. Deaton dates her 
arrival in Texas in February, 1877. 

For nearly twenty years Mr. Deaton has 
been a consistent member of the Baptist 
church, and for some time a deacon in the 
church. When the Grangers flourished 
here he was identified with that order. 
Early in life he espoused the principles of 
the party with which his father had always 
affiliated, and remained a stanch Democrat 
until two years ago, when he became a Pop- 
ulist. On changing his political views, he 
felt called upon to let the people know why 
and where he stood. This he did by out- 
lining his political creed as follows: 

" First, that all civil officers of the gov- 
ernment be elected by a direct vote of the 
people. 

"Second, that any officer so elected 
may be removed by a two-thirds vote of 
those who elected him, and that his suc- 
cessor be elected by a majority vote. 

"Third, that the veto and appointive 
power be taken from the president of the 
United States and governors of states and 
placed in the hands of the people. 

" Fourth, that congress alone be allowed 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



71 



to propose a general law, and the people 
ratify or reject it." 

And these principles Mr. Deaton defends 
at length with able argument, which we 
have not space for here. He is naturally 
well qualified for the position of leader or 
presiding officer, and in the various meet- 
ings held in the county he is, when present, 
usually honored with election to the chair. 

As stated above, Mr. Deaton is one of 
the few remaining Indian fighters of the 
Texas frontier. Possibly no one living is 
better posted than he in regard to Indian 
raids and massacres in this section. He is 
the author of a work entitled ' ' Indian Fights 
on Texas Frontier," it being a " history of 
exciting encounters had with Indians in 
Hamilton, Comanche, Brown, Erath and 
adjoining counties." This work is published 
by C. M. Boynton, is in paniplet form and 
sells at fifty cents per copy. Many exploits 
and encounters he relates were those in 
which he was personally engaged. The 
accuracy and care shown in collecting and 
editing the work is indeed to be commended, 
and the stamp of truth is plainly visible in 
every incident related. It is the author's 
purpose to revise and enlarge this work at 
no distant day. 



aORNELIUS MAJORS O'NEAL, a 
retired farmer of Dublin, Texas, is 
one of the oldest and most re- 
spected citizens of Erath county. 
Like many of the prominent early settlers 
of this state, he came here from Tennessee. 
Mr. O'Neal was born in McNairy county, 
Tennessee, October 15, 1832, son of George 
Washington and Mary (Majors) O'Neal, the 
former of Irish and the latter of Welsh de- 
scent. The O'Neals, however, have for 



many years been residents of America. 
Grandfather Robert O'Neal was born on the 
ocean, or shortly after their arrival in this 
country, and the first home he ever knew 
was in Virginia. Subsequently the family 
removed to east Tennessee and later to the 
western part of that state. In the early 
part of 1843 George Washington O'Neal 
started with his family for Texas. In Ar- 
kansas he left them for a short time while 
he came on horseback alone to what was to 
be their new home, his choice of location 
being in Franklin county, formerly Red 
River county, and to this place he brought 
his family in February. Cornelius M. was 
then a small boy. He remained with his 
parents in Franklin county until 1856, when 
he went to Hunt county, this state, and en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising, remain- 
ing there until November, 1858. At that 
date he took up his abode on Cow creek, 
eight miles west of Dublin. 

The winter of 1858-9 was one long to 
be remembered by the early settlers of this 
part of Texas on account of danger from 
the Indians. In order to secure mutual 
protection the few settlers came close to- 
gether. The O'Neal family was reunited, 
and they together with the family of Will- 
iam Keith, about twenty souls in all, spent 
the winter at what has since been known as 
Dublin. Here they purchased land, in 
seven-acre tracts, from James Tucker, and 
here the subject of our sketch has ever since 
maintained his residence. The town was 
named by Mr. O'Neal's father. His Irish 
ingenuity was quick to use the name Dublin, 
he no doubt thinking at the same time of 
the town of that name in the old country 
and the fact of their having to " double up " 
here in order to protect themselves from the 
raids of the red men. Soon other settlers 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



joined them and in time a prosperous town 
grew up. 

The following summer occurred the mar- 
riage of Mr. O'Neal to a daughter of Will- 
iam Keith, the date of that event being July 
4, 1859, at a place four miles north of Dub- 
lin. Mrs. Sarah Eveline O'Neal is likewise 
a native of Tennessee, and was born June 
28, 1839. Her mother's maiden name was 
Nancy King. While Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal 
have had no children of their own, they 
have reared two adopted children. 

During the dark days of the late war Mr. 
O'Neal was not one to shirk duty or avoid 
responsibility. A southern man and true to 
the institutions of the south, he entered the 
Confederate army in July, 1862, as a mem- 
ber of Company G, Thirtieth Texas Cavalry, 
and remained in the service until the close 
of the war. At the time of the surrender 
he was at home on furlough. He has long 
been a member of the Masonic order and is 
a charter member of the Dublin Lodge. 
Recently he united with the Baptist church. 
Thus briefly is outlined the life history of a 
worthy citizen of Erath county, one in ev- 
ery way entitled to the high esteem in which 
he is held by all who know him. 



■>T-' OHN MEEIv is one of the very oldest 
■ citizens in the entire state of Texas. 
nj He has witnessed almost the entire 
passing of a century, living through 
every presidential administration since the 
time Thomas Jefferson was the chief execu- 
tive of the nation. He has witnessed the 
introduction of the railroad, of steam nav- 
igation and the many inventions which have 
revolutionized trade, and to-day he lives to 
see the completeness of man's work in this 
last decade of the century, when the west is 



peopled with a contented, prosperous peo- 
ple enjoying all the advantages of the cast, 
and when the old world acknowledges that 
it has a formidable rival in the new. Ninety- 
one years have come and gone since he first 
opened his eyes to the light of day, yet he is 
now a well preserved old man, possessing a 
vigor that enables him to superintend his 
own farm. 

John Meek was born in Mecklenburg 
county. North Carolina, on the 26th of No- 
vember, 1805, a son of Josiah and Mary 
Margaret (Edmundson) Meek. His father 
was also a native of North Carolina and a 
son tjf Moses Meek, who came from the 
Emerald Isle to America in colonial days 
and aided the colonies in their struggle to 
throw off the yoke of British tyranny, re- 
maining with the army until the desired re- 
sult was obtained. The maternal grand- 
father of our subject was also one of the 
heroes of the Revolution. In 1806 Josiah 
Meek removed with his family to Tennessee, 
locating in Dickon county, which was then 
situated almost beyond the pale of civiliza- 
tion. 

Upon the frontier farm at his parental 
home John Meek was reared to manhood, 
sharing with the family in all the experiences 
and hardships of pioneer life. The father 
died in 1821 and the mother passed away 
when about sixty years of age. They had a 
family of eight children, four sons and four 
daughters, three of whom are still living. 

When Mr. Meek of this sketch, had ar- 
rived at years of maturity he chose as a com- 
panion and helpmeet on life's journey Miss 
Mahala Tidwell, a native of Tennessee and 
a daughter of Edmund Tidwell, who had re- 
moved to Tennessee from South Carolina. 
The marriage of our subject and his wife 
was celebrated November 30, 1831, and 



msrour of Texas. 



773 



they began their domestic life upon a Ten- 
nessee farm where they Hved until their em- 
igration to Texas in 1847. Mr. Meek pur- 
chased a partially improved farm in Upshur 
county, and later removed to Collin county, 
where he lived until i86[, when he took up 
his abode in Erath county, living in Stephen- 
ville for three years. On the expiration of 
that period he settled on his present farm 
and from time to time has purchased land 
until his possessions now aggregate eleven 
hundred and fifty acres, of which three hun- 
dred and seventy-five acres are under a high 
state of cultivation, yielding to him a hand- 
some income. He yet superintends the man- 
agement of his property and displays a vigor 
and energy that are not often possessed by a 
man who has passed the seventieth milestone 
on life's journey, while he has almost 
reached the century post. 

Mr. Meek lost his first wife in 1851 and 
afterward married Elizabeth Freeman, who 
died two years later. He afterward mar- 
ried Mrs. Byron, who is now also deceased. 
He had ten children, eight daughters and 
two sons, namely: Orlenia, wife of Benjamin 
Earp, of Erath county; Rachel, widow of 
Eutis Brooks; C. C, who is living in Galves- 
ton county, Texas; C. J., also of Galveston 
county; Caroline, wife of James Wood, of 
Kent county; Charlotte, deceased wife of R. 
V. Bull; Margaret, wife of M. S. Elbridge; 
Eugene, wife of William Graham; Arte- 
mesia, wife of W. A. Yone, of Pomona, 
California; and Elizabeth, wife of Samuel 
King, of Morgan Mill, Texas. The first 
nine children were born of the first mar- 
riage, the others of the second marriage of 
Mr. Meek, and he now has one hundred and 
forty direct descendants. 

Our subject is a valued citizen, actively 
interested in all that pertains to the progress 



and upbuilding of the county in which he 
lives, and has served in a number of official 
positions. While in Tennessee he was con- 
stable, in Erath county was elected and ac- 
ceptably served as county clerk, while in 
Collin county he was magistrate. He was 
one of the first commissioners of Hood 
county and assisted in the organization of 
the county and the location of the county 
seat. In fact he has been a prominent 
factor in public affairs in this locality, and 
his co-operation has been given to all 
measures calculated to prove of public ben- 
efit. In his political views he is a Demo- 
crat and his religious convictions connect 
him with the Christian church. 



,.>^EV. JOHN R. NORTHCUTT, 
1^^ Dublin, Texas. — This gentleman, 
M . P to whose life history we now turn, 
stands conspicuously forward as 
one of the first settlers of his locality and 
as one who has been closely identified with 
the physical, moral and religious develop- 
ment of the country. He is distinctively a 
pioneer. His parents and grandparents be- 
fore him were pioneers; their history shows 
a succession of migrations and a people 
occupying leading and representative posi- 
tions in the various frontier settlements in 
which they cast their lots. The biography, 
therefore, of our subject is of special inter- 
est in this connection. 

John R. Northcutt was born in Tennes- 
see, January 21, 18 14, and when a child was 
taken by his parents to Georgia, where he 
was reared in frontier settlements and with 
no other educational advantages than the 
primitive schools of the community afforded. 
His parents were Alexander and Lucy (Rob- 



774 



HISTORY OF TEXAS, 



iiison) Northcntt, the former a native of the 
Old Dominion and the hitler of North Caro- 
lina. 

The Northcutts arc of Scotch origin. 
The grandfather of our snbjcct came to this 
country from Scotland at a date prior to 
the Revolutionary war and made settlement 
in Virginia, where he resided a number of 
years. He left his wife and three little sons 
there while he joined the army and fought 
for independence. Returning home on a 
furlough, he found his wife had died and his 
little ones were scattered, and while at home 
he suffered much abuse at the hands of the 
Tories. He shortly after went back to the 
army, and continued in the service until the 
war closed. Subsequently he married again, 
and by his second wife had two children, — 
a son and a daughter, — the son being 
Ale.xander, the father of our subject. When 
Alexander was a youth of sixteen the fam- 
ily moved to Georgia, and there the Revo- 
lutionary veteran passed the residue of his 
life and died. Alexander Northcntt married 
and moved to Tennessee, and a few 3'ears 
later, when a treaty was made with the In- 
dians, he returned to Georgia and located 
in Jasper county, where he was a prominent 
pioneer. While in Tennessee he served in 
the war of 1812. He was in the battle of 
Talladega, and also the Horse Shoe battle, 
the latter in the Creek war. After the 
treaty had been made with the Indians and 
another new territory opened, he moved 
west to the Ocmulgee river and pioneered 
again, opening up a farm and taking the 
lead in the new settlement. But even there 
he was not satisfied. The spirit of emigra- 
tion again seized him, and his next migra- 
tion was to Campbell county, on the Chatta- 
hoochee river, where he settled among the 
Creek Indians and opened another farm. 



His next and last move was after the Chero- 
kee purchase, when he selected a location 
in Cobb county. There, with the aid of 
his sons, he reclaimed from nature his last 
farm, and there the stalwart pioneer passed 
his closing years and died. Both he and 
his wife were members of the Primitive Bap- 
tist church. When the church was divided 
he left it, while his wife went with the Mis- 
sionary church and remained a consistent 
and devoted member of the same until her 
death. Captain Northcutt, as that worthy 
pioneer was called, earned the title during 
his military service. He filled various po- 
sitions of trust and prominence in the dif- 
ferent localities where he had his abiding 
place, was public-spirited, frank and gener- 
ous, and was as highly respected as he was 
well known. 

From this succinct review of our subject's 
paternal ancestry we pass now to some men- 
tion of the Robinsons, his mother's people. 
John Robinson, his grandfather, was a 
wealthy farmer and slaveholder of Georgia, 
and died there. His son Luke, an uncle of 
Mr. Northcutt. was a noted Primitive Bap- 
tist preacher in Georgia for over forty years; 
and John Robinson, a brother of Luke, dis- 
tinguished himself as a member of the 
Georgia legislature, where he served twenty- 
two terms, at the end of that time refusing 
to serve longer on account of his age. He 
was a very wealthy man, an owner of many 
slaves, and was well known and greatly es- 
teemed throughout Georgia. J. J. Robin- 
son, the youngest son, was a lawyer of 
marked ability. He came to Texas about 
1826 and located in Sabine county, where 
he remained through life, and where he died 
during the late war. He never married. 
He accumulated a large amount of wealth, 
and at one time was the owner of many 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



slaves. He, however, had given all his 
slaves their freedom before the war came on. 

The children born to Alexander and 
Lucy Northcutt numbered twelve, their 
names in order of birth being herewith 
given: Elizabeth, Nancy, William, John R. , 
Elijah, Alford, Jesse, Alexander, Luke, Lucy, 
Frances and James. 

John R. Northcutt remained with his 
father, moving about from one frontier 
settlement to another as above recorded, 
until April 5, 1835, when, having attained 
his majority a short time before, he lei't the 
parental shelter and started out to make 
his own way in the world, with no assistance 
and with nothing to lose and all to gain. 
After changing his location once or twice, 
he settled in the Cherokee Indian country 
before the Indians had been moved from 
that section, and in Chattahoochee county 
bought land and made a farm. For nine 
years he made that place his home. Then 
he returned to Cobb county, where he fol- 
lowed farming and merchandising until Jan- 
uary, 1 85 3, at that date removing to Alabama, 
maintaining his residence in Alabama sixteen 
years, until his removal to Texas in 1868. 
In 1851 he was converted and joined the 
Missionary Baptist church. Soon afterward 
he began to take an active part in church 
work, his interest never flagged, and after 
his return from a hard service in the late 
war he was ordained a minister and dedica- 
ted his life to the service of the Lord. His 
first regular charge was Pine Grove, where 
he served as pastor until his removal to 
this state. Before proceeding to his life 
in Texas, we would revert briefly to his 
army experience. 

In 1 86 1, at the very beginning of the 
war, Mr. Northcutt raised a company, and 
as its captain marched to the front. There 



were few, if any, companies in the south- 
ern army that were composed of braver, 
truer men, or commanded by a braver cap- 
tain than this. They made some long, 
hard marches, including one beyond Mobile, 
and were participants in the battle of Cor- 
inth. Ill that noted battle this company 
lost in killed and wounded about one-half 
its number, among the latter being the cap- 
tain who received a bullet wound in his 
right thigh, the bone being badly fractured. 
As a result of this wound he was a great 
sufferer for six months. He at once re- 
signed his commission and returned home, 
and it was immediately after his recovery 
that he was ordained for the ministry. After 
this he took no further part in the war. 

On coming to Texas in 1868, Mr. North- 
cutt stopped first on the Brazos river in 
Hood county, where he remained two years 
before deciding upon a permanent location. 
In 1869 he bought a section of wild land in 
Erath county, and to this place he moved 
in December of the following year. Here 
he developed a farm and in this same lo- 
cality he still lives. Some five or six fami- 
lies were already settled within a few miles 
of the land he purchased, but he was the 
pioneer of the immediate vicinity. Stephen- 
ville was for some time the nearest trading 
and milling place. He sent to the Brazos 
for his first bread-stuff, and he recalls having 
paid as high as one dollar and twenty-five 
cents peFbushel for corn. As soon as pos- 
sible he brought his land under cultivation, 
and all these years he has been more or 
less interested in farming, raising some 
stock too, not, however, making a specialty 
of the stock business. From time to time 
he assisted his sons in obtaining land near 
him, and of recent years he has divided his 
holdings with his children, until now of his 



776 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



original six hundred and forty acres he re- 
tains only one hundred and sixty, this in- 
cluding the family residence. 

But farming was only a "pot-boiler" 
with him. While he carried forward the 
improvement of his land and cultivated his 
crops of grain, he was at the same time at 
work in other fields, sowing other seed. 
During his sojourn in Hood county he 
preached some twenty m'les from home, at 
a church called Kimble. After his removal 
to Erath county he at first preached wher- 
ever opportunity offered. The pulpit of 
Round Grove, the church nearest his home, 
was then filled bj' Brother Ross. Mr. 
Northcutt preached in different churches, 
near and far, going whenever and wherever 
called and allowing nothing to hinder him 
from his appointments. He helped to or- 
ganize Zion Hill church, and occupied its 
pulpit two years. Next, he helped to or- 
ganize Rock Dale church, where he pro- 
claimed the gospel at regular intervals for a 
period of five or six years; also assisted in 
the organization of the Flat Creek church, 
and preached there two years. Later he 
went to Green Creek, and there he at first 
preached under the trees, the result being 
an organized church, over which he served 
as pastor four years. He organized Wal- 
nut Creek church and was its regulr min- 
ister four years. Also he organized Cop- 
eras Creek church, where he served an- 
other four years as pastor. The last 
church he helped to organize was at the 
head of Barton's creek, but he never offi- 
ciated as regular pastor there. His last 
charge was at Live Oak church, which 
he filled four years, and since then, on 
account of the infirmities of age, has not 
been in active work, preaching only oc- 
casionally, where invited. F"or a number 



of years Mr. Northcutt belonged to the 
Bosque association, of which he served as 
moderator two years. With the develop- 
ment of the country this organization grew 
until it was necessary for a division and 
eleven churches withdrew from it, forming 
what has since been known as the Comanche 
association, of which Mr. Northcutt is a 
member. His long service in the ministry 
has ever been characterized by devotion to 
the cause. His own experience in the vari- 
ous new settlements where he lived from 
time to time early gave him an intimate 
knowledge of the needs of frontier people; 
and this knowledge, together with his ear- 
nest desire to benefit mankind and honor 
God, has made him a power for good. As 
an organizer of churches and an expounder 
of the gospel, he has exerted an influence 
here in Texas that can be measured only by 
eternity. 

In conclusion, we would speak of Mr. 
Northcutt's domestic relations. For more 
than half a century he was blessed with the 
companionship and loving devotion of one of 
the truest and best of wives, death separa- 
ting the aged couple April 23, 1886, when 
the wife and mother was summoned to her 
last home. Mr. Northcutt was married in 
his youth to Miss Annie Dorsett, a native 
of South Carolina, born January 21, 1821, 
daughter of Elijah and Anna Dorsett, both 
natives of that state. Her father was a 
prominent farmer and died in Georgia. A 
brother of Mrs. Northcutt, Elijah Dorsett, 
came to Texas at an early day and became 
prominent in Houston county, where at one 
time he served as county sheriff. He died 
in Crockett. As the years passed by sons 
and daughters to the number of fourteen 
were given to Mr. and Mrs. Northcutt. 
Three of these children died in infancy and 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



Til 



eleven grew up to occupy respected and use- 
ful positions in society. Briefly, their re- 
cord is as follows: Elijah, who was killed 
in the battle of Chickamauga; Charlotta, 
who has been twice married, first to a Mr. 
Ganes, who was killed in the late war, her 
present husband being I. S. Mason, whom 
she wedded after coming to Texas; John R., 
who died at the age of twenty-eight years, 
left a wife and two children; William M., a 
resident of Dublin, Texas; Alford and Jesse, 
twins, both farmers of Erath county; Luke, 
a farmer of this county, died and left a wife 
and five children; F. P., deceased, left a 
widow and four children; Thomas E., de- 
ceased, left a widow and five children; Emma 
E. is the wife of A. Jones, a farmer; and 
Robert, also a farmer. Mr. Noithcutt now 
makes his home with his son Jesse. 



@EORGE C. McDERMOTT.— This 
gentleman is to be individually con- 
sidered as one of the representa- 
tive citizens and farmers of Erath 
county and also as a representative of one 
of the pioneer families of the Lone Star 
state, of which he is a native. He was 
born in Hill county, June 4, 1852, son of 
Thomas and Deborah (Smith) McDermott, 
the former a native of Pennsylvania and the 
latter of Illinois. 

Thomas McDermott moved with his par- 
ents from Pennsylvania to Tennessee at an 
early day, remained with them there until 
he grew up and then, about 1845. left the 
parental home and started out to make his 
own way in the world. It was then that he 
came to Texas. In Bowie county he so- 
journed until the following year, when he 
enlisted for service in the Mexican war. He 
was a participant in all the battles com- 



manded by General Taylor. At the close 
of the war he returned to Texas, a veteran 
and a victor, and soon afterward was mar- 
ried and established his home on a farm 
which he bought. For some years he had 
his farming operations carried on and he 
himself engaged in freighting, hauling 
freight with ox teams from Houston to the 
interior towns. Thus was he occupied when 
the civil war broke out. He enlisted in 
1 86 1 in the Confederate service and went 
to the front, leaving his family on the farm. 
He was with the forces that operated in 
Louisiana and Arkansas, was on duty 
throughout the war and saw much hard serv- 
ice, escaping, however, both capture and 
serious wounds. At the close of that san- 
guinary struggle he returned to Texas. 
Since then he has made his home in Erath 
county. He continued freighting while it 
was profitable, handled stock to some ex- 
tent, and lastly devoted his attention to ag- 
ricultural pursuits, he having bought land in 
this county. His children grew up, married 
and scattered, and in 1893 his wife died, and 
since then he sold his farm and retired from 
active work. He now makes his home 
among his children. In many respects his 
life has been an eventful one. From boy- 
hood his home has been on the frontier; he 
is a veteran of two wars, he has lived out 
his threescore years and ten, and is now en- 
titled to the rest and comfort which he en- 
joys. All these years he has been a stanch 
Democrat. He never aspired to official 
honors, but he was elected county commis- 
sioner and served as such with credit to him- 
self and also to the county, and in all public 
matters he took a laudable interest. His 
wife was a member of the Baptist church. 
Of their family of nine children we make 
brief record as follows: William, a resi- 



HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 



dent of Callahan county; Cora, wife of D. 
Arnold, a farmer; George C. , whose name 
forms the heading of this sketch; Charles, 
Coleman county, this state; Hugh, Crosby 
county, Texas; Mary, wife of A. Davis, of 
Erath county; Frank, Eastland county, 
Texas; Samuel, a livery man of Hico, 
Texas; and Josephine, who died when 
young. 

George C. McDermott was reared in 
this state, and while his frontier home was 
without school advantages he has acquired 
through his own efforts a practical educa- 
tion which has enabled him to successfully 
conduct his own business affairs. At the 
time of his marriage, which was when he 
was twenty-two years of age, he left the 
parental home and settled at his present 
location, and here he has since resided, with 
the exception of seven or eight years when 
he left the farm in order to afford his chil- 
dren better educational advantages. He 
now owns about five hundred acres of fine 
prairie land, all under fence, and one hun- 
dred and eighty-five acres in a good state of 
cultivation, most of it rented. His build- 
ings and other improvements here are all 
first-class. Also he owns a ranch in East- 
land county. Formerly he was largely 
interested in the stock business, buying, 
trading and shipping, and he is yet some- 
what of a trader. At his home place he 
raises only enough stock for the support of 
his farm. 

Mr. McDermott, in October, 1874, wed- 
ded Mrs. Luhama Longacre, a widow with 
six children. She is a daughter of Jesse 
Caraway, a native of North Carolina, who 
went to Tennessee in early life, and in 1859 
came to Texas, locating on the Paluxy, 
where he spent the rest of his life and 
where he died, in May, 1893. During the 



war he served on the home guard, and on 
one occasion, while in battle with the In- 
dians, received an arrow shot through his 
shoulder blade. His widow survives him, 
is now seventy-four years of age, and still 
resides at the old homestead. She is a 
devoted Ciiristian and faithful member of 
the Methodist church, as also was her 
worthy husband. Ten children constituted 
their family, namely: Louis, Adeline, Bry- 
ant, Luhama, Adam, John, Nancy A., 
Amanda, Archie and William H. All grew 
up and married, and the children, grand- 
children and great-grandchildren now num- 
ber one hundred and fifteen. The six chil- 
dren of Mrs. McDermott by her first mar- 
riage are Mary E., wife of George Huster; 
Martha J., wife of James Crawford; Robert 
E., Thomas J., John C. and Benjamin F. 
Mr. and Mrs. McDermott have three chil- 
dren, — William E., Delia and Alice. 

Politically Mr. McDermott is a Demo- 
crat. Mrs. McDermott is a member of the 
Christian church. 



St 



ELTON HUMBERSON.— A res- 
ident of Texas from his childhood 
and for the past twenty-odd years 
identified with the agricultural 
interests of Erath county, and figuring as 
one of its representative citizens, Welton 
Humberson is one whose life history should 
be reviewed in this work; and to this re- 
view the writer would now direct attention. 
Welton Humberson looks to Alabama 
as the place of his nativity, his birth having 
occurred there March 25, 1837. When he 
was about five years old he was brought to 
Texas by his parents, Alexander and Fran- 
ces (Winn) Humberson, both natives of 
Alabama. Alexander Humberson, on his 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



77^ 



emigration to this state, — or, rather, to this 
republic, for that was about i S42 and be- 
fore Texas had been admitted into the 
Union, — located in Leon county, where he 
improved several farms, and where he died 
August 31, 1895, at the advanced age of 
eighty-three years. He did not, however, 
confine his operations wholly to farming. 
Early in life he was in a mercantile business; 
and at one time he embarked in the cattle 
business, took a large herd of cattle to a 
western range and remained with them 
about three years. Returning to Leon 
county he opened up a grocery business and 
conducted it for a time. Later he retired, 
spent some time in traveling in Colorado, 
and finally returned again to his home in 
Leon county, where he died as above re- 
corded. He wife passed away in 1861. 
Their religious belief was that of universal 
salvation. Their family was composed of 
twelve children, ten of whom attained to 
adult age, namely: Welton, whose name 
graces this article; Amanda, wife of \V. A. 
Scott; Lavina, wife of James Marshall; 
Wade F. , who died soon after the close of 
the war; Francis M., a resident of Madison 
county, Texas; Thomas J., who died some- 
where in the west; George, a resident of 
Leon county; Martha J., wife of William 
Whitton; Adeline, wife of James Sterling; 
the tenth and eleventh born died when 
young; and John H., a resident of Colorado. 
The subject of our sketch, like most men 
who grew up on the Texas frontier, had but 
few advantages for obtaining an education. 
His training was all received from his father. 
At seventeen } oung Humberson left home 
and went west in the employ of a cattle 
rancher, and after his return home engaged 
in freighting, in which he was occupied four 
years. During the war he was detailed un- 



der Kirby Smith to hunt up and drive beef 
cattle, was placed at the head of a foraging 
outfit, and rendered service in this way until 
the close of the war: then he resumed freight- 
ing. He hauled freight from Houston for 
four years, up to the time of his marriage, 
when he bought a farm in Leon county and 
settled down to the quiet agricultural pur- 
suits. On that farm he remained from 1869 
until 1873. when he sold out and came to 
Erath county. There was then but little 
land on the market in Erath county. He 
purchased his present farm, later found that 
his title to it was not good and purchased it 
again. He built a house, made other im- 
provements and spent considerable time and 
some means in getting his land under culti- 
vation, and after all this found that still his 
title was not valid. He was sued on the 
title, lost the suit, and a third time had to 
pay for his place or give it up. He paid 
the price and has since held undisputed pos- 
session. This farm comprises two hundred 
and eighty acres, sixty of which are under 
cultivation. Mr. Humberson has always 
been a lover of fine horses, has given con- 
siderable attention to them, and has at 
different times been the owner of some good 
race-horses. The Indians have been in this 
county since he settled here but he has 
never experienced any trouble with them. 

Mr. Humberson was united in marriage 
in 1869 to Miss Frances A. Simpson, a na- 
tive of Louisiana, the date of her birth 
being June 17, 185 1. Her father, A. J. 
Simpson, a native of Alabama, moved from 
there to Louisiana, and about 1856 came to 
Texas, settling first in Navarro county, in 
i860 removing to Leon county, and subse- 
quently to Llano county. In these various 
locations he followed the vocation of a 
farmer. He died in Llano county. He was 



780 



HISTORY OF TEXAS 



twice married am] had a larj^e mitiiber of 
children, ten by his first wife and four by 
the second. The members composing the 
first family, of which Mrs. Humberson is 
one, are as follows: David, Frances A., 
Hohn and William (twins), Martha J., 
Nasha A., James D., Samuel, Ned and An- 
drew J. Mr. and Mrs. Humberson have 
been blessed in the birth of ten children, 
four of whom died in infancy; those living 
are Martha, James L., Hinchie W., Birtie 
L. , John and Mirtie, and all are at home 
except the eldest daughter, Martha, who is 
the wife of H. F. Havin, a farmer and 
teacher. 

Mr. Humberson was for many years a 
loyal member of the Democratic party; but 
"new times demand new measures and 
new means," and he left the Democratic 
ranks to affiliate with the third party, and 
recently has become an uncompromising 
Populist. He is not, however, an office- 
seeker, nor has he ever had even aspirations 
for official preferment. Mrs. Humberson is 
a member of the Christian cliurch. 



HDAM A LACKEY, who figures as 
one of the respected farmers of 
Erath county, Texas, and who has 
occupied his present location since 
1890, is a native of Alabama, born in Talla- 
poosa county July 4, 1849. His parents, 
Thomas J. and Sarah A. (Saxon) Lackey, 
were born in Tennessee and Georgia re- 
spectively, and with their parents removed 
to Alabama when that state was considered 
the frontier. Thomas J. Lackey is a son of 
Adam A. Lackey, a native of North Caro- 
lina, who moved west to Tennessee at a 
very early day and made his home in the 



wilds and among the Indians. As the conn- 
try around him became settled up he was 
again a victim of the emigration " fever," 
and this time sought a home in Alabama, 
where he became a prominent farmer and 
leading citizen. He was a zealous member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a 
Royal Arch Mason, and such was his whole 
life that none knew him biit to honor and 
respect him. He settled in Alabama while 
the Indians were still numerous there, was 
a prominent factor in developing the re- 
sources of the country, and lived to see the 
marvelous change which has been wrought 
in this last quarter of the century. He 
died about 1891, after having passed his 
ninetieth milepost. 

The father of our subject was reared and 
married in Alabama, and has all his life fol- 
lowed the quiet pursuits of the farm. He 
took no part in the late war. In 1878 he 
moved to Texas and settled first in Coryell 
county. Subsequently he removed to Erath 
county and settled on the farm he still owns 
and occupies. Both he and his wife are 
members of the Methodist church, and he 
is a Master Mason. To them were born 
ten children, four of whom died young, the 
others being as follows: .^dam A., the sub- 
ject of this article; Nancy J., wife of .J. S. 
Roden, of this county; H. C , a popular and 
prosperous young man of Texarkana, Texas, 
who died there in August, 18S1 ; and Daniel 
W. , James L. and John E., at home. 

Adam A. Lackey was reared to manhood 
on his father's farm in Alabama, with the 
advantages of the common schools only, 
and at the age of twenty left home to take 
a position as clerk in a store. He clerked 
and also collected taxes for his employer, 
and on quitting this service returned home. 
October 16, 1873, he purchased a small 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



rsi 



farm in Alabama, settled on it at once, and 
the next six years devoted his energies to 
its cultivation. Then in 1879 he came to 
Texas and located in Coryell county, where 
he followed farming on rented land until 
1890, the time of his removal to Erath 
county. In 1895 he purchased his present 
farm, two hundred acres in the vicinity of 
Duffau, his land being partly under cultiva- 
tion and having good buildings at the time 
of purchase. He now cultivates about fifty 
acres. 

Mr. Lackey was married in Alabama to 
Miss Sarah V. Ryan, a native of Georgia, 
born May 3, 1851, daughter of Thomas and 
Lucinda Ryan. Her father was a native of 
the Emerald Isle, was by trade a cabinet- 
maker, but later in life was a farmer, and 
died in Alabama in 1889. His widow sur- 
vives him and resides at the old home in 
Alabama. Their family comprised eight 
children, namely: Albert M. and William 
T. , both of .Alabama; Mrs. Lackey, John S. 
and Hiram A., also of Alabama; Napoleon 
B., who died when 30ung; Malvina, wife of 
E. V. Ritchey, Erath county, Texas; and 
Isaac N., of Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lackey have been blessed in the birth of 
eight children, viz. : Alonzo T. , Anderson 
E., Oscar N., Henry C, James M., Deffa 
L. , John and Lucinda L. All are at home 
except the eldest son, who is a farmer of 
this county. 

Like his grandparents and parents before 
him, Mr. Lackey has embraced the religion 
of Christ as taught by the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, and in this he is joined by his 
companion, she, too, having been reared by 
Methodist parents. Also in politics, as well 
as religion, he agrees with his father, both 
being stanch Republicans, but without any 
aspirations for official preference. 



>Tr*AMES L. HAYES.—Among the en- 
m terprising and well-to-do agricultur- 
A 1 ists of Comanche county who are 
identified with its material interests, 
is the gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch. He was born in Alabama, Septem- 
ber 26, 1835, and was reared on the farm 
of his parents, Madison T. and Malinda 
(McLaughlin) Hayes, also natives of that 
state, where they were married. His grand- 
father, James Hayes, was born in Tennes- 
see, and there married Susan Tanksley. 
Later he removed to Alabama, where he be- 
came a prominent farmer and respected citi- 
zen. Religiously, he was a member of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church. 

In Alabama, Madison T. Hayes was 
reared to the honest pursuit of farming, 
which he always continued to follow, and 
became one of the leading agriculturists and 
slave owners in his locality. He died in 
Alabama, at the advanced age of ninety 
years. Himself and wife held a member- 
ship in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
in which for many years he served as elder. 
They had eleven children, of whom our sub- 
ject was the only one to come to Texas. 
They are as follows: Mrs. Margaret Fow- 
ler; Susan, who has been a second time 
married; James L. ; Mary, who first wedded 
a Mr. Thurston, but is now Mrs. Houston; 
Mrs. Sarah Moxley, Mrs. Matilda J. Cald- 
well, Mrs. Eliza Lawson, Mrs. Julia Moxley, 
John M. and Thomas. 

In his native state our subject obtained 
his education, and remained with his father 
until twenty-three years of age, being mar- 
ried in 1858 to Miss Mary Blassingann, who 
was born in northern Alabama, in May, 
I 841. and is a daughter of Jesse and Mary 
(Walker) Blassingann, who died in that 
state. She w^as the fourth in order of birth 



782 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



in a family of ten children, the others being 
Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, Mrs. Adelaide Ice, 
Mrs. Sarah Elrod, Mrs. Sophronia Ealy, 
Mrs. Diana Harrison, Mrs. Missouri Ward, 
Gust, Joe and William. Fourteen children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes: 
Polly, wife of A. H. Cox, of Comanche 
county; Emma, deceased wife of J. E. Man- 
ning; Ann E. , widow of P. G. Cox; William 
T. and James M., of Comanche county; 
Sudie, wife of W. H. Lester, of Indian 
Territory; Diana, wife of W. S. Cox; Newt 
W. ; Emmett; Cordelia, wife of J. C. Dan- 
iels, of Erath county; Victoria, wife of J. C. 
Neel; Dolly, Jesse and Lewis, all at home. 
The sons and sons-in-law are all farmers. 

In 1862 Mr. Hayes joined the Confed- 
erate service, enlisting in the Thirtieth Ala- 
bama Infantry, Harding's corps, Stephen- 
son's division, of the Army of the Tennessee, 
with which he remained until the close of 
the war. He was in many skirmishes and 
hard-fought battles, including the siege of 
Vicksburg, where all surrendered and were 
soon paroled. After a thirty-days leave of 
absence our subject rejoined his command, 
and took part in the battle of Lookout 
mountain. He was slightly wounded, but 
was always able to be at his post of duty, 
and was with his regiment at Bentonville, 
North Carolina, the last engagement of the 
war. After Lee's surrender he returned 
home. 

Joining his wife and three children, Mr. 
Hayes began life anew with no capital, and 
engaged in farming in Alabama until 1869, 
when he sold out and came to Texas. After 
looking around for a time he decided to 
locate in Bell county, where he raised two 
crops upon rented land. In 1870, in con- 
nection with another gentleman, he pur- 
chased a lot of cattle and started for Cali- 



fornia, taking his family with him. On 
reaching the Green river they found that 
they could not proceed further, and he 
therefore disposed of his stock and returned 
by way of Denver. In that city he bought 
an outfit and came across the country to 
Texas, again locating in Bell county, -where 
in 1872 he purchased land. After cultivat- 
ing that farm until 1883 he disposed of the 
same and came to Comanche county, where 
he has since made his home. To his origi- 
nal purchase of three hundred and four 
acres he added one hundred and eighty-five 
acres, and later one hundred acres. He 
still owns four hundred acres, sixty-five of 
which are under a high system of cultiva- 
tion and improved with a commodious frame 
dwelling, good and substantial outbuildings, 
a windmill and orchard. It is one of the 
most desirable farms of the locality, situated 
one mile from Farmers' Chapel, and its neat 
and thrifty appearance indicates the owner 
to be one of the most wide-awake, ener- 
getic and progressive farmers of Comanche 
county. 

Becoming dissatisfied with the Demo- 
cratic party, which he had always supported, 
Mr. Hayes was one of the first advocates of 
reform, and in 1888 joined the Greenback 
party. He is now an earnest supporter of 
the People's party. Formerly both himself 
and wife were Presbyterians, but are now 
earnest and consistent members of the Holi- 
ness church. 



J. HAMICK.— To the life history 
of another one of Erath county's 
prominent and enterprising farmers 
would we now invite attention. 
T. J. Hamick was born in Pike county, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Arkansas, November 13, 1844, and was 
reared to farm life in that county. He 
received his early traininf^ in the little coun- 
try school -house near his home, and after 
the war, when he was a man grown, was 
for eight months a student in a Louisiana 
school. That completed his education. 
Mr. Hamick's parents were William G. and 
Mary (Brock) Hamick, the former a native 
of Georgia who emigrated from there to 
Arkansas at an early day, where he devel- 
oped a farm on which he passed the rest of 
his days and died, his death occurring in 
1859. He was for many years a Primitive 
Baptist preacher, preaching and carrying on 
farming -operations at the same time and 
exerting a potent influence for good in the 
pioneer community in which he lived. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject, Napo- 
leon Brock, was a native of Tennessee, a 
prominent farmer in his day, and moved 
from Tennessee to Arkansas and later to 
Texas, landing in Texas soon after the close 
of the civil war. He died in this state. 
William G. Hamick and his wife had eight 
children, four of whom died in infancy, the 
others being as follows: William J., who 
died in hospital at Rock Island, Illinois, 
during the late war; T. J., whose name 
commences this article; Hester A., wife of 
D. J. Howard, a farmer of Arkansas; and 
John M., who died at the age of fourteen 
years. 

After the death of his father the subject 
of our sketch remained with his widowed 
mother until early in 1863, when he left 
home and entered the Confederate army. 
He went out as a member of Company D, 
Monroe's regiment of cavalry, Pagan's divis- 
ion, and saw much hard service, being in 
numerous skirmishes and battles and with 
General Price on his last raid. Among the 



engagements in which he participated were 
those of Lexington, Wilson's creek and Pilot 
Knob. At Wilson's creek many of his com- 
mand were captured. Mr. Hamick, how- 
ever, escaped both capture and wounds. 
At the close of Price's raid through Missouri 
he returned to Arkansas, where he was soon 
afterward taken down with smallpox, and 
did not again enter the service. 

At the close of the war Mr. Hamick went 
to Louisiana and attended school, as above 
stated, and there in 1 866 was married. The 
summer of that year he spent on a farm, and 
in the fall he came to Texas, landing in 
Collin county in December. There he pur- 
chased a farm on which he made his home, 
and to the cultivation of which he directed 
his energies the next four years. Then for 
two years he ran a store, and the following 
two years gave his attention to railroad con- 
tracts, working on the Texas Central and 
Texas Pacific lines. About 1874 he moved 
to Hood county, where, with Mr. Lanan:, 
he built a mill, and lived there and ran 
the mill until 1880. His next move was to 
his present location in Erath county, at the 
foot of Chalk mountain, where he bought 
eighty acres of improved land and again 
settled down to farming. He subsequently 
purchased other land until now he is the 
owner of a fine tract comprising four hun- 
dred and forty-five acres, one hundred and 
fifty of which are under cultivation, devoted 
to the usual crops made in the county; 
and he is also interested in the stock busi- 
ness. About 1886 he commenced raising 
sheep, which he has since continued, and 
now has a fine flock of Merinos. 

Not long after Mr. Hamick settled here 
he and his neighbors felt the need of a post- 
office and put forth efforts to secure one, 
the result being that in 1882 he was ap- 



r84 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



pointed postmaster of an office to be known 
as Chalk Mountain, and which he placed in 
his home. He kept the office at his resi- 
dence until about 1887, when he erected a 
store building and opened out a full stock of 
groceries, at the same time moving the post- 
office to the store. He continued as post- 
master until the spring of 1893, when he was 
succeeded by L. B. Howard, the present in- 
cumbent, Mr. Howard having purchased the 
store previous to his appointment to the 
office. Since 1893 Mr. Hamick has devoted 
his entire attention to his farm and stock. 

He was married soon after the close of 
the war to Miss Josephine White, a native 
of Alabama, born in April, 1847, daughter 
of Nicholas T. and Miriam (Newton) White, 
also natives of Alabama. When she was 
very young Mrs. Hamick removed with her 
parents to Louisiana; and in 1866 they all 
came together to Texas, locating in Collin 
county, where her father still resides, now 
being seventy-five years of age. He is a 
prominent farmer in that county, and also 
owns a large herd of cattle in the west. 
Religiously he is a Methodist and politically 
a Prohibitionist. His family comprises ten 
children, two of whom died when young, 
and of the others we make record as follows: 
Ellen O. is the wife of G. W. Puckett ; 
Sarah J., now Mrs. Hamick; John, a Meth- 
odist minister; Frances, wife of K. Burron; 
Lou, wife of Ed. Gray; L G., deceased; 
T. A., a Collin county farmer; and M. T. , 
who is engaged in the cattle business out on 
the plains. The mother of this family 
passed away in October, 1893. Eight chil- 
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Hamick, viz.: Molly M., wife of A. Tutt, 
a mail contractor; William T., a farmer; 
J. Claud, also engaged in farming; Charles 
C, at home and working at the trade of 



blacksmith; and the others all at home — 
John T. , Luellen, George and Annie. 

Mr. Hamick has always shown a com- 
mendable interest in all public issues, es- 
pecially those of his locality, and any meas- 
ure intended to promote its welfare is sure 
to receive his hearty support. He voted 
with the Democratic party until 1882, when 
I he went over to the People's party and has 
since affiliated with it. Both he and his 
wife are members of the Episcopal church, 
in which he has served as a steward for a 
number of years. 



H 



LFRED COX has been a resident 
of Texas from his boyhood, is 
familiar with the various phases of 
life in this state from its early 
settlement to the present time, and is now 
ranked with the prominent farmers and stock 
men of Erath county. It is therefore of 
signal consistency that a rcsuiiu- of his life 
history be given place in this volume. 

Mr. Cox is by birth a Missourian. He 
was born November 21,1 833, son of Edward 
and Hannah (Williams) Cox, his father a 
native of Tennessee and his mother of Ken- 
tucky. Edward Cox was a farmer all his 
life. About 1849 he emigrated to Texas 
and settled in Hopkins county. Later he 
moved to Johnson county, spent six years 
there, and then came td Erath county, this 
county at that time being on the frontier 
and having but few settlers within its bor- 
ders. Here he engaged in the cattle busi- 
ness, started with a fine herd and had excel- 
lent success until the opening of the war. 
During the war he sold beef cattle to the 
government, took Confederate money in 
payment and in the end lost heavily. For 
several years during the war and following 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



it the Indians were troublesome on the 
frontier. They made numerous raids on the 
unprotected settlers, stole their cattle and 
horses, killing or driving them off, and some- 
times even killed the settlers themselves. 
After one of these raids had been made and 
a number of cattle stolen Mr. Cox was one 
of a party, composed chiefly of boys, who 
went out in pursuit of the red men and to 
secure the stolen stock, and while on this 
mission bent he was killed by the Indians, 
and his horse, saddle and bridle stolen by 
them. At the same time they killed a 
young man by the name of Mollis. That 
was in July, 1S65, in Hamilton county. He 
was buried in that county. After his death 
his family sold the stock they had left and 
quit the business. He had been married 
twice. His first wife, the mother of our 
subject, had died in Johnson county in 1855, 
and his second wife survived him. The 
children of his first marriage, eight in num- 
ber, are as follows: Alfred, who is the 
subject proper of this review; Sarah E., 
deceased, was the wife of Gasham Bills; 
Ann, wife of E. Miller; Jane, who became 
the wife of Mr. Bills after her sister's death; 
Alzai, wife of Daniel Moore; Zilsa, wife of 
Thomas Lane; Derinda, wife of L. Evans; 
and Lucy, wife of J. Lane. His second 
wife bore him four children: Mary, wife of 
John Dowty; and John, Hall and Frank, — 
all farmers. 

Alfred Co.x was in his 'teens at the time 
his parents emigrated to this state. Here 
he found novelty and adventure enough to 
satisfy even the most- daring nature. His 
youth was spent in the saddle in caring for 
his father's stock and in consequence he had 
but little opportunity for securing an educa- 
tion. However, he picked up a varied and 
valuable knowledge of men and business as 



he passed along and on arriving at mature 
years he was better qualified to do business 
than are many whose advantages were 
superior to his. He remained with his fa- 
ther until 1853, when he married and made 
a home for himself. It was at that time that 
he bought the land upon which he now lives, 
or, rather, a part of it, for his first purchase 
was of one hundred and seventy-seven acres. 
To this he has since added an adjoining one 
hundred acres, and now his farm comprises 
two hundred and seventy-seven acres, one 
hundred and forty of which are under culti- 
vation. He gives his whole time and at- 
tention to farming and stock-raising and his 
efforts are being rewarded with fair success. 

Mr. Co.x married Miss Martha Bills. She 
was born in Tennessee, February 2, 1837, 
daughter of Daniel and Martha (Walker) 
Bills, natives of North Carolina who removed 
from there to Tennessee and in 1846 to 
Texas. Their first settlement in this state 
was in Hopkins county. In i860 they came 
to Erath county and subsequently removed 
to Hood county. He died on his farm in 
Hood county in 1866; his wife passed away 
in 1879. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. 
Bills were ten children, namely: Ellen, 
Mary, Jonathan, Asa, Walker, Susan, 
Thaney, Deborah, "Viley and Martha. Mr. 
and Mrs. Cox have been blessed with a large 
progeny, thirteen children in all, three of 
whom died young. Those living are as fol- 
lows: Daniel; Elizabeth, wife of B. Havens; 
Susie, wife of Ed. Jackson; Ed. ; Reed; Vio- 
let, wife of A. Shaw; Robert. William, and 
Cy and Ellen at home. The sons are all 
farmers and the daughters are farmers' 
wives. 

The parents of both Mr. and Mrs. Cox 
were members of the Christian church and 
both maintained a membership in the church 



rsG 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



in which they were reared. Of Mr. Cox's 
political affiliations, it may be said that he 
is a Populist. 



^VOSEPH W. GAINES.— This pros- 
m perous and intelligent farmer is one 
« 1 of the most public-spirited men of 
Comanche county. He was born in 
Georgia, May 29, 1850, and is a son of 
Frank and Fannie (Brown) Gaines, the 
former a native of South Carolina, and the 
latter of North Carolina, but were married 
in Georgia. His grandfather, Thomas 
Gaines, who was born in Virginia, was of 
Scotch and Welsh descent, and was a tan- 
ner by trade. Himself and wife, who were 
members of the Presbyterian church, passed 
their last days in Georgia. 

Although reared upon a farm, the father 
of our subject learned the carpenter's and mill- 
wright's trades, which he followed through- 
out much of his life up to the time of the 
war. He was a Whig politically, and a 
Union man (opposed to secession), but upon 
the outbreak of the war joined his country- 
men and for four years served in the Con- 
federate army. At the battle of Baker's 
Creek he was captured and taken to Fort 
Delaware, where he was held until near the 
close of the war. Later he was recaptured, 
and this time carried to Rock Island, where 
he was imprisoned at the time of Lee's sur- 
render. Returning home, he worked as a 
mechanic until 1870, since which time he 
has engaged in farming, and has resided in 
Comanche county since 18S5. He has 
taken an active interest in all public affairs, 
and has held a number of offices, including 
that of justice of the peace. Formerly he 
was a Univcrsalist in religious belief, but 
now holds membership with the Missionary 



Baptist church. He votes with the People's 
party. By his first wife he had nine chil- 
dren, but six died in childhood. Those 
living are: Caroline, wife of a Mr. Hamil- 
ton, of Alabama; Joseph W., of this sketch; 
and James, a resident of Rock Run, Ala- 
bama. In 1856 the mother of these children 
died, and the father later wedded Miss 
Eliza Graham, who was born in South Car- 
olina, but was reared in Georgia. They 
became the parents of nine children: 
Thomas, Charles, John C, Lucinda, Henry, 
Chetam, Walker, Frederick and one who 
died in infancy. Only three are now living. 

The boyhood and youth of Joseph W. 
Gaines were passed in Summerville, Georgia, 
and although his school training was limited 
he has acquired a good practical education 
since reaching manhood. Having a step- 
mother he became dissatisfied at home 
while his father was in the army, and in 
1863 started northward, joining the federal 
troops then stationed at Nashville, Tennes- 
see, as a bugler in Company D, Twelfth 
Tennessee Cavalry, and being consigned to 
the Army of the Tennessee. He was with 
Thomas' division on the Hood raid through 
that state, and followed Hood across the 
Mississippi river. His regiment was later 
sent west to guard a train over the plains. 
They went as far as Fort Kearney, Kansas, 
and then returned to Fort Leavenworth, 
where Mr. Gaines was discharged in Octo- 
ber, 1865. 

Returning to his home in Georgia, he 
commenced work for himself, but in 1869 
went to Arkansas, and the following year 
came to Texas, stopping first in the eastern 
part of the state. In February, 1874, he 
went to Erath county, where he was em- 
ployed as a farm hand until his marriage in 
the following October. Since that time he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



has carried on farming on his own account in 
Comanche county, renting land for six 
years. In 1880 he purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres of his present farm, later 
added eighty acres, and still owns two hun- 
dred and five acres of the amount, of which 
sixty-five are under cultivation. He has 
made many substantial improvements upon 
his place, which at the time of his purchase 
was all raw land, including a commodious 
dwelling, good outbuildings and an orchard. 
In connection with general farming he gives 
some attention to stock-raising. 

Mr. Gaines was united in marriage with 
Miss Ellen Randall, alady of intelligence and 
good family, who was born in Alabama, 
January 6, 1857, and is the daughter of 
Smith and Mary (Claxton) Randall, both 
natives of South Carolina, but were mar- 
ried in Alabama. Her father, who is a 
farmer by occupation, served through the 
late war, and came to Texas in 1869, living 
for three years in Limestone county, but 
since that time in Comanche county. He 
settled on a tract of land which he pur- 
chased on Mustang creek when there were 
only three other families living along its 
borders. He has a large farm, two hundred 
acres under cultivation, and is one of the 
prominent men of his locality. Formerly 
he was a Democrat, but is now a Populist, 
and religiously is a Baptist. His wife, who 
died March 15, 1888, was also a faithful 
member of the same church. In their fam- 
ily were five children, — Ellen, John, Will- 
iam, Sally and Homer. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Gaines were born nine 
children, one of whom died in infancy. The 
others are Eddy, an attorney of Comanche; 
Elizabeth, wife of John Currie, a farmer; 
and Beulah, Arthur, Maggie, Fannie, Ham- 
ilton, Joe and Austin, — all at home. The 



parents hold a membership in the Mission- 
ary Baptist church, and are earnest Chris- 
tian people, who have the respect of all who 
know them. At national elections, Mr. 
Gaines supports the Republican party, but 
on local affairs he votes independently. He 
takes a business view of all political situa- 
tions, and is alive to all interests for the 
public welfare, but has never aspired to 
office. 



>pj*OHN WALKER is a valued and es- 
ff teemed agriculturist of Comanche 
A 1 county, where he has one hundred 
and seventy- five acres of good table 
land on the Leon river, of which seventy- 
five acres are under excellent culture and 
well improved. The buildings upon the 
place are of a neat and substantial charac- 
ter, betokening thrift and prosperity, and a 
good orchard supplies fruit in season. He 
is meeting with merited success in his farm- 
ing operations, and bids fair to achieve an 
easy competence, so that in his declining 
years he may rest peacefully from the cares 
of life. 

The birth of Mr. Walker took place De- 
cember 8, 1853, in Pontotoc county, Mis- 
sissippi, and he was reared upon a farm, 
receiving a limited education in the schools 
near his home. His parents, Japheth and 
Susan A. (Kidd) Walker, were natives of 
Tennessee. Before marriage his father had 
engaged in school-teaching, but after that 
event always turned his attention to farm- 
ing. In 1 87 1 he brought his family to 
Texas, locating upon a three-hundred-and- 
twenty-acre tract of wild land in Comanche 
county, which he at once began to clear, 
and placed one hundred and sixty acres un- 
der cultivation. Upon that homestead he 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



continues to reside, at the age of seventy- 
six years. In his family were eleven chil- 
dren: Louisa, wife of T. E. Gilmer, a 
farmer of Comanche county; Priscilla, wife 
of D. F. Gilmer, also an agriculturist; Eliza, 
who first wedded John Griffin, and after his 
death Gus Richardson; Francis \V., of In- 
dian Territory; William D., a farmer; Jo- 
sephine; John; Stephen A., a farmer and 
agent for tombstones; Japheth, deceased; 
Robert D., of Ellis county; and Susan A , 
whose husband is a commercial traveler. 
For three years during the late civil war the 
father served in a Mississippi regiment, was 
a Democrat in politics until a few years 
ago, but now votes with the People's party. 
He is an earnest member of the Missionary 
Baptist church, to which his estimable wife, 
who died in 1891, also belonged. 

Until eighteen years of age, Mr. Walker, 
of this review, remained with his parents, 
and then started out to fight life's battle for 
himself, his first employment being the 
making of rails. He next cleared a tract 
of land, but the following three years he de- 
voted to rail-splitting. After worlcing as a 
farm hand or at any employment he could 
find, in 1880 he purchased a tract of ninety- 
three acres of wild land, to which he has 
since added until it comprises his present 
fine farm of one hundred and seventy-five 
acres. Besides general farming he has for 
seven years ran a threshing-machine, and 
also works some at the carpenter's trade. 

In April, 1891, was celebrated the mar- 
riage of Mr. Walker and Mrs. Sarah F. 
Goodwin. She is the oldest in a family of 
seven children, the others being Martha B., 
William J., John, Miller, Lilly and one 
who died in infancy. Her father. Miles C. 
Huckabee, was born in Mississippi, but was 
reared in Arkansas, and since 1874 has | 



made his home in Texas, at first locating 
in Erath county. For several years, how- 
ever, he has now lived in Comanche county, 
where he carries on farming. In politics 
he is a Populist, but formerly supported the 
Democratic party, and religiously both him- 
self and wife are members of the Missionary 
Baptist church, as were their parents be- 
fore them. 

Mr. Walker cast his first vote in sup- 
port of the Democracy, but joined the re- 
form movement and is now a stalwart Pop- 
ulist. Both himself and wife belong to the 
Missionary Baptist church. 



^y^ANIEL P. PINKARD, a pioneer 
I B of Texas and an enterprising 
ff^„J farmer of Comanche county, was 
born in Perry county,- Tennessee, 
January 28, 1848, a son of Harris and Lydia 
(Pcrrj) Pinkard. His parents were born 
and married in Tennessee. The paternal 
grandfather, when a boy of seven, left home 
and went to sea, never returning until after 
he had become a man. He was then mar- 
ried and had two children. Harris Pinkard 
followed farming in Tennessee until 1852, 
when he went to Arkansas, living in several 
places in that state. He served in the civil 
war, and died in Arkansas in 1872. His 
wife died in Temiessee when our subject 
was only three weeks old, leaving one other 
child, — Marj', — who became the wife of Mr. 
Frizzcll and died a year later. Harris 
Pinkard was a second time married and by 
that union had three children, — Addie, 
William and Jo, — all living in the Cherokee 
Nation. 

Our subject received but a limited 
school training, but through his own efforts 
has acquired a good practical education. 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



789 



When a child of four he went with his fa- 
ther to Arkansas, and a year later accom- 
panied an uncle to Texas. They spent the 
year 1853 in Coryell county, then removed 
to Fort Shadburn. There his uncle, 
Jonathan Watson, a native of Tennessee, 
engaged with the company that furnished 
hay and feed to the government and oper- 
ated the hay ranch for sometime. In 1855 
he came to Comanche county, where he 
opened up a farm and engaged in cattle- 
raising. He is now one of the representa- 
tive and prominent citizens of the com- 
munity. 

Mr. Pinkard assisted his uncle in farm- 
ing and stock-raising and resided with him 
until his marriage. The Indians occasioned 
great trouble to the settlers between 1858 
and 1870, and he took part in many raids 
against them. In 1866 he was with a com- 
pany of four men who were hunting stock 
when they became engaged in a fight with 
the Indians, and Mr. Pinkard narrowly 
escaped, holes being shot in his clothes in 
various places. With a company under 
command of D. Cunningham, he followed a 
band of over thirty Indians and fought 
them. Frank Brown and three other men, 
while engaged in teaming, were attacked by 
the savages, and thisso aroused the neighbor- 
hood that Captain Cunningham and twenty- 
one brave followers started with blood- 
hounds in pursuit. They had a battle on 
Hog creek in Brown county, and completely 
routed the Indians, killing seven of the 
number. Of the white men Freeman Clark 
was killed and several were injured, but the 
mules and horses which had been stolen 
were secured, together with the Indian sup- 
plies, pistols, bows and arrows and some 
Indian horses. The last raid against the 
Indians in which Mr. Pinkard took part was 



in 1874, since which time no trouble has 
been experienced with the red men. 

In 1869 Mr. Pinkard purchased a farm, 
buying a squatter's claim of one hundred 
and sixty acres and securing the title from 
the land office. He now owns five hundred 
and eighty-six acres of valuable land, much 
of which he cleared of a growth of heavy 
timber. He now has two hundred and fifty 
acres in a superior state of cultivation, has 
planted a good orchard, and has a substan- 
tial residence and outbuildings. In earlier 
days he was extensively engaged in dealing 
in cattle, horses, mules and hogs, and also 
dealt quite extensively in real estate. He 
is now making a specialty of the breeding 
of Poland-China hogs. For three years he 
operated a cotton-gin at Comanche, and in 
the business interests of the county he has 
been an important factor. 

Mr. Pinkard was married January 25, 
1868, to Sarah C. Barcroft, who was born 
in Smith county, Texas, in 1S49, a daughter 
of Elisha Barcroft, of Tennessee, who loca- 
ted in Smith county, this state, in 1842, and 
came to Comanche county in 1857. Here 
he operated a farm until his death in Janu- 
ary, 1896. He was an active member of 
the Methodist church, serving as its stew- 
ard, and during the late war he was tithing 
tax collector for the government. He also 
served as postmaster and county commission- 
er. His wife is yet living, and thiir children 
are Lorenzo; Marinda; William and Tur- 
ner, who died in the army; James, who was 
also in the war; Margaret J., Sarah J., 
Fisher, Elizabeth and Asbury. Mr. and 
Mrs. Pinkard had eleven children, of whom 
two died in childhood, the others being 
Clara, wife of William Franklin, a farmer; 
Alma, who became the wife of T. Stewart, 
and died in 1894, leaving one child; Ervin, 



790 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



at home; Marietta, wife of W. Starlan, a 
farmer; Walter, a Methodist minister, sing- 
ing teacher and farmer; Paul, Maggie, Per- 
ry, Rufus and Eva, all at home. With 
them also resides a grandchild, Alvis Stewart. 
In politics, Mr. Pinkard is a Democrat 
and advocates prohibition principles. Since 
1868 he has been a consistent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and has 
filled all the church offices, including that 
of steward and trustee. 



>-t'OHN W. LUKER is the owner of 
J one of the most valuable farming 
A ¥ properties of Comanche county, his 
real-estate holdings comprising seven 
hundred acres of good land, entirely sur- 
rounded by fence, while one hundred and 
fifty acres are divided into fields of conven- 
ient size and placed under a good state of 
cultivation. Upon the place is a comforta- 
ble residence and substantial barns and out- 
buildings, together with the latest improved 
machinery and all the accessories to be 
found on one of Te.\as' model farms. There 
is a good orchard and broad pasture lands, 
and the stock which is raised is of good 
grades. He has a fine jack and is raising 
mules as well as cattle. Careful attention, 
capable management and industry have 
brought to him success, and by his own 
efforts he has accumulated a comfortable 
competence. 

Mr. Luker, who is numbered among the 
leading farmers of Comanche county, was 
born in Choctaw county, Alabama, April 
14, 1841, and is a son of James and Eliza- 
beth (Edwards) Luker, who were married 
in Alabama. The former was a son of 
Joshua Luker, al.so of the same state, a so- 
cial Methodist minister, and a farmer by 



occupation. He served in the Seminole 
war, aiding in subduing the rebellious In- 
dians of the Seminole tribe.. In politics he 
was a Democrat, but never sought office. 
His death occurred in his native state. 
James Luker was reared and educated in 
Alabama, was married and spent his entire 
life there. He died in 1862, and his wife 
pa.ssed away in 185 1. He, too, gave his 
political support to the Democracy, but was 
never an aspirant for political honors. In 
religious belief he was a Methodist, while 
his wife was connected with the Baptist 
church. Their family numbered eight chil- 
dren, four of whom died in infancy, while 
four reached years of maturity, namely: 
Mary, deceased wife of L. Ingram, who died 
in the Confederate service during the late 
war; Susan, now deceased, who married 
James Buckler, and came to Texas in 1876 
with our subject, after which she married 
again; Joseph E., of Alabama; John W. ; 
George W., who came to Te.xas in 1876, 
and is now a prominent farmer of Comanche 
county; Benjamin F., who came to Te.xas 
in 1872, and died in Comanche county; 
James B. , who arrived in Texas in the same 
year, and is now a Methodist minister of 
Cherokee count}', belonging to the East 
Texas conference; and Sarah M., who be- 
came the wife of Joseph Graham, and died 
in Alabama. 

Mr. Luker, of this sketch, spent his mi- 
nority in his parents' home, remaining with 
his father until after the beginning of the 
war, when in 1862 he enlisted, becoming a 
member of the Twenty-second Alabama In- 
fantry, of the Army of the Tennessee. He 
saw much hard service, and in the battle of 
Shiloh was captured and taken to New Al- 
bany, Indiana, where he was held a prisoner 
for eight months. He was then exchanged, 



BISTORT OF TEXAS. 



791 



returned home and never entered the serv- 
ice again. He was also slightly wounded 
in the engagement at Shiloh. 

Mr. Luker resumed work on the home 
farm and was thus employed until 1869, 
when he was married and started out in life 
for himself. He cultivated a rented farm, 
giving half the products for the rental of the 
place. He afterward purchased a tract of 
land and continued his farming operations 
in Alabama until 1876, when he arrived in 
Texas. He purchased a small farm in 
Comanche county, with fifty acres broken 
and improved with a small cabin. His 
energy, perseverance and good management 
have led to an increase of his financial re- 
sources, and he has thereby been enabled 
to e.xtend the boundaries of the farm to its 
present extensive proportions. His political 
support has been unswervingly given the 
Democracy, but he has had neither time nor 
inclination for public office. He was reared 
in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, has served as steward and class- 
leader and has taken an active and effective 
part in church work. 

Mr. Luker has been twice married. He 
wedded Sarah J. Ewing, a native of Ala- 
bama and a daughter of W. A. N. Ewing, 
also of that state and a farmer by occupa- 
tion. He was known as Captain Ewing, 
having won his title in the state militia. 
He came to Comanche county, Texas, in 
1875, purchased a farm and died in October, 
1878. His political support was given the 
Democracy and he was an active member 
of the Methodist church. His family num- 
bered nine children, namely: James, de- 
ceased; Sarah J., who became Mrs. Luker; 
William, who served through the war but 
died soon after his return from the army; 
Martha, Mary, Annie, Alexander N., Jo- 



seph, Julia. To our subject and his wife 
were born six children, namely: Robert; 
William, who is engaged in farming; Frank, 
Turner, Julia and Mack, who are at home. 
The mother of these children died October 
24, 1885. Slie was a faithful member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church and a lady 
highly esteemed for her many excellencies 
of character. On the 7th of September, 
1890, Mr. Luker was again married, his sec- 
ond union being with Miss Sally H. Cassel- 
berry, a native of Mississippi and a daughter 
of James Casselberry. a prominent farmer 
of that state, who died there. His wife 
survived him and came to Texas, where she 
spent several years; she then went to Ar- 
kansas, where she yet makes her home. 
They were members of the Primitive Bap- 
tist church. By the second marriage there 
are two children, one of whom died in child- 
hood, while Melissa is at home. 



S^ H. MYERS, Iredell, Texas, is identi- 
■ fied with the agricultural interests of 
^ 1 Bosque county, owning cind manag- 
ing a farm three miles from the town 
in which he lives. Both he and his wife are 
natives of Texas and representatives of pio- 
neer families of this county. 

J. H. Myers was born in Cherokee coun- 
ty, Texas, January 13, 1850. His father, 
A. Myers, was of German descent and a 
native of Giles county, Tennessee, born in 
1824; came when a young man to Texas, 
and in this state was united in marriage to 
Miss Rachel Smith, with whose life his was 
blended until her death in 1S55. She left 
four children, namely: Mrs. Mary E. Kay, 
Dublin, Texas; J. H., whose name forms 
the heading of this sketch; Mrs. Laura B. 
Turnbull; and Sarah C, wife of Jefferson 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Bel!, of Erath county, Texas. For his 
second wife Mr. A. Myers wedded Mrs. Mc- 
Donald, a widow with three children, — 
Caroline, Thomas and Elizabeth, — and her 
union with Mr. Myers was honored by the 
birth of five other children, as follows: 
Georgia T., wife of a Mr. Hester; Mrs. 
Josephine Wilson; Charles M. ; Mrs. Mattie 
N. Buconan; and Mrs. Emma Wilson. In 
i860 Mr. Myers settled on a farm in Bosque 
county, where he lived until his death in 
1 88 1, at the age of fifty-seven years. He 
was a man of sterling integrity and great 
strength of character, was public-spirited 
and generous, and his counsel and advice 
were often sought and followed. He was a 
justice of the peace here for some years and 
he also filled the office of county commis- 
sioner. Politically he was a Democrat, and 
he maintained fraternal relations with l^oth 
the I. O, O. F. and the F. & A. M. 

The direct subject of this review, J. H. 
Myers, was reared on the frontier, spending 
his boyhood days in the saddle while caring 
for his father's cattle; and as a matter of 
course his early education was neglected, 
but since grown he has acquired a practical 
education. He was married in this county 
December 5, 1872, to Miss Mary R. Hester, 
daughter of K. A. Hester, one of the early 
settlers of Bosque county. 

Mr. R. A. Hester was born April 25, 
1826, and in 1849 came to Texas and set- 
tled on government land near Iredell, where 
he resided until his death, in 1869. His 
wife, iicc Jane Medford, was born January 
I, 1 83 1, and died July 29, 1871. They 
had a large number of children, eleven in 
all, three of whom died in infancy, the others 
being as follows: J. F., S. J., Mary R., 
S. H. (deceased), R. A , Laura, Amanda 
and Young. The father, R. A. Hester, 



came to an untimely death by the act of a 
neighbor. The tragedy, briefly given, is as 
follows: The Indians had been making 
raids through this part of the country and on 
various occasions had caused much excite- 
ment. Some of the boys in the neighbor- 
hood thought Mr. Hester would not stand 
fire and would be greatly frightened should 
the red men make a raid on him; and to test 
his courage the boys planned a little sur- 
prise and scare for him. He, however, was 
made of a different kind of material from 
what they had suspected, at once opened 
fire and killed one of the boys, a son of one 
of his neighbors. It was, of course, the 
boy's fault and was at once recognized as 
such, no one blaming Mr. Hester for pro- 
tecting himself against what he believed to 
be an enemy. But the father of the boy 
secretly cherished a grudge against Mr. 
Hester, and one day followed him to church 
and shot and killed him on the spot, also 
shooting Mr. Hester's little son, James A., 
a child of six years, who sat beside him in 
the church. It was all over in an instant, 
and the man disappeared and has never 
since been heard from! 

After his marriage, the subject of our 
sketch settled down to farming on his father- 
in-law's homestead. Later he bought out 
the interest of the other heirs and came into 
possession of the whole estate. His wife 
lived on that place for thirty-five years; but 
some years ago he sold out and moved to 
Iredell, where he has a pleasant residence 
and where he still resides, remaining in 
town in order to give his children the benefit 
of educational advantages. He is still in- 
terested in farming. Since coming to Ire- 
dell he purchased an improved farm, located 
three miles from town, where he is suc- 
cessfully carrying on agricultural pursuits. 



His TORT OF TEXAS. 



793 



having sixty-five acres of his land under 
cultivation. 

Mr. and Mrs. Myers are the parents of 
five children, viz.: W. R., Annie J., Mary 
E., Charles A. and Kossuth G. All are at 
home except Annie J., who is the wife of 
Mr. George Gordon. Also Mr. and Mrs. 
Myers lost one child, their fourth born, a 
daughter, at the age of thirteen years. 

Mr. Myers is Democratic in his political 
affiliations, and he and his wife and their 
eldest son are members of the Baptist 
church. 



>VESSE H. MOORE, an ex-county 
J commissioner of Bosque county and 
«J^ one of the enterprising farmers and 
sheep men of his section of the coun- 
try, is one to whose life history we would at 
this point direct attention. 

Jesse H. Moore dates his birth near 
Knoxville, in Hawkins county, Tennessee, 
December 17, 1844. His father. Colonel 
James N. Moore, and brothers, were among 
the early settlers of that county, and Moores- 
burg, one of its thriving towns, v.-as named 
in honor of them. The Moores are of Eng- 
lish extraction. Colonel Moore married Miss 
Mary B. Cobb, who was born and reared in 
Tennessee, daughter of a prominent planter 
of that state, and their union was blessed in 
the birth of eight children, of whom five are 
still living, viz.: Hugh A., Jesse H., John 
P., William O. and Stephen D. James 
was killed in Mexico, and the other two de- 
ceased were Mrs. Carrie R. Williams and 
Mrs. Maggie Taylor. The father of these 
children died in 1861, at the age of fifty-one 
years. He was engaged in merchandising 
for a period of thirty years, was a man of 
the strictest integrity with a character above 



reproach, and was successful in his business 
career. For several years he was colonel 
in the state militia, and politically he was a 
firm adherent to the principles of Democ- 
racy. The mother of our subject died at 
the age of sixty-six years. Hers was a 
beautiful Christian character and she was a 
devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

The direct subject of this sketch attended 
school up to the time he was sixteen years 
of age; then the war came on. His friends 
and young companions all around him en- 
rolling for the service, he, too, fired with 
patriotism, was eager to enter the ranks. 
Thus at the early age of sixteen he be- 
came a member of the Second Tennessee 
Cavalry, and his service extended from the 
beginning to the close of the war. During 
three months of that time he was held pris- 
oner at Newport News, Virginia. 

At the close of the war Mr. Moore en- 
gaged in mercantile business in Morristown, 
Tennessee, and later at Flat Gap, that state, 
his sojourn in both places being brief. In 
1868 he went to Cass county, Missouri, 
where he sold goods two years; from there 
he went to Kansas, and in 1873 came from 
the latter state to Texas, locating in Bosque 
county. The first three years of his resi- 
dence here he spent in teaching school. 
Then he purchased a farm and settled down 
to agricultural pursuits, remaining on his 
first purchase until 1886, when he sold out 
and bought his present fine farm, a tract of 
nine hundred acres on Meridian creek. Two 
hundred acres of this farm are under culti- 
vation. The rest is utilized for stock pur- 
poses, Mr. Moore being largely interested in 
the sheep industry and keeping an average 
of one thousand sheep in his flock. 

Mr. Moore is a public-spirited man. He 



r94 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



has always taken a deep interest in the de- 
velopment of Bosque county, and during his 
incumbency of the office of county commis- 
sioner, in which he served two years, he was 
instrumental in securing a number of im- 
provements. Especially to the improvement 
of the county roads did he direct attention, 
and with good results. He has long been a 
supporter of the Democratic party; frater- 
nally, is a Mason, having been initiated into 
the mysteries of Freemasonry in the J-iarris- 
ville Lodge, in Missouri, in 1872; and, re- 
ligiously, both he and his wife are Methodists. 
Mr. Moore was married April 6, 1887, 
to Miss Anna E. Hannah, who was reared 
and educated in Texas, daughter of John 
Hannah, deceased. Her father was at one 
time sheriff of this county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Moore have had four children, three of 
whom are living, namely: Jesse Cobb, John 
H. and Alice J. The one deceased is Carrie 
Belle. 



f^ DWARD S. NEAL.— It is now priv- 
B I ileged the biographer to touch briefly 
^^^ upon the life historj' of one who has 
for more than twenty years figured 
as a representative farmer of Erath county, 
Texas, and whose success and marked pop- 
ularity here entitle him to biographical 
honors. 

Mr. Neal claims Tennessee as his native 
state, and looks back to the Old Dominion 
as the place where his forefathers settled on 
coming to America. He was born in 'Giles 
county, Tennessee, May 10, 1848, son of 
William and Harriet (Apperson) Neal, both 
natives of Virginia. William Neal went to 
Tennessee in 1830, bought land in Giles 
county, and v.'as engaged in farming there 
the rest of his life, ranking with the promi- 



nent and most respected men of his com- 
munity. He died there in September, 1865. 
His widow survived him until about 1884. 
Both were members of the Christian church. 
They were blessed with a family of twelve 
children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, 
namely: Annie; Elizabeth, deceased, was 
twice married, first to C. Brinkle, and 
after his death to William. Wood; she left 
five children; Mattie, who died in Novem- 
ber, 1895, was twice married, and by her 
first husband, Samuel Payne, who died in 
the army, had one child, her second hus- 
band being John Carter; John R., a prac- 
ticing physician of Tennessee; Adeline P., 
wife of Z. W. Mitchell, a farmer of Erath 
county, came to Texas about 1845; M. C, 
wife of L. J. Payne; George, who died in 
the army, at Fort Donelson; Andrew, who 
served all through the late war, died Octo- 
ber 24, 1895, his death being caused by 
wounds received in the army thirty years 
before; James K. P., also a war veteran; 
Edward S., whose name heads this article; 
and Virginia E., who married Colonel Brow- 
ley. All of the family, with the exception 
of Mrs. Mitchell and the subject of our 
sketch, reside in Tennessee. 

Edward S. Neal was reared on the farm, 
spending his boyhood days in arduous toil 
in his father's fields, and on account of the 
war times, which came on as he was enter- 
ing his 'teens, his advantages for obtaining 
an education were limited. But after he 
grew up he obtained a practical education 
which has helped him on to the success he 
has attained. Mr. Neal remained at the old 
farmstead in Tennessee until he was twenty- 
six, in 1 874, when he came to Texas. Two 
years before he had married, and on his re- 
moval to this state was accompanied by his 
wife, their first location being on rented land 



HIS TORT OP TEXAS. 



795 



in Bosque county, where he cultivated one 
crop. The next year he came to Erath 
county and purchased one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, receiving a patent from 
the state. This land, however, proved to 
be Lavaca county school land, and his title 
to it was not valid. Later, when it was 
placed on the market, he bought it again. 
Here he carried on both farming and stock- 
raising, opened up about one hundred acres 
of his land to cultivation, and was very suc- 
cessful in his operations. His next land 
purchase was two hundred acres where he 
now lives, then all covered with timber, a 
mile and a quarter from Duffau. To this 
tract he has added by subsequent purchase 
three hundred and twenty acres more, has 
one hundred and twenty acres under culti- 
vation, and has expended no little means 
and labor in the improvement of his farm. 
He has three good houses on his land, and, 
like most of the prosperous farmers here, 
has his acres let out to renters. His crops 
are the usual ones of the county. From his 
first settlement here he has been more or 
less interested in stock-raising, now keeping 
only enough stock for the support of his 
land, and paying more attention to quality 
than numbers. In November, 1895, Mr. 
Neal purchased a drug store at Duffau, 
which he still owns. And all this property, 
or nearly all, has been the result of his labor 
and good management since he came to 
Texas, for at the time of his arrival here he 
had less than a thousand dollars. 

Mr. Neal was married March 14, 1872, 
to Miss Martha C. Tidwell, also a native of 
Giles county, the date of her birth being 
March 24, 1851. She is a daughter of C. 
H. and Lea (Tucker) Tidwell, both natives 
of Tennessee, her father a farmer and for 
many years a justice of the peace, having 



resigned that office on account of old age. 
He is still living, retired on his farm in 
Giles county, but has the supervision of his 
place and speculates some in securities. In 
early life he figured prominently in local 
politics, and was a stanch Democrat, and 
besides filling the office above mentioned 
served as deputy sheriff, assessor and tax 
collector, and at one time took the census 
of Giles county. In slavery days there 
were not a few negroes who were proud to 
claim him as their owner. His wife died in 
1888. She was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and was a devoted Chris- 
tian woman. He also has long been iden- 
tified \\ith that church. They had eleven 
children, a brief record of whom is as fol- 
lows: Nancy J., wife of James Douglas, 
died in McLennan county, Texas, January 
15, 1895, leaving seven children; Margaret, 
wife of Thomas Puryear, resides in Tennes- 
see; Betty, wife of Solon Hamlet, lives in 
Tennessee; William, a farmer and stock- 
dealer of Throckmorton county, Texas; 
Martha C.; V. M., a farmer and stock-man 
of Eastland county, Texas; Malissa, wife of 
J. W. Reed, resides at Robert Lee, Cooke 
county, Texas; Alice, wife of T. Reed, Ten- 
nessee; Mary W., wife of Dr. C. W. William- 
son, Tennessee; Charles W., a resident of 
Texas since i89i;andOraH., of Texas. Mr. 
and Mrs. Neal have never had any children 
of their own, but have reared and educated 
an orphan boy, bringing him up as their 
own son. This young man, R. L. Ross, 
was born in Freestone county, Texas, 
March 30, 1876; lost his mother when he 
was two years old and his father a year 
later, and was taken into the home and 
hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Neal when he was 
five. Thus far he has shown himself wor- 
thy of the affection and care they have be- 



796 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



stowed upon him. Mr. Neal has placed 
him in charge of the drug store above men- 
tioned in Duffau, and in this the young man 
has already displayed marked abilit3' for 
business. Both Mr. and Mrs. Neal are con- 
sistent members of the Christian church and 
active workers in the same. Politically he 
remains a steadfast Democrat. Such, in 
brief, is outlined the life of one of Erath 
county's best citizens. 



eDWARD G. P. KEI^LUM, Valley 
Mills, Bosque county, Te.xas, is 
one of the prominent stock dealers 
and representative business men of 
the place. He needs no introduction to 
any one at all familiar with this county, as 
he is one of the city's foremost figures and 
a prominent and positive character. With 
every measure that looks to the progress 
and improvement of the city he is closely 
identified. Gifted with a keen discernment, 
he has met with large success in various en- 
terprises into which he has thrown the en- 
thusiasm of an active and earnest nature, and 
in the course of the years has accumulated 
a handsome competence. The wonderful 
opportunities which the Lone Star state has 
presented to men of industry, honesty and 
ability have often been the subject of com- 
ment, but as long as men have hopes and 
the determination to advance and succeed 
in life, the theme will never be exhausted. 
The great southwest, and particularly the 
cotton region, has produced more success- 
ful men than any other part of the state. 
Its boundless resources are being continu- 
ally exhibited to the civilized world. The 
subject of this sketch is a striking example 
of what industry can accomplish. 

Mr. Kellum is a native of Mississippi, 



and was born in Chickasaw county, January 
9, 1851, his parents being William R. and 
Jane (Cooper) Kellum. The father was a 
native of Alabama, and the mother of North 
Carolina. They came to Texas in 1854, 
where the mother died a year later. The 
father survived until i.Sgo. Our subject 
passed his boyhood in McLennan county, 
where he was brought up on a farm, and 
endowed with that vigor and constitutional 
endurance that seem possible only to farm 
lads. He has mainly, followed farming in 
his maturer days, although of late years he 
has undertaken several important enter- 
prises. He first came to Bosque county in 
1874, and some three years later took up 
his residence in the city of Valley Mills, 
and from that time the story of his life has 
been indispensable to the history of the city. 
At the present moment he is one of the 
"city fathers." 

Mr. f\ellum owns some two thousand 
acres of land in this immediate vicinity. 
While but about one hundred acres of that 
is under active cultivation, the remainder is 
used as pasture atid grazing land for his 
stock. He is a heavy dealer in live stock, 
and at this writing has some twenty-six 
hundred head of sheep on his ranch, be- 
sides many head of cattle. He is president 
of the Lone Star Commission Company, of 
which a short account may be seen on 
another page of this work. He is also sen- 
ior partner in the lumber firm of Pool & 
Kellum of this city, and is a stockholder in 
the city water works. 

Our subject has been twice married. 
The first union was on May 18, 1873, when 
Miss Irene Davis became his wife. She 
was a daughter of Hon. J. F. Davis, one 
of the early pioneers of Texas. The sec- 
ond marriage was to Miss Eliza Leonard, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



797 



December 23, 1887, and they have an in- 
teresting family of three children, — Mary 
P., Janie M., and W. A. The family are 
consistent members of the Baptist church, 
and Mr. Ivellum is also a highly regarded 
member of the Masonic order. Recently 
he has erected a beautiful frame residence 
inside the city limits, fortunately located on 
a natural building site above the city level. 
Here he has a fine view of the city, and se- 
cures a natural drainage. It commands a 
broad sweep of the Bosque river valley 
and presents a most charming landscape. 
The building contains twelve well ventilated 
rooms, with bath and all modern conven- 
iences. The interior is finished throughout 
in natural woods, and the exterior in beauty 
and design indicates that the architect was 
a man of no mean ability. While this ele- 
gant home in which our subject dwells is 
not marked by extravagance anywhere, yet 
good taste rules throughout, and for real 
comfort and convenience it is probably not 
surpassed in Bosque county. 



^"V* W. WAGNER is closely identified 
•^^^kT with the farming and stock-raising 
j^_3 interests of Bosque county. He is 
a native of Mississippi, the date of 
his birth being January 6, 1S36. His par- 
ents, William and Julia (Emery) Wagoner, 
were both natives of Tennessee, and with 
their family removed to Missouri in 1844, 
and later to Crawford county, Arkansas, 
where our subject was reared to habits of 
industry and obtained his education. He 
was the seventh in the family of eleven 
children. 

In 1854 Mr. Wagner first came to Te.xas, 
but later returned to Arkansas. Since 1 882, 
however, he has permanently resided in the 



Lone Star state, some five years being spent 
in Coryell county and the remainder in Bos- 
que county, now residing seven miles north 
of Clifton. He owns two hundred and 
thirteen acres at his home place besides 
some timber land, and has one hundred and 
fifty acres placed under a good system of 
cultivation. While struggling with the prim- 
itive soil and bringing about the improve- 
ments which he has reason to view with 
satisfaction, he has also watched with the 
deepest interest the growth and development 
of this portion of the state, and in the es- 
tablishment of one of its most valuable 
farms has contributed his quota to its prog- 
ress and prosperity. He has a small peach 
and plum orchard and his farm is well 
stocked with horses of the Percheron breed. 
In March, 1855, in Arkansas, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Wagner and 
Miss Lydia Wagner, a native of that state, 
and their family now consists of five chil- 
dren, — Susan, Jessie, William, Ora and 
Katie. Two others are now deceased. So- 
cially, Mr. Wagner affiliates with the Masonic 
fraternity. He has been an important factor 
in securing the present excellent school sys- 
tem in his section of the county, and has 
been a member of the school board. He is 
eminently worthy of the trust and high re- 
gard in which he is held by his fellow-citizens. 



@EORGE W\ WALKER.— Among 
the prominent and prosperous 
farmers and stock-raisers of Co- 
manche county stands the subject 
of this sketch, who was born in .\dair 
county, Kentucky, October 9, 1847, and at 
the age of eleven years accompanied his 
parents to the Lone Star state, where he 
early became faniiliar with agricultural pur- 



70S 



IIISTORT OF TEXAS. 



suits. His education lias practically been 
obtained since reaching manhood, and he is 
now numbered among the intelligent and 
wide-awake farmers of the county. 

John B. Walker, the father of our sub- 
ject, was the son of George W. Walker, a 
prominent physician of Virginia and later of 
Kentucky, where the son was reared and 
engaged in farming. He there wedded 
Mary Ann Ba.xter, and in 1849 removed to 
Carroll county, Missouri, where he managed 
a farm for ten years, and then came to 
Texas, locating first in Victoria county. 
There he purchased land and engaged in 
farming and raising horses until 1863, then 
was in Lavaca county two years, and was 
next a resident of Bell county, where he 
rented land and engaged in dealing in cattle 
for a few years. The year 1878 found him 
a citizen of Comanche county, where he 
purchased a tract of unimproved land, on 
which he raised cattle. On selling out he 
located at De Leon, in 1889, and now finds 
a pleasant home with our subject. His 
wife passed away in 1891. For many 
years they belonged to the Methodist Episco- 
jKii Church, south. In politics Mr. Walker 
is an ardent Democrat, but never cared for 
office, though he served six years as justice 
of the peace in Kentucky. He entered the 
Confederate army during the late war, but 
on account of age and infirmity was dis- 
charged. 

The parental household included the fol- 
lowing children: Samuel, who died leaving 
a wife and two children; George W. , of this 
review; William W., a farmer and stock- 
raiser of Bell county, Texas; Maggie, who 
became the wife of J. S. Whilely, and died 
leaving four children; Benjamin F., an agri- 
culturist of Comanche county; and JohnH., 
who died leaving a wife and four children. 



Of this family Samuel was for two years a 
member of Marmaduke's brigade during the 
civil war. 

The early life of our subject was mostly 
passed in the saddle, herding stock for his 
father, and after quitting that business came 
to Comanche county, where for eight years 
he conducted a blacksmith shop at De Leon. 
On selling out he purchased a tract of wild 
land, to which he later added thirteen acres 
under cultivation and improved with a 
house and other buildings. The first pur- 
chase comprised two hundred and six acres, 
but he has extended the boundaries of his 
farm until it now includes three hundred 
and seventy-six acres, one hundred and fifty 
of which are well cultivated. He has a 
commodious two-story frame house, also a 
good tenant house, barns and outbuildings, 
and a fine orchard has been set out. The 
place is a valuable one, situated four miles 
east of De Leon, and is well watered by 
Armstrong creek. Mr. Walker is now 
giving his attention to the improvement of 
his land and to stock-raising, having some 
fine Holstein, Durham and Jersey cattle, as 
well as thoroughbred horses. He has also 
engaged in drilling and boring wells, which 
business has added materially to his income. 

In 1870, Mr. Walker led to the mar- 
riage altar Miss Amanda Donaho, who was 
born in Navarro county, January 22, 1854, 
and is the daughter of Isaac Donaho, who 
was of Irish, Scotch and English descent. 
On coming to Texas her father located in 
Cherokee county, where he married a Miss 
Edwards and later located in Navarro 
county, whence he removed to Bell connty. 
For two years he served in the Confederate 
army, after which he went to Mexico, where 
he remained until the close of the war, when 
he returned to Bell county. While on a 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



799 



visit to Cherokee county he died, in Septem- 
ber, 1870. He was a leading member and 
class-leader in the Methodist church, to 
which his wife also belonged. In their fam- 
ily were five children, — Jennie, Annie, Bud- 
die, Amanda and Lucinda. 

Nine children honored the union of our 
subject and his wife: Mary, wife of Isom 
Green, an agriculturist; John I., who is 
married and is engaged in farming at home; 
Katie, Phelia and George C., — all at home; 
and Barbara E., Charles, Lulu J., and 
Sarah A. , — all deceased. 

Mr. Walker is above the average size, 
is pleasant and genial in manner, and wins 
many friends. Politically he is identified 
with the Democratic party, has served as 
deputy sheriff and constable for three terms, 
and is capable of filling any office, but pre- 
fers to give his time and attention to his 
business interests. 



>T^ AMES SINCLAIR, a leading and in- 
g fluential member of the agricultural 
^ f community of Comanche county and 
a veteran of the civil war, was born 
in North Carolina, March 9, 1844, and dur- 
ing his early life lent his assistance to his 
father in carrying on the labors of the home 
farm while not attending the country schools 
where his education was secured. He is 
the son of D. A. and Effie (Mclntire) Sin- 
clair, also natives of North Carolina, where 
they married and reared their family of 
seven children: Daniel, of Texarkana; John, 
deceased; Peter, v.ho died while serving in 
the civil war; Mary, deceased wife of N. C. 
Caldwell; Arch R., deceased; James, of this 
sketch; and George, who was accidentally 
killed. 

Peter Sinclair, the grandfather of our 



subject, was also a native of North Caro- 
lina, where he was living during the Revo- 
lutionary war, but was too young for serv- 
ice. By occupation he was a farmer, and 
was a leading member in the Presbyterian 
church. The father remained in his native 
state until his family was nearly grown, 
when, in 1859, he came to Texas, locating 
in Bell county, where he planted a crop, but 
the following year went to Arkansas. There 
he died six years later, at the age of sixty- 
seven. His political support was given the 
Democratic party. After his death the 
family returned to Texas, and at Dublin the 
mother passed away, in 1877. She was a 
faithful and consistent member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 

Mr. Sinclair, whose name introduces 
this narrative, remained at home with his 
parents until 1862, when he enlisted in 
Monroe's regiment of cavalry, serving in the 
Trans-Mississippi department. He went 
into camp at Fort Smith, and later went on 
long raids through Missouri with General 
Price, seeing some hard service and partici- 
pating in several hotly contested battles. 
He belonged to Cabil's brigade, and the 
commander of his company v/as Captain 
Albert Alexander. He was never wounded 
or taken prisoner, and gallantly served until 
the close of the struggle, his last engage- 
ment being at Moss' Mill, in Arkansas. 

Returning home, Mr. Sinclair resumed 
work upon the farm, and in 1S6S again 
came to Texas, locating in Bell county, 
where he was married in 1871, the lady of 
his choice being Maria Cynthia Steel, who 
was a mem.ber of the Methodist church 
and a daughter of Samuel Steel, who came 
from Tennessee to Texas in 1854, settling 
in Comanche county. He served through 
the civil war, and is now living in Indian 



800 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Territory. By this union one daughter was 
born, — Minnie. Mr. Sinclair was engaged 
in milling at Sulphur Springs when the 
death of his wife occurred. He was later 
engaged in the same business at Gatesville, 
Jonesboro and Dublin. 

At the latter place in 1879 Mr. Sinclair 
wedded Miss Molly Conway, daughter of 
Judge Conway, of Arkansas, by whom he 
had three children, but all are now deceased, 
and this wife died in 1885. In 1882 he had 
returned to Jonesboro, where he engaged in 
farming, which occupation he has since 
continued with good success, and also owns 
a valuable farm in Hamilton county, Texas, 
both well improved. In Palo Pinto county, 
in 1888, Mr. Sinclair was united in marriage 
with Miss Ada Stewart, daughter of G. W. 
Stewart, of that county, and to them were 
born two children, one yet living, — Collie, 
— who was born January 9, 1 8S9. The 
wife and mother died in 1891, and in Au- 
gust, 1894, in Comanche county, was cele- 
brated the marriage of Mr. Sinclair and 
Mrs. Caldwell, widow of N. C. Caldwell, by 
whom she had one son, Wilber. Her fa- 
ther, Peter Whisnant, was born in Georgia, 
of German lineage, and is now engaged in 
farming in Comanche county. With the ex- 
ception of his first wife the others have been 
members of the Missionary Baptist church, 
to which he also belongs. In politics, Mr. 
Sinclair is a straight and stanch adherent of 
the principles formulated in the platforms of 
the Democratic party, and in the exercise 
of his elective franchise almost invariably 
supports the candidates offered by that or- 
ganization. He is one of the representative 
men of the county and merits and receives 
the warmest confidence and esteem of his 
fellow citizens. 

From infancy our subject has reared two 



children of his brother, A. R. Sinclair, who 
died in 1882. Their mother, who bore the 
maiden name of Ellen Gallager, was born in 
Mississippi, and came to Texas with her 
father, J. E. Gallager, who is a mechanic. 
She died in 1880, leaving her two sons; 
Emmett, who was born September 17, 
1878; and Carr, born February 26, 1880. 
From Mr. Sinclair they have received the 
care and attention that a parent would be- 
stow, and have been provided with a good 
education. They fully appreciate the kind- 
ness of their uncle and he has performed his 
entire duty by rearing and training them to 
be honorable and useful citizens. 



at 



ILLIAM MORRISON, deceased, 
was one of the early settlers of 
Comanche county, where he was 
prominently connected with its 
agricultural interests. He was a native of 
Tennessee, born in Henry county, January 
16, 1829, and was the son of A. J. Mor- 
rison, of the same state, who was a farmer 
and stock-raiser. As early as 1836 the 
father brought his family to Texas, locating 
in Red River county, whence he later re- 
n)oved to Titus county, and there died in 
the early '60s. He was an active and 
worthy member of the Methodist church. 
In his family were nine children, namely: 
James, William, Ann, Alabama, Andrew, 
Thomas, John, Caroline and George W. 

The earl}' life of our subject was mostly 
passed in Texas, where he secured a limited 
education and became familiar with the 
duties that fall to the lot of the agricultur- 
ist. He remained under the parental roof 
until grown, and in 1853 went to Cali- 
fornia, where he engaged in mining and 
farming for three years. 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



801 



In 1856, soon after his return to Titus 
county, Texas, Mr. Morrison was united in 
marriage with Miss Sallie O'Neal, who was 
bom in Hardin county, Tennessee, June 24, 
1836, and when eight years old c.ame to 
Texas with her parents, G. W. and Mary 
(Majors) O'Neal, who were married in Ten- 
nessee. At one time her father lived at 
White River, Arkansas, but he later re- 
turned to Hardin county, Tennessee, where 
he served as justice of the peace several 
years. Although his principal occupation 
was farming, he also engaged in school- 
teaching to some extent. In 1842, with 
his family, he emigrated to Texas, settling 
in Red River county, later removed to Erath 
county, and died in Dublin, in 1865. He 
was quite a religious man, a devout mem- 
ber of the Missionary Baptist church, to 
which his wife also belonged. Her death 
occurred in December, 1873. Their family 
constituted the following children: Jane, 
Robert, Cornelius, William H., Sallie, Eliz- 
abeth, Margaret, Nancy, James L. and John 
G. ; the last two are engaged in stock-rais- 
ing at Pagosa Springs, Colorado. 

In 1859, Mr. Morrison came to Coman- 
che county, where he purchased land on 
Armstrong creek, and there engaged in the 
stock business, but at once began having 
trouble with the Indians. The family had 
to move several times on account of the In- 
dian raids, always going farther east. The 
families of the early settlers would always 
journey together for protection. After 
repeated efforts Mr. Morrison opened up a 
small farm which he had purchased, on the 
site of the present town of Dublin. In 1862 
he entered the Confederate army, becoming a 
member of Gurley's regiment, and was 
stationed at several points in Texas. At 
Fort Smith, Arkansas, he was taken ill, and 



was discharged there. On returning home 
he served as a member of the state militia. 

After the close of the war, Mr. Morrison 
sold his Dublin home, and removed to land 
which he afterward bought, but at that time 
was not in the market. He erected a dwell- 
ing there and engaged in the stock business for 
a number of years. About 1869 he sold the 
most of his cattle and purchased the tract 
of four hundred and forty-two acres in Co- 
manche county where his family is now lo- 
cated and where he made many valuable 
improvements and continued the cultivation 
of the land until called from this life, hav- 
ing at that time seventy acres under the 
plow, a fine orchard upon the place, a com- 
fortable residence and good outbuildings. 
He was a faithful member of the Missionary 
Baptist church, as is also his estimable wife, 
and his career was an honorable and up- 
right one, well worthy of emulation. 

The household included nine children, 
namely: James R., who is now engaged in 
farming in Colorado; Walter, a farmer of 
Erath county, Texas; Oscar, also an agri- 
culturist; Lucy, who became the wife of J. 
Ross, and died in February, 1893, leaving 
two daughters; Hardin O. and Neill, both 
farmers; George W. , who died at the age 
of eighteen years; Lemuel M., also a farmer; 
and Ernest B. , who is yet single and is re- 
siding on the old homestead with his mother. 



>T^OHN SAMPLE LONG, A. B., M. D. 
K — Prominent in the medical frater- 
/• 1 nity of the Lone Star state we chron- 
icle the above named gentleman. In 
fact our work would be incomplete without 
at least a passing mention of those who have 
come to the front in the noblest calling of 
the professional world. Dr. Long is cer- 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



tainly entitled to mention ainong that class. 
Although a young man, comparatively speak- 
ing, he has through his own exertions 
reached the top round of the ladder of fame 
in his chosen profession, and in justice to 
him we may stale that to-day he ranks 
among the most able and progressive med- 
ical and surgical advisers of this common- 
wealth. He is also entitled to the fraternal 
grip of fellowship among our leading schol- 
ars and local educators, in consequence of 
having devoted several years of his life to 
the training and moulding of the youthful 
minds in the higher branches of literary at- 
tainments and knowledge. 

The Doctor is of German extraction, the 
Long family having been founded in Amer- 
ica by three brothers who came from Ger- 
many about 1796, and from one of these was 
descended John Long, the father of our sub- 
ject, who was born in the Keystone state 
and taken by his parents to Tennessee when 
only a child, where he grew to manhood. 
He espoused in marriage Miss Victoria Dis- 
meeker, a native of Missouri, and to them 
were born five children, the subject of this 
sketch being the eldest. The three male 
representatives of the family are professional 
men. 

The Doctor's birth occurred at Harris- 
burg, Mississippi, October 12, 1855, and he 
obtained his early education in the public 
schools of his native state. He completed 
his literary training at the University of 
Kno.wille, Tennessee, in 1850, receiving the 
degree of A. B. On the completion of his 
collegiate course, Dr. Long engaged in 
teaching at Aberdeen, Mississippi, becoming 
the principal of the public schools, where he 
remained for two years, and was then 
elected president of the Okolona College in 
the same state. Three years later he re- 



signed his position in that institution, and 
went to Florida, locating at Dade City, 
where he became interested in orange cul- 
ture. There he began reading medicine, 
but later had charge of the schools at Shef- 
field, Alabama, up to 1889. He graduated 
in medicine and surgery at the University of 
New York city in 1892, and has had much 
valuable clinical experience in the hospitals 
of that city and Jersey City, where he was 
elected house physician and surgeon. Re- 
signing his position there at the end of a 
year, he turned his face westward, and took 
up his residence at Crete, Nebraska, where 
he soon built up a practice that brought him 
six thousand dollars a year. 

On the 2d of July, 1895, Dr. Long was 
united in marriage with Miss Nora Streeter, 
a most estimable young lady, who was born 
in Wisconsin. Owing to the extreme cold 
climate of Nebraska, November, 1895, found 
the Doctor and his wife located at Meridian, 
Texas, where he has already established a 
fair and constantly increasing practice. Po- 
litically, he is allied with the Democratic 
party, and religiously is a communicant of 
the Methodist church. 



HARON CUNNINGHAM.— As a rep- 
resentative man and honored pio- 
neer of Comanche county the gentle- 
man whose name heads this sketch 
stands pre-eminent, and he is one of the 
most public-spirited and enterprising farm- 
ers and stock-raisers of the locality. Since 
1855 his home has been in this county, so 
that he has witnessed almost its entire de- 
velopment and progress, and has been no 
unimportant factor in promoting its welfare. 
His birth occurred in Alabama, April 8, 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



803 



1836, but since the age of three years he 
has been a resident of the Lone Star state. 

His father, Captain James Cunningham, 
was born and reared in Tennessee, but when 
a young man went to Alabama, where he 
married Susan Tate, a native of that state, 
a daughter of Aaron and Ehzabeth (Conley) 
Tate, both natives of Kentucky, where 
their marriage was clebrated. The Tate 
family was one of prominence in Virginia, 
and its representatives served in the Revo- 
lutionary war. The paternal grandfather of 
our subject, Jonathan Cunningham, was of 
Irish descent, and was a leading farmer of 
Tennessee, where his death occurred. 

Captain Cunningham engaged in farming 
in Alabama until 1839, when with his fam- 
ily he emigrated to Texas, moving overland, 
and when he arrived at Titus county had 
but thirty dollars remaining. There he 
harvested two crops, after which he removed 
to Travis county, and at the end of four 
years went to Williamson county, where he 
remained until 1855, which year witnessed 
his arrival in Comanche county. There 
were only five families in the county at that 
time, and he pre-empted one hundred and 
sixty acres of land two miles south of New- 
burg. He also purchased another claim so 
that he had three hundred and twenty acres, 
which he at once began to improve, and as 
he brought a herd of cattle with him also 
engaged in the stock business. He added 
to his original tract from time to time until 
he became one of the large landowners of 
the county, and placed two hundred acres 
under cultivation. Around his entire farm 
he placed a stone fence. 

Captain Cunningham became one of the 
leading men of the county, which he helped 
to organize, and was one of the commission- 
ers to locate the county seat. During the 



late war he entered the state service, be- 
coming captain of a company of rangers, 
and was always ready and on hand when 
needed. He was in many raids and in some 
hotly contested battles with the Indians, 
among the number participating in the Dove 
creek light, but was never wounded. A 
brave and fearless commander, he partici- 
pated in several raids against the Indians 
after his enlistment had expired, being in 
the engagement on Brown's creek, in Mills 
county, in 1868, and also in 1870 punishing 
their outrages. He was a strong Democrat 
in politics, fraternally was a Mason, and re- 
ligiously was a consistent member of the 
Missionary Baptist church for many years. 
He was born in 18 16, and died on the 8th 
of July, 1894, willing to submit himself to 
the care of Him who doeth all things well. 
He faithfully discharged every duty that de- 
volved upon him, was said to be the first in 
the chase of the savages, and the first in 
hospitality and charity and in the hearts of 
his neighbors, always willing and ready to 
lend aid to the suffering and alleviate the 
distressed. At his death he divided his 
money among his children, but left the re- 
mainder of his estate to his faithful wife, 
who still survives him. She is also an act- 
ive worker in the Baptist church. 

In their family were twelve children, all 
of whom are yet living and are numbered 
among the most prominent and public-spir- 
ited people of this portion of the state. 
Aaron is the oldest. Elizabeth is the wife 
of T. J. Holmesly, a banker and stockman 
of Comanche count}', and they were the 
first couple married in the county. David 
H. is a well known farmer and stockman of 
this county, as is also Richard T. John V. 
is a leading citizen of Taylor county, where 
he served as sheriff for sixteen years. Will- 



801 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



iam H. and James W. are also farmers and 
stockmen of Comanche county. Joseph J. 
carries on the same pursuit in Mills county. 
Thomas A. is also engaged in farming and 
stock- raising. George W. is now engaged 
in the grocery business in Mills county. 
Mary J. is the wife of Joseph Neely, an ag- 
riculturist. Una, the youngest, is the wife 
of James R. Lewis, a farmer of Mills county. 
One hundred and three grandchildren have 
been born, of whom eighty-eight still sur- 
vive, and fifty-one great-grandchildren, forty- 
one of whom are living. 

Upon Te.xas soil Mr. Cunningham, 
whose name heads this sketch, was reared, 
and he remained at home with his parents 
until he was married, in i860, to Martha 
J. Montgomery, a native of Mississippi, and 
a daughter of Dr. George and Martha J. 
(Norton) Montgomery, who came from that 
state to Texas in 1857. Here the Doctor 
practiced his profession, and also purchased 
land and engaged in the stock business with 
most gratifying results. He took an active 
interest in all public affairs, voting with the 
Democratic party, and was called upon to 
fill a number of important positions, includ- 
ing that of county judge. He died about 
1879, and the mother of Mrs. Cunningham 
passed away in 1855. They were both 
earnest members of the Christian church, 
for which he often preached. They had 
four daughters, — Frances, Martha, Rebecca 
A. and Mary E. For his second wife Doc- 
tor Montgomery chose Mrs. Gurley, a 
daughter of Joseph Hicks, an early settler 
of Comanche county, and to them were 
born five children: Sally J., William H., 
Georgetta, James A. and Henry A. 

In 1861, with his father, Mr. Cunning- 
ham joined the ranger service and took 
part in many important engagements, but 



was never wounded. After the close of the 
war he also engaged in a number of raids 
after the hostile Indians, being in the fights 
at Salt mountain and Brown's creek, and 
while in the service left his family in Co- 
manche county, where he had previously 
engaged in farming and stock-raising. He 
continued in the latter occupation until 
1874, when he purchased si.x hundred and 
forty acres, on which he still makes his 
home, and which he has transformed into 
one of the most highly cultivated tracts in 
this section of the state. Besides general 
farming, he has also been extensively en- 
gaged in the stock business, and has added 
to his possessions until he now has about 
two thousand acres of land, three hundred 
acres of which are excellently improved, 
while the remainder is under fence and used 
for pasture. It is divided into three farms, 
on which are good and substantial buildings 
and all the conveniences of modern farms, 
including wind-pumps, which supply an 
abundance of water. The land is pleas- 
antly situated on Mercer creek, nine miles 
southwest of Comanche. 

Mrs. Cunningham, who was a faithful 
member of the Christian church, died in 
1883, leaving six children, who are still liv- 
ing: Martha Susanna, wife of George A. 
Chilton, of Comanche; Andrew J., a mer- 
chant of that place; George A., David H., 
Berty M. and Thomas J. In 1884 Mr. 
Cunningham was again married, his second 
union being with Mrs. Amanda J. Henson, 
who was born in Missouri, May 27, 1853, 
and is a daughter of Hezekiah McPherson, 
deceased, who came to Texas in 1862 and 
engaged in farming and stock dealing. 
Five children grace this union: Joseph 
Cleveland, Mary E., Florence A., Leroy 
and James R. The wife and mother is a 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



805 



devoted member of the Baptist church, 
while Mr. Cunningham is connected with 
the Masonic order and adheres to the prin- 
ciples of the Democratic party. 



>^AMES S. HARLOW, the proprietor 
^ of a cotton gin at Sipe Springs, 
A 1 Comanche county, is a worthy rep- 
resentative of the industrial interests 
of this section of the state. As he is widely 
known in this locality and is held in high 
esteem by all, we gladly give him a place 
amoiigthe leading citizensof the community, 
knowing that the record of his life will 
prove of interest to his many friends. 

Mr. Harlow claims Georgia as the state 
of his nativity, his birth having occurred 
February i8, 1861, and his parents being 
John and Sarah (Hopkins) Harlow. His 
father, also born in Georgia, was a mer- 
chant by occupation. His mother was a 
native of the same state and their famil}' 
consisted of five children, of whom James 
S. is the third in order of birth. He passed 
the days of his boyhood and youth in 
Georgia and attended the schools near his 
home, acquiring a good practical education. 
He has added to this by reading, observa- 
tion and experience and is now a well in- 
formed man. He was nineteen years of age 
when he arrived in Texas, taking up his 
abode in Johnson county in 1880. Here- 
sided there for three years and on the ex- 
piration of that period came to Comanche 
county, where he has since made his home. 

In this country where cotton-raising is 
one of the principal occupations of the 
people the ginning of that produce has be- 
come an important industry, and it is to this 
work that Mr. Harlow devotes his energies. 
He has a well equipped cotton-gin at Sipe 



Springs, about twenty-two miles southwest 
of Comanche, which was erected in 1888, 
and has a capacity of fourteen bales of cot- 
ton daily. He has two stands of fifty saws 
each, and the mill is operated by steam 
power. The machinery is modern in con- 
struction and the work which he turns out is 
most satisfactory and has thus gained him a 
good trade. He handles the cotton crop 
raised within a radius of many miles, and 
in addition to this he is also operating a 
gristmill. He is a wide-awake, energetic 
business man and his labors are bringing to 
him a good income. 

Politically Mr. Harlow exercises his 
right of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Democracy and has been 
allied to that party since attaining his major- 
ity. He takes an active part in its work 
and is now presiding as chairman of the 
precinct committee. In manner he is frank, 
courteous and genial and all who know him 
have for him that high regard which is 
universally paid to manly virtue and worth. 



aHARLES V. BRYSON.— The man 
who faithfully performs his duty to 
his country, his neighbor and him- 
self belongs to that class of citi- 
zens who stand for the true strength and 
safety of the nation; and such a one is the 
subject of this review. His life is not 
marked by events of startling interest, but 
is that of an honorable, upright man, whom 
to know is to respect. 

Mr. Bryson is a native of North Caro- 
lina, born May 9, 185S, his parents being 
Coleman and Louisa (Bnmgardner) Bryson. 
The parents also were born in North Caro- 
lina, and the mother is still living in that 
state, but the father has been called to the 



80G 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



home beyond, his death occurring in 1866. 
The famil}' numbered eight children, — six 
sons and two daughters, — the fifth in order 
of birth being the subject of this review. 
He was reared to farm Hfe, early becoming 
familiar with all the duties that fall to the 
lot of the agriculturist. He came to Texas 
in the fall of 1878, then being a young man 
of twenty years, and located in Comanche 
county, where he has since maintained his 
residence. He now lives nine miles south- 
west of the city of Comanche, and has ac- 
cumulated an extensive property, his landed 
possessions aggregating fourteen hundred 
and sixteen acres, of which three hundred 
acres are under a high state of cultivation. 
The fields are well tilled and the yield is a 
merited reward for the care and labor he 
bestows upon his farm. He also has a one- 
acre orchard planted with peach and other 
fruit trees. His farm stock is well graded, 
his cattle being of the Durham and Hol- 
stein breeds, while his beef cattle are of the 
Texas breed. He deals largely in cattle, 
and at this writing has many on hand for 
market purposes. 

On the 27th of November, 1890, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Bryson and 
Miss Minerva Forehand, a young lady of 
culture and refinement. She is one of 
Texas' native daughters, her parents being 
Blake and Elizabeth (Stanley) Forehand. 
Her father, who is now deceased, became a 
resident of this state in 184S. The happy 
married life of Mr. and Mrs. Bryson was 
soon terminated, for the young wife died on 
the 1st of September, 1891. 

In his political views Mr. Bryson is 
allied with the progressive wing of the 
Democratic party. He is a public-spirited 
citizen, alA'ays ready and willing to encour- 
age all public measures tending toward the 



development of the county and state. In 
his business affairs he has prospered, owing 
to his perseverance and capable manage- 
ment, and his honorable dealing has won 
him the confidence of all with whom he has 
come in contact. 



ai 



ILLIAM C. WEAVER, a promi- 
nent and prosperous farmer of 
Comanche county, was born in 
Alabama on the 2d of August, 
1845, his parents being William W. and 
Mary (Lewis) Weaver, both of whom were 
natives of Virginia but have now passed to 
the home beyond, the father having died in 
1S90, while the mother's death occurred in 
1892. Mr. Weaver was by occupation a 
builder of carriages and buggies and carried 
on that business up to the time of his death. 
In the state of his nativity William C. 
Weaver spent the days of his boyhood and 
youth and attended the public schools near 
his home, thus acquiring a good English edu- 
cation, which has fitted him for life's prac- 
tical duties. Having arrived at years of 
maturity he was married, in 1869, in Mis- 
sissippi, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Annie Green, a native of Alabama. She 
has been to her husband a faithful compan- 
ion and helpmeet and presides with gracious 
dignity over their hospitable home. 

It was in the year 1882 that they came 
to Texas, taking up their abode in Connnche 
city, where Mr. Weaver followed the car- 
penter's trade for a number of years, having 
previously learned the business in Alabama. 
He afterward turned his attention to farm- 
ing and stock-raising, and for the past four 
years he has resided upon his present farm, 
which is situated nine miles northwest of 
Comanche. Here he owns two hundred 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



807 



acres of choice farming land, of which 
eighty acres are under cultivation, planted 
with cotton and grain. He also has a one- 
acre peach orchard, which with the well- 
tilled fields indicates the thrift and enter- 
prise of the owner. His farm is well 
stocked with Texas cattle, graded with the 
Durham and Holstein breeds, and in this 
branch of his business he has been success- 
ful, adding not a little to his income thereby. 
He is a sagacious, far-sighted business man 
whose energy and resolute purpose have 
been the means which he has employed to 
raise himself to a position of affluence. 

Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have an interest- 
ing family of six children, five sons and a 
daughter : Mary I., William M., Frank 
G., Robert L., Eddie L., Oliver J. The 
parents and children are consistent members 
of the Methodist church and take a deep in- 
terest in its work and advancement. In his 
political views Mr. Weaver is a Democrat, 
and takes an active interest in political af- 
fairs and the success of his party, but has 
never sought or desired office for himself. 



at 



ILLIAM N. Mccarty.— Te.xas 
with its great area furnishes un- 
limited opportunities to the agri- 
culturist, and rapidly its wild 
lands are being transformed into fine homes 
and rich farms which vie in productiveness 
with those states that have always been con- 
sidered leaders in this industry. Among 
those who have aided in developing the re- 
sources of Brown county is the gentleman 
whose name introduces this review, and as 
a worthy representative of its farming inter- 
ests he well deserves mention in this 
volume. 

Mr. McCarty was born in Rusk county. 



Texas, on the 8th of December, 1853, his 
parents being Thompson and Nancy B. 
(Baxter) McCarty. The father was a native 
of Alabama and emigrated to the Lone Star 
state in 1835, making his home here until 
his death, which occurred in 1S82. His 
family numbered ten children, of whom 
William was the fourth in order of birth. 
When he was a lad of seven summers his 
parents removed to Smith county, Texas, 
and some years later went to Van Zandt 
county, where William was reared to man- 
hood and acquired his education. He came 
to Brown county in 1879 and is now pleas- 
antly located fourteen miles southwest of 
Comanche. His desirable farm, well culti- 
vated, comprises two hundred acres of rich 
land, of which one hundred and ten acres 
has been transformed into fertile fields, 
whose harvests furnish him a good income. 
He also has a two-acre orchard, largely 
planted with peach trees. He engages ex- 
tensively in the breeding of fine stock of the 
Percheron and Morgan bloods, and owns 
one of the finest stallions in central Texas. 
His cattle are also well graded and are of 
the Durham and Holstein breeds. He is 
systematic in his business, progressive in his 
methods and keeps fully abreast with all the 
improvements of the times. 

In Bosque county, Texas, in February, 
187-5, ^Ir. McCarty married Miss Matilda 
Williams, who died April 5, 1877, leaving 
one child, Jerome. He afterward wedded 
Adelia Reynolds, by whom he had four chil- 
dren, — Brown, Eli, Walter and Ella. His 
present wife was in her maidenhood Miss 
Louisa Harris, a native of Mississippi. They 
have two interesting children, Willie and an 
infant daughter. 

In his political associations Mr. McCarty 
i is a Republican and warmly advocates the 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



principles of that party. In 1889 he was 
appointed postmaster of Blanket and for 
four years faithfully and efficiently discharged 
the duties of that position. Socially he 
affiliates with the Masonic fraternity. His 
support is given all measures calculated to 
prove of public benefit, and he is known as 
a straightforward business man and upright 
citizen, whom to know is to respect. 



HXDY E. GREEN is one of the 
popular citizens of Comanche coun- 
ty, his genial manner and his ster- 
ling worth gaining him many friends. 
He resides upon one of the fruitful farms of 
this section of the state, where his enter- 
prise and industry are indicated by the 
thrifty appearance of everything on the 
place. 

Mr. Green is one of the native sons of 
the Lone Star state. He was born in Free- 
stone county on the 1 7th of February, 1856, 
a son of T. W. and Nancy J. (Brentfield) 
Green, both of whom were natives of Ten- 
nessee and are now deceased. His father 
was a physician by profession and in 1847 
removed to Texas, locating in Smith coun- 
ty. His death occurred in 1867, and his 
wife, surviving him many years, passed 
away in 1885. Their family numbered 
thirteen children, our subject being the 
twelfth in order of birth. He spent the first 
fourteen years of his life in the county of his 
nativity and was reared to farming and 
stock-raising, early becoming his father's 
assistant in those pursuits. That work has 
been his life occupation and it is the calling 
to which he now devotes the greater part of 
his time and attention. 

After residing in several counties in the 
state, Mr. Green came to Comanche county. 



where he has resided for the past eighteen 
years. His real-estate interests comprise 
nine hundred acres of valuable land, and 
the farm is situated fifteen miles northwest 
of the county-seat of Comanche. He has 
three hundred acres of land under a high 
state of cultivation, including a three-acre 
orchard, mostly planted with peach-trees. 
The remainder of the cultivated tracts is 
divided into fields of convenient size, where 
are seen the various crops best adapted to 
this climate, and in times of harvest there 
is ample indication of the labor he bestows 
upon them in the rich returns he gathers for 
his labor. He is also engaged in the breed- 
ing of thoroughbred stock, making a specialty 
of draft and running horses. He owns an 
imported English Norman stallion and also 
a famous jack. His domestic cattle are well- 
graded Durham and Jersey stock, while his 
market or beef cattle are of the finest Texas 
grades. He also makes a specialty of rais- 
ing Poland-China hogs. Although farming 
and stock-raising has always been his chief 
pursuit, he is a man of broad capabilities 
and his efforts are not confined to those 
lines. He has business interests in the city 
of Comanche, being proprietor of the Rose 
Bud Mine House, where are supplied all the 
best beverages that are to be found on the 
market. 

On the 17th of February, 1S76, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Green and 
Miss Sarah H. Wyatt, the ceremony being 
performed in Hill county. The lady is a 
native of Texas and a descendant of F. H. 
Wyatt, a well-known Texas pioneer. He 
was a native of Alabama and entered the 
Confederate army at the beginning of the 
war, serving until near the close, when he 
was killed near Franklin, Tennessee. Mr. 
and Mrs. Green have nine children, namely: 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Edna F. , Myrtle M., Lucinda E., Flenny 
W., AmyE., Herbert E., Rex C, Alice E., 
Andy B. and two daughters deceased. 

In his political connections Mr. Green is a 
stanch and steadfast Democrat, who warmly 
advocates the principles of his party. He 
has been a member of the school board for 
several years, and in 1884 he was elected 
for a two-years term as county cattle and 
hide inspector, — an office now abolished. 
Socially he affiliates with Sipe Springs 
Lodge, No. 537, F. & A. M., also with the 
Knights of Pythias fraternity of Comanche. 
He is recognized as one of the representa- 
tive men of the county and has a large circle 
of friends. 



'irj'OHN H. THORNTON.— The com- 
fl monwealth of Tennessee has furn- 
A W ished Te.xas with many of her lead- 
ing citizens, and among the promi- 
nent men of Comanche county who hail from 
that state, and to a rcsiniic of whose life 
we would at this point invite attention, is 
John H. Thornton, the Populist nominee 
for county sheriff. 

Mr. Thornton was born in Sumner coun- 
ty, Tennessee, June 14, 1849, son of Joseph 
and Amanda (Lane) Thornton, both natives 
of that state; and of their family of five 
children he is the eldest. His father a 
farmer by occupation, the subject of our 
sketch was brought up to that calling, and 
remained in his native state until he emerged 
from his 'teens. Then, in 1S69, at the age 
of twenty, he left the old home and its as- 
sociations and sought his fortune in Texas, 
landing first at Waco, where he continued 
to reside for some three years. Since then 
he has been a resident of Comanche count)'. 
His present home is located on his farm 



sixteen miles northwest of Comanche, Gap 
being his post-office address. Here he owns 
a fine farm comprising one hundred acres, 
about sixty of which are under cultivation 
and producing excellent crops, and among 
other improvements which have enhanced 
the value of his place may be mentioned a 
family orchard and vineyard. Mr. Thorn- 
ton also owns and operates a cotton-gin on 
his farm, which was erected in 1891, has 
two stands of sixty rows each, and a ca- 
pacity of sixteen bales per day. Both in 
the operation of his gin and in his agricult- 
ural pursuits he is meeting with that suc- 
cess which his earnest efforts merit. 

Mr. Thornton was married March 7, 
1877, the lady of his choice being Miss Mis- 
souri E. Young, a native of Alabama, with 
whose life his was happily blended until her 
death, July 2, 1889. She left two sons, — 
Robert C. and Carley A. 

Public-spirited and progressive, Mr. 
Thornton takes a commendable interest in 
all measures and movements intended to 
promote the growth and development of the 
county. It was largely through his efforts 
that the post-office was established at Gap, 
and to him belongs the distinction of being 
its first postmaster. He has tor some years 
past given a stanch support to the Populist 
party, is at present the nominee of this 
party for the office of county sheriff, and 
prior to this has been honored with nomina- 
tion for public office. His popularity in the 
county is well established. We would 
further state that he is a friend to schools 
and all educational interests, and that for 
several years he has been one of the efficient 
members of the school board of district No. 
13. He affiliates socially with the Masonic 
order. Much more might be said of his 
busy, useful life and his high standing in 



SlO 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



the community, but the above epitome will 
suffice to show his standiiijj and serve as an 
index to his character. 



y^T>^ACK MATTHEWS. — In this 
■ IB young man is found one of the 
X £ ^ enterprising and progressive na- 
tive sons of the Lone Star state. 
He was born in Comanche county, Decem- 
ber 25, 1870. and thus was a Christmas 
present in the Matthews home. His par- 
ents, both now deceased, were Thomas W. 
and Came (Carnes) Matthews, who were of 
Georgia birth and who landed in Te.xas 
about the year 1861. Thomas W. Mat- 
thews was a wheelwright by trade, was an 
honorable and upright man, and such was 
his life that it won him the confidence and 
respect of all with whom he came in con- 
tact. He was for nearly thirty years an 
honored resident of Te.xas. He died July 
7, 1890,' and his good wife passed away in 
1879 Their family consisted of nine chil- 
dren, the subject of our sketch being the 
sixth in order of birth. 

Mack Matthews grew up in his native 
county, receiving his education in its public 
schools, and at the age of seventeen began 
handling stock, which vocation he followed 
for several years. Also he became inter- 
ested in farming and at an early age carried 
on agricultural pursuits on his own account. 
For some six years he has been engaged in 
business, as an employee in the wine house 
of A. E. Green, of Comanche, and at the 
same time he has given a portion of his at- 
tention to the breeding of game fowl. 
There is probably not a man in central 
Texas who is a better judge of game birds 
than Mack Matthews. He is at this time 
making a specialty of crossing the English 



Dominick and Irish Gray fowl for pitting 
purposes, now has some two hundred young 
beside the best grades of parent birds, and 
can supply the sporting fraternity with un- 
equaled birds of sta3'ing qualities. 

Mr. Matthews is a taxpayer. He owns 
residence property in Comanche, takes an 
active interest in all public measures in- 
tended to advance the growth and develop- 
ment of the town and county, and is popu- 
lar in the circles in which he moves. Polit- 
ically, he is allied with the progressive wing 
of the Democratic party, although he takes 
no active interest in political matters. As 
he is yet only a young man, the most of his 
life's career lies ahead of the present date. 



* y ^ UE R. LACY is one of the bright 

1''^^ and promising young business men 

M. . r of his native state, and at this 

writing is to be found dealing out 

general merchandise and acting as deputy 

postmaster at the prosperous little town of 

Sidney, Texas. He is a son of one of the 

early settlers of the Lone Star state, and of 

him and his family we make brief record as 

follows: 

Hue R. Lacy was born in Rusk county, 
Texas, August 27, 1871, his parents being 
James B. and Elizabeth (Howerton) Lacy, 
the former a native of Tennessee and the 
latter of Texas. The senior Mr. Lacy left 
his old home in Tennessee as early as 1845 
and made his way to this new state which 
had that year been admitted into the Union, 
here made settlement on the frontier, and is 
now ranked with the prominent and pros- 
perous farmers of Comanche county. He 
was married in this state to Miss Elizabeth 
Howerton, a native of Texas and a daugh- 
ter of William and Mary Howerton, who 



HISTORY OP TEXAS. 



811 



were among the pioneers of Rusk county. 
William Howerton died in 1866, and his 
widow survived him until 1895, when her 
death occurred at Sidney. 

The subject of this sketch was the sec- 
ond in a family of si.\ children. He was 
brought up on his father's farm, had the ad- 
vantage of an ordinary education only, and 
early showed a preference for a business 
life. He is now engaged in general mer- 
chandising at Sidney, where he is deserved- 
ly successful, and popular both as a mer- 
chant and as deputy in the post-office. 

While he is not active in politics, Mr. 
Lacy takes an intelligent interest in all pub- 
lic affairs and gives his support to the Dem- 
ocratic party. He is unmarried. 



*y-» M. SMITH, the well-known sta- 
I i tion agent of the Texas Central 
1 \ railroad at Walnut Springs, and 
one of the native sons of this state, 
was born in Cass county, December 7, 1867, 
and was reared and educated here. His 
parents, P. B. and Julia A. (Whetstone) 
Smith, were both natives of Alabama, and 
they had eleven children, of whom our sub- 
ject is the tenth in order of birth. By occu- 
pation the father was a farmer, and on 
coming to Texas in 1853 first located in 
Cass county, but subsequently removed to 
Hill county, where he was extensively en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising. 

In the usual manner of farmer lads, Mr. 
Smith of this review spent his boyhood and 
youth until seventeen years of age, obtain- 
ing his education in the common schools of 
Hill county, and remained at the parental 
home until that time, when he began the 
battle of life on his own account. For two 



years he was engaged in clerking, and in 
the meantime studied and gained consider- 
able knowledge of telegraphy. He was 
was then an employee of the Atchison, To- 
peka & Santa Fe railroad for several years, 
and resided at Whitney and Morgan, Texas, 
prior to locating at Walnut Springs. Dur- 
ing his residence of two years at Morgan he 
accumulated some property, and at this 
writing still owns the Ross House at that 
place. While Mr. Smith is the owner of 
the property, he has never conducted the 
hotel. Three years ago he came to Walnut 
Springs, where he has since served as sta- 
tion agent, and is also agent for the Wells- 
Fargo Express Company. Socially he be- 
longs to the order of Knights of Pythias at 
Whitney, and to the Masonic order at 
Morgan. 

In the latter city, on the ist of January, 
1 89 1, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
Smith and Miss Lottie C. White, a native 
of Texas. Her father, John L. White, came 
to this state in 1861, and is a well-known 
stockman and also deputy United States 
marshal. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two 
children, — Julia E. and Marguerite. This 
young couple have gained many warm 
friends since locating at Walnut Springs, 
and have the esteem and respect of all who 
know them. 



■Sp-VAMES p. miller, M. D.— Promi- 
J| nently identified with the medical fra- 
A J ternity of Bosque county is he whose 
name heads this notice, and who is 
now successfully engaged in practice at 
Walnut Springs. His birth occurred in Hill 
county, Texas, on the 28th of October, 
1864, and he is a son of Dr. Robert Miller, 
a native of Alabama, who came to this state 



812 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



in 1864. The mother of our subject was 
born in Arkansas. 

In their family, consisting of seven chil- 
dren, the Doctor is the third in order of 
birth. He began his professional studies in 
18S7, his father being his preceptor, and at- 
tended his first course of lectures at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. He graduated at the 
Louisville Medical College in 1892, and on 
his return to Texas located at Peoria, Hill 
county, where he engaged in practice for 
two years. He also followed his profession 
at Vaughn, Texas, prior to locating at Wal- 
nut Springs. He is now enjoying a large 
and lucrative practice, which is constantly 
increasing, at Walnut Springs, the scene of 
his present labors. The Doctor is widely 
and favorably known in Bosque and adjoin- 
ing counties and has the confidence and re- 
spect of the community. He has that true 
love for his work without which there can 
be no success, and is one of the most pro- 
gressive physicians of the state. 



a LAY FRANCIS.— The gentleman 
whose name heads this brief sketch 
is a native of the Lone Star state, 
born in the city of Meridian, on the 
1 2th of June, 1873, and is the son of Ed- 
ward and Lucy (Bdingsly) Francis, the 
former of Louisiana and the latter of Ar- 
kansas. The father came to Te.xas as early 
as 1S56, where he engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, and upon the home farm our sub- 
ject was reared. 

When still in his 'teens, Mr. Francis, of 
this review, learned the trade of a black- 
smith, and after completing his apprentice- 
ship he worked as a journeyman for a few 
months, after which he opened a shop and 



began business on his own account. He 
does general blacksmithing and wagon- 
repair work, and being a splendid mechanic 
receives a fair share of the public patronage. 
Although a young man he is rapidly grow- 
ing into the esteem and respect of the com- 
munity, is of studious and industrious hab- 
its, and is a faithful member of the Meth- 
odist church. He belongs to no secret 
organizations and takes but little interest in 
political matters. 



ai 



ILLIAM W. HINES.— Among 
the practical and well-to-do farm- 
ers of Bosque county, none per- 
haps are more worthy of honora- 
ble mention than he whose name heads this 
brief sketch. His residence here dates back 
some thirteen years, and during that time 
he has been regarded as one of the most 
progressive citizens of the community. He 
is always ready and among the first to re- 
spond to public enterprises, particularly 
those calculated to advance and upbuild the 
county and state. In short, he is a public- 
spirited man, and not one who prefers to 
clog the wheels of progress. 

Mr. Hines was born in Louisiana, near 
Shreveport, April 5, 1849, and is a son of 
Welford B. and Margaret F. (Carnes) 
Hines, also natives of Louisiana. His 
father came to Texas about 185 1, and lo- 
cated in San Jacinto county, where our sub- 
ject was reared and followed farming. Since 
1883 he has lived in Bosque county, his 
present farm property being located eight 
miles east of Clifton. The place comprises 
two hundred and forty acres, one hundred 
and thirty of which is under cultivation and 
is supplietl with a line orchard of joung 
trees. He takes great pride in his stock 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



813 



and has some fine grades of Holstein and 
Jersey cattle. 

In Harris county, Texas, on the 20th of 
December, 1873, Mr. Hines led to the mar- 
riage altar Miss Martha A. White, a native 
of South Carolina, and a daughter of N. J. 
White, one of the early settlers of this state. 
Twelve children were born of this union, 
but seven are now deceased. Those living 
are Frank E., Georgia, WilfordT., William 
P. and Ruby. The family are consistent 
and faithful members of the Methodist 
church. Politically Mr. Hines is an earnest 
advocate of the principles of the People's 
party. Educational affairs have always 
found in him a friend, and he has accepta- 
bly served as a member of the board of 
school trustees. 



@EORGE W. MAY. -Prominently 
identified with the farming inter- 
ests of Bosque county is the above 
named gentleman, who is a native 
of east Tennessee, born September 13, 
185 I, and is a son of John J. May, whose 
birth occurred in North Carolina. In Ten- 
nessee was the birthplace of the mother. 
The parental household included twelve chil- 
dren, of whom our subject was the fifth in 
order of birth. 

Like most farmer boys, Mr. May aided 
in the labors of the fields upon the home 
place and acquired his education in the dis- 
trict schools of the neighborhood. He en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits in Tennessee 
until 1872, when he arrived in Texas and 
made his first location at Bonham, in Fan- 
nin county, where he resided about three 
years; thence he went to Grayson and 
Cooke counties. Two years later he went 
to Hill county, where he remained seven 



years, and also spent two years in Johnson 
county. Finally Mr. May located perma- 
nently in Bosque county, where he owns a 
fine farm pleasantly situated six miles east 
of Clifton, comprising six hundred acres, 
and of this amount four hundred and forty 
acres are in good cultivation and well im- 
proved. He also has a nice orchard upon 
his place, and the surroundings indicate 
thrift and progress. He also makes a 
specialty of graded stock, having some fine 
specimens of the Holstein and Jersey breeds. 
He is prompt and reliable in business 
transactions and has the respect and confi- 
dence of all with whom he comes in contact. 
While a resident of Hill county, Texas, 
Mr. May was united in marriage, on the 
5th of January, 1879, with Miss Ollis J. 
Piper, a native of Tennessee, and a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Piper, who emigrated to 
Texas in 1866. Five children were born 
by this marriage, but Annie died on Christ- 
mas day, 1884. Those who still survive 
are William, Ora P., George and Samuel. 
Politically, Mr. May affiliates with the 
Democratic party, which he always sup- 
ports by his ballot, and is at present serv- 
ing as a member of the board of school 
trustees in district No. 2. He became a 
prominent member in the community where 
he made his home, and well deserves the 
high regard in which he is held. 



aHARLES P. BAIRD is the popu- 
lar and efficient manager of the 
Cheshire Improvement Company 
of New York, which owns some 
eighteen thousand acres of land in Bosque 
county. Their main ranch, consisting of 
seventy-two hundred acres, is located seven 
miles southeast of the city of Meridian, and 



814 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



about one hundred acres of this have been 
placed under the plow. There is also some 
fine fruit upon the place, consisting of 
peaches, plums, mulberries and blackber- 
ries. The company also deals in stock, 
both market and blooded stock, and upon 
this ranch in 1896 are forty-five hundred 
head of sheep, three hundred and fifty head 
of cattle, seventy head of trotting stock and 
twenty head of draught horses. The barn 
upon the place is a magnificent structure, 
with a capacity sufficient to stall forty-two 
head of horses on the main floor, and the 
basement is utilized for the same purpose, 
while the mow has a capacity for storing 
thirty tons of hay and thirty thousand 
bundles of sheaf oats. The sheep sheds are 
two hundred and eighty-six feet in length 
by forty in width, and will shelter over two 
thousand head. The residence and office 
building are equipped with all modern con- 
veniences. There is water in all the build- 
ings, supplied from mammoth tanks, which 
in turn are constantly fed from wells oper- 
ated by windmills having their power-wheels 
si.xteen feet in diameter. 

About ten miles south of this property 
the company own ten thousand acres of 
fine farm land, four hundred acres of which 
have been placed under cultivation, and one 
hundred and fifty more will be developed 
during the summer of 1896. Forty-five 
hundred head of sheep are kept upon this 
place, also six hundred head of steers, fat- 
tening for the market. The other tract of 
one thousand acres owned by the company 
is adjacent to Meridian, a portion being in- 
side the corporate limits of that city. Only 
forty acres of this have been placed under 
cultivation, and there are also cattle upon 
this place. This ranch is supplied with 
water from an artesian well four hundred 



feet deep, which throws a two-inch stream. 
All three of these places are superintended 
by Mr Baird, who goes from one to the 
other as occasion requires and faithfully 
looks after the interests of the company. 

Mr. Baird was born in Red River parish, 
in Louisiana, December 17, 1858, and is the 
son of William L. and Mary A. (Low) Baird, 
both of whom were natives of Mississippi 
and are now deceased. The father, who 
served in the war of 181 2, came to Texas 
in 1S71, and died at the age of eighty-six 
years. Their family comprised ten chil- 
dren, six of whom are still living and reside 
in Texas. Our subject is the sixth in order 
of birth. 

For many years Mr. Baird had been en- 
gaged in merchandising in the city of Cle- 
burne, Johnson county, Texas, but has held 
his present position since 1892. He was 
joined in wedlock January i, 1882, with 
Miss Ettie Hart, a native of Illinois, and 
two children now honor their union, — 
Charles O. and Ethel E. The parents, 
who are earnest Christian people, are 
worthy members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. Mr. Baird is an intelligent, well- 
informed man, possessing superior business 
tact and sound common sense, which make 
him an invaluable member of the com- 
munity. 



'Srj'AMES K. BASS, one of the promi- 
■ nent and progressive citizens of Clif- 
A J ton, is a native of North Carolina, 
his birth having occurred in Duplin 
county on the 19th of March, 1846. His 
parents, Killy and Jane (Smith) Bass, were 
members of old and well-known families of 
that state and were both born there. The 
father removed with his family to Washing- 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



815 



ton county, Texas, in the year 1S49 and 
located on a farm, where James K., the 
third in order of birth, was reared to man- 
hood. His time and attention were given 
to agricultural pursuits until the outbreak of 
the civil war, when he enlisted in the Con- 
federate army, becoming a member of the 
well-known Terry regiment, with which he 
served until the close of hostilities, when he 
resumed farming. 

Early in life Mr. Bass took up the study 
of law under the preceptorship of T. C. 
Bass, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and 
followed his chosen profession in Clay and 
Washington counties for ten years. He 
then abandoned the law to engage in mer- 
chandising in the city of Clifton, becoming 
a member of the firm of Lockett & Bass. 
For three years they did a successful busi- 
ness, enjoying a good trade, and then their 
building with all its contents was destroyed 
by fire. After suffering this loss Mr. Bass 
accepted a clerkship, which occupied his 
time for five years, at the expiration of 
which period he purchased the cotton-gin 
which he now owns and operates. The 
plant was established by his brother Amos, 
now deceased; it is well equipped, having a 
twenty-five-horse-power engine and a capac- 
ity for ginning twenty-five bales of cotton 
dail}-. 

In 1874 Mr. Bass was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Helen Hocker, a native of 
Virginia, and they have five children. He 
and his family are consistent members of 
the Baptist church. In politics he is a 
stanch and active Democrat and has been 
honored by his fellow citizens who have 
called him to public office. He has filled 
the city civic chair, having been elected 
mayor of Clifton in 1893, and while the 
incumbent of the office he most capably 



conducted the affairs of the city, proving a 
most efficient ofBcer. He has also served as 
deputy county tax collector. Prominent 
and progressive in all public movements 
that have for their purpose the development 
and advancement of the county's interest, 
he is a worthy and valued citizen. 



^-t'oseph edmond arrington 

■ dates his residence in Hood county 
/© J from its early pioneer epoch. Long 
before the county had a separate ex- 
istence — while it was yet a part of Johnson 
county— he established a home upon an un- 
broken tract of land within its borders and 
has since been closely identified with its 
interest. He has taken an active part in its 
progress and development and given sub- 
stantial aid to the enterprises calculated to 
aid in its upbuilding. Thus his name has 
become indelibly inscribed on the pages of 
its history, and it is therefore with pleasure 
that we present his sketch to our readers as 
that of one of the representative and promi- 
nent citizens. 

Mr. Arrington was born in Scott county, 
Arkansas, September 26, 1826, and belongs 
to a family that was founded in America by 
his great-grandfather, a native of the Emer- 
ald Isle, whence he sailed to the New 
World. His parents, Claiborn and Nancy 
Elizabeth (Fisher) Arrington, removed from 
Arkansas to Texas in December, 1839, and 
in 1855 came to Hood county, which was 
then a part of Johnson county. Here the 
father located one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, whereon he followed farming and 
stock-raising until his death, which occurred 
in 1885. His wife had long preceded him 
to the final home, passing away in 1865. 

Mr, Arrington was reared on the home 



81G 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



farm, and received but meager educational 
privileges, attending a private school for a 
short time. His training at farm labor, 
however, was not limited, and he also 
learned all about the care of stock. The 
country abounded in wild game and furnished 
ample opportunity to indulge a taste for 
hunting, while the gun of different members 
of the family frequently supplied the table 
with meat. Our subject shared with the 
others in the hardships and obstacles of 
pioneer life, and as he grew up took his part 
in the farm work. The Indians were 
troublesome in those earlier days and like 
many other settlers he suffered the loss of 
some of his property- — cattle and horses — 
at their hands. 

On the 28th of December, 1854, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Arrington 
and Miss Louisa Newby, a native of Clinton 
county, Missouri, born August 24, 1838. 
The wedding occurred in Hillsboro, Hill 
county, Texas. Mrs. Arrington is a daugh- 
ter of Jonathan and Dorothy (Debury) New- 
by, both of whom were natives of Illinois, 
and were among the first settlers of Hill 
county, where they removed from Lavaca 
county, Texas, being also pioneers of that 
place. They had eleven children, but the 
only ones living are Mrs. Arrington; John, a 
resident of Young county; and Mrs. Martha 
Rice, of Collin county. Our subject and 
his wife were parents of six children, but 
the third child, Claiborn Alfred, died at the 
age of twenty-one, and another died in in- 
fancy. Those still living are Nancy Eliza- 
beth, wife of Joel C. Orchard, a farmer and 
stock-raiser of Hood county; Hannah Lu- 
cretia, wife of D. J. Williams, of Wichita 
county, Texas; Charles Henry, a resident 
farmer of Hood county; and Louise Melissa, 
at home. 



Upon his marriage Mr. Arrington bought 
a certificate and located one hundred and 
sixty acres of land five miles west of Gran- 
bury, also secured another forty-acre tract. 
During the civil war he served in the home 
guards in Carmichael's brigade. During all 
these years he has followed farming and 
stock-raising and now has a good farm, 
highly cultivated and well improved. In his 
political views he is a Democrat, but has 
never sought or desired public office. He 
and his wife are members of the Christian 
church. 



aHARLES MILTON BOYNTON, 
editor of the Hamilton Herald, was 
born April 25, 1836, on the St. 
Francis river, in Canada East, ten 
miles from Sherbrooke, and was the son of 
William and Harriet (Curtis) Boynton. His 
father died December 25, 1838, but his 
mother, a woman of strong character, was 
able to keep the family together. 

In the spring of 1857 Mr. Boynton, the 
subject of our sketch, went to Davenport 
Iowa, and shortly afterward to Will county, 
Illinois, where he taught school for half 
a year. He then removed to Bourbon 
county, Kentucky, where he continued in 
the work of teaching until the spring of 
i860, when he came to Rusk county, Texas, 
and taught for six months. He took 
another school near Crockett in the same 
county, where he was engaged until June, 
1 861. By this time the war was fairly on, 
and as he did not wish to be separated 
from his mother, who was living in Ken- 
tucky, he returned to Bourbon county, that 
state, after the surrender of Fort Sumter. 
After teaching school there for some time he 
engaged in mercantile pursuits, in company 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



811 



with his brother, J. N. Boynton, at Millers- 
burg. After a somewhat unprofitable ex- 
perience, he sold out, moved to Carlisle and 
took charge of the city schools, and was 
there for some three years. He then re- 
turned with his family to Atlanta, Illinois, 
where he remained^about a year. Return- 
ing then to Carlisle he taught a high school 
there for two years, in company with Hugh 
B. Todd. Disposing of his interest in this 
institution, he engaged in teaching a public 
school at London for two years. 

In August, 1875, he came to Hamilton, 
Texas, where his brother was already estab- 
lished in business. When he first arrived, 
however, he had no intention of locating 
here, but, being offered a school at good 
figures, he accepted it, and from that time 
to the present he has seen no opportunity 
and even felt no inclination to forsalie the 
Lone Star state. 

The Hamilton Herald was started in 
May, 1876, by W. T. Saxon and Tom 
Neel. In company with J. S. Sparkman, 
he purchased the paper in the month of 
January, 1877, and, buying out his partner 
in about a year, became sole proprietor. 
About this time he suffered a painful and 
serious accident, the spraining of an ankle, 
and was a cripple for fifteen years, using 
crutches most of the time. He now walks 
without them, but has had a long and pain- 
ful experience. 

Mr. Boynton has received signal honors 
from his party in the state. In 18S1 he 
was elected second assistant secretary of 
the senate, on the Democratic ticket. At 
the end of the term he was made first as- 
sistant, and later secretary of the senate. 
He is a Democrat of the sound-money order, 
and stands stanchly for an honest dollar. 

He was married in Kentucky March 12, 



1862, to Sarah Louisa, daughter of John M. 
and Sarah J. (Wilson) Irvin. She was 
born October 17, 183S, in that state, and is 
now the mother of six children, namely: 
John William, born March 19, 1863, and 
now at St. Angelo; George Henry, Septem- 
ber 5, 1865, and now in Llano, Texas; 
Charles Irvin, August 12, 1869, is with his 
brother, George H., engaged in the publica- 
tion of the Llano Times; Carrie, October 
25, 1S72, married B. F. Scroggs, a merchant 
in town; Lizzie Frances, December 12, 
1875, is at her parental home, as is also 
her younger sister, Hattie, born June 2, 
1879. 

The father of our subject was one of 
nine children, — six boys and three girls. 
He was a farmer and a lumberman, and 
died when only about forty-six years of age. 
His children were Emily, Lucina, John 
Wesley, Alonzo, George, William, Alpheus 
Smith, Henry, Robert, Alva Fletcher, 
Charles Milton (subject of this sketch), and 
Julius Nelson; the first three mentioned are 
deceased, and the living are all residents of 
the United States. The mother of these 
children died in 1878, aged about seventy- 
five years. She was a native of New Hamp- 
shire and a woman of energy and fortitude. 
The Boyntons belong to a very old family in 
history, tracing their ancestry back to Sir 
Mattheiv Boynton, who lived in the time of 
William the Conqueror. General Hershell 
V. Boynton, of Cincinnati, is a member of 
this family. 



i^/^ EUBEN N. PHILLIPS. — The 

1 /^ gentleman to a retrospect of whose 

\ _ P life we would now call attention, 

Reuben Phillips, is another one of 

Bosque county's enterprising farmers who 



818 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS 



points with pride to the Empire state of the 
south as the place of his birth and for many 
jtars the home of his ancestors. 

Mr. Philhps was born in Meriwether 
county, Georgia, December i6, 1S45, a son 
of Jonathan and Eliza (Nail) Phillips, both 
natives of Georgia. Jonathan Phillips was 
a highly educated man, followed the pro- 
fession of teaching for some years, and from 
teaching turned to merchandising, in which 
he was engaged at the time of his death, 
his home then being in Vienna, Lincoln 
parish, Louisiana. His death, however, 
occurred at Columbia, Louisiana, where he 
was stricken with yellow fever and cut 
down in the prime of life, that being in 1S52, 
when Reuben was a child of seven years. 
Jonathan Phillips was a man of high moral 
and Christian character, was public-spirited 
and whole-hearted, and was not unfrequently 
looked to from various sources for counsel 
and advice. In his church, the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south, he was active and 
efficient. His untimely death left his family 
without support and with only a limited es- 
tate, and they were taken into the home of 
his father, Reuben Phillips, where they 
were kindly cared for. Mrs. Eliza Phillips, 
the mother of our subject, survived her 
husband a number of years, her death oc- 
curring at Iredell, Texas, in July, 1889, 
at the age of sixty-five years. She, too, 
was a devoted member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, south. Of their family 
of five children, we record that Reuben N. , 
whose name initiates this review, is the eld- 
est; Sarah E. is the widow of David Sutpen 
and has one child; Mary E. is the wife of 
John H. Phillips, her second cousin, a 
farmer of Rusk county, Texas; William W. 
is a resident of Iredell; and J. C, also of 
Iredell, is postmaster of that place and is the 



proprietor of a drug store and livery estab- 
lishment. 

Reuben Phillips, the grandfather of our 
subject, was born in Georgia, July 18, 1804, 
a son of Reuben Phillips, Sr. , and his wife, 
whose maiden name was Elizabeth Howell, 
both natives of Georgia. The elder Reuben 
Phillips was of Irish descent, served all 
through the war of 181 2, and by occupa- 
tion was a farmer. He and his wife were 
the parents of eight children, Reuben being 
the eldest son and second child. This 
younger Reuben Phillips was married at the 
age of twenty-three years to Miss Sallie 
Burroughs, daughter of Philip Burroughs, 
of Georgia, and their only child was Jona- 
than, the father of our subject. About 1845 
Grandfather Reuben- Phillips removed with 
his family to Louisiana, where he owned a 
large number of slaves and was a prominent 
planter. Previous to his going to that state 
he had been engaged in gold-mining in 
Georgia. In 1S59 he moved to Texas. 
While in Louisiana his wife had died, and a 
few years after his settlement in Texas, in 
1 866, he wedded Miss Lucy A. Bowman, 
daughter of Asa Bowman. No children 
were born of this union. On first landing 
in Texas, Grandfather Phillips settled in 
Shelby county, subsequently removed to 
Rusk county, where he remained until 1870, 
and that year came to Bosque county. He 
still resides in Iredell, this county, where he 
has for some time been retired. He has 
passed his ninety-second milestone, is re- 
markably well preserved for one of his 
years, and the passer-by not infrequently 
sees him in his well-kept garden, where he 
spends much of his time. In his old age he 
clings more firmly than ever to the Book of 
books and he is stanch in his devotion to the 
Methodist church, in which he was reared. 



HIS TOR r OF TEXAS. 



819 



After the death of his father the subject 
of our sketch, with his mother and other 
members of the family, went to live with 
Grandfather Phillips, as already stated; and 
on a farm the boy was reared, attending 
school between the ages of ten and fourteen 
years, and after that their removal to a new 
state and the oncoming of civil war put out 
of the question any plans he might have 
had for further schooling. He was with his 
grandfather in Rusk county at the time war 
broke out. In 1862 he enlisted for the 
Confederate cause and went out as a mem- 
ber of the Eighth Texas Infantry, Walker's 
division, General Kirby Smith in command, 
and was on duty in Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Missouri, participating in some of the most 
important engagements in those states; and 
notwithstanding he was often in the hottest 
of the tight and never flinched or shirked a 
duty, he passed safely through and came 
out at the close of the war without a wound 
and without ever having been captured. His 
regiment was disbanded at Hempstead, 
Texas, in June, 1865, and from therehe re- 
turned to his home in Rusk county. 

Early in the year 1867 Mr. Phillips mar- 
ried and settled down to farming in Rusk 
county on land owned by his father-in-law, 
which he cultivated for three years. Then 
he purchased a farm there and made his 
home on it until 1883, when he sold out 
and came to Bosque county, where he has 
since maintained his residence. Here for 
ten years he rented land. In 1893 he 
bought his present farm, one hundred and 
fifty-one acres, in the vicinity of Iredell, to 
the improvement and cultivation of which 
he has since devoted his energies. The 
whole tract is now well fenced, ninety acres 
under cultivation, and the buildings are sub- 
stantial and modern including a commodi- 



ous residence, good barn and outbuildings, 
and among other conveniences is a wind 
pump. Mr. Phillips raises the usual crops 
of the county and gives some attention to 
stock-raising, keeping sufficient stock for 
the maintenance of his farm. When a 
young man he was for a time employed to 
operate a mill, in connection with which 
was a wagon and furniture factory, but with 
this exception has always been engaged in 
farming, and as a farmer has'proved himself 
a success. 

January 31, 1867, Mr. Phillips was uni- 
ted to Miss Terissa Phillips, his second 
cousin, daughter of Joel W. Phillips, of 
Georgia formerly but for some years a resi- 
dent of Rusk county, Texas, where he was 
engaged in farming and where he died. Joel 
W. Phillips was a man of prominence in 
his day. While in Georgia he filled numer- 
ous positions of trust and responsibility and 
was for two or three terms honored with a 
seat in the state legislature. In religion he 
was a Methodist, earnest and zealous in his 
service for the Lord. He and his wife 
reared ten children, and she survives him 
and is still a resident of Rusk county, re- 
spected and loved by all who know her. 
Junes, 1870, after three brief years of happy 
wedded life, the subject of our sketch was 
called to mourn the loss of his companion, 
she leaving him and an only child, Arthur, 
who is now a farmer of Rusk county. In 
January, 1872, Mr. Phillips married Miss 
Arabella Phillips, a sister of his first wife, 
and by her had five children, viz. : Joel, 
who is now a high-school student at Iredell; 
John C., who died March 7, 1884, at the 
age of nine years; and Conrad, Willie and 
Arabella, — at home. The mother of these 
children departed this life August 14, iSSi, 
I and thus was the home of our subject again 



820 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



made desolate by the deatli of wife and 
mother. Mr. Phillips was married to his 
present wife, Mary C. Shumate, May 12, 
1882. She is a native of Arkansas and a 
daughter of Wylie H. Shumate, late of Rusk 
county. Mr. Shumate served through the 
civil war as a Confederate soldier, and at the 
close of the war came to Texas and settled 
in Rusk county, where he passed the rest of 
his life and died, the date of his death being 
January, 1885. Like others whose names 
figure in this sketch, he was a true Christian 
and a stanch Methodist. His good wife sur- 
vived him until 1887. They were the par- 
ents of nine children, all of whom are now 
respected and honored citizens of Rusk and 
Nacogdoches counties. Mr. Phillips and 
his present wife have two children, — Bertha 
and Bessie. 

Reared under Methodist influence, Mr. 
and Mrs. Phillips early became identified 
with this church, and are consistent mem- 
bers of the same. His other wives also 
were members of the same denomination. 
In his political views he has always been 
Democratic. 



^j'OHN LUDWIG.— Many of the most 
m enterprising and prosperous farmers 
/• ^ of Bosque county have come from 
the land beyond the sea, and espe- 
cially is this true of the many who have left 
their homes in the German empire and 
sought in this land of freedom a refuge from 
the military despotism and the poverty so 
rife in their native land. Among these a 
prominent figure is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch, who is living four 
miles south of Clifton, engaged in general 
farming and fruit-growing. 

Mr. Ludwig was born April 22, 1848, 



amid the beautiful scenery along the Rhine 
in Germany, and is the third in order of 
birth in the family of seven children born to 
Peter and Elizabeth (Wellberg) Ludwig. 
He was reared to man's estate in the father- 
land and received a fair education, so char- 
acteristic of the German youth. In 1881, 
with the laudable intention of bettering his 
fortunes in life, he made up his mind to 
emigrate to the New World, and on his ar- 
rival here located at New Philadelphia, in 
Wharton county, Te.xas, where he resided 
for four years. The following seven years 
were passed at Crawford, McLennan coun- 
ty, this state, and about three years ago he 
settled upon his present farm, where he 
owns a valuable tract of three hundred and 
twenty-six acres of land, seventy-five being 
in a fine state of cultivation, while the rest 
is devoted to pasture. Upon his place he 
has a fine peach orchard of three acres and 
the product of this adds materially to his 
income. 

In Germany, Mr. Ludwig was joined in 
wedlock with Miss Josephine Melhen, and 
they have seven children, namely: Leona, 
Charles, William, Benedict, Mary, John 
and Louisa. Public-spirited to a great de- 
gree, Mr. Ludwig takes considerable inter- 
est in every measure calculated to benefit 
the community. 



(H^O J. R( 
^^y^ anion 



iOSS. — This gentleman is one 
stands distinctively forward as 
imong the truly representative men 
of the Lone Star state, as one who 
has attained marked success in temporal 
affairs, whose patriotic services to tiie coun- 
try have been unstinted, and whose posi- 
tion in the respect and esteem of his fellow- 
men has been assured. In all the various 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



walks of life he has made for himself an 
honorable career, and it is therefore with 
pleasure that we present a review of his life 
to our readers. 

Mr. Ross, like many another esteemed 
citizen of Texas, claims Tennessee as the 
state of his nativity, his birth havinp; oc- 
curred in Bradley county on the ist of No- 
vember, 1826, and his parents being Na- 
thaniel and Margaret (Anderson) Ross. His 
father was born in South Carolina and was 
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, while his wife was 
born in White county, Tennessee. Na- 
thaniel Ross removed to the Big Bend state 
when a young man, was married there and 
followed the hatter's trade until a change 
of occupation classed him among the farm- 
ers of the community. In that way he 
spent his remaining days, his death occur- 
ring there at the age of eighty seven years, 
while his wife died at the age of eighty-six. 
She was the mother of fourteen children, 
two of whom are still living, the sister be- 
ing Amanda G., of Fort Smith, Arkansas. 
The father served as justice of the peace 
for twelve years and discharged his duties 
with the utmost fidelity. He belonged to 
the Baptist church, while his wile was a 
member of the Presbyterian church. 

T. J. Ross spent his boyhood days upon 
his father's farm and acquired his education 
in the common schools. He remained un- 
der the parental roof until the breaking out 
of the Mexican war, when he offered his 
services to the government, becoming a 
member of the Fifth Tennessee Regiment 
and remaining at the front until after the 
cessation of hostilities. His service was 
performed in the region between Santa Cruz 
and the city of Mexico, and on his return 
he continued in his father's home for about 
a year. 



Mr. Ross was married, on the 14th of 
February, 1850, the lady of his choice being 
Miss Sarah Witt, a native of Tennessee 
and a daughter of James and Sarah Witt. 
The young couple began their domestic life 
on a farm adjoining the old homestead, and 
there our subject continued to be engaged 
in agricultural pursuits until coming to Te.xas 
in 1872. He made the journey by railroad 
to Waco, thence by wagon to Stephenville, 
where he located and followed farming for 
four years. On the e.xpiration of that 
period he purchased two hundred acres of 
land, and the following spring erected his 
present residence, hauling the lumber from 
Fort Worth, about eight days being con- 
sumed in making the trip. He now has 
two hundred and eighty acres of improved 
land under a good system of cultivation and 
his farm is one of the most desirable and 
best improved in the county. 

Mr. Ross was called upon to mourn the 
loss of his wife in 1857, her death occurring 
on Christmas day of that year. They were 
parents of five children: Amanda, wife of 
Henry McKinney, of Erath county; George 
W. and Sarah Elizabeth, both deceased; 
Andrew Jackson, who died at the age of 
nineteen years; and Sarah Emeline, now 
Mrs. Purdy, of Parker county. On the 14th 
of January, 1859, Mr. Ross was again mar- 
ried, his second union being with Miss 
Louisa McKinney, a native of Tennessee 
and a daughter of Jesse and Matilda (Har- 
vey) McKinney. They have eight children, 
namely: Nancy, wife of Alexander Garrett, 
of McLennan county, Texas; Thomas J., of 
New Mexico; Nat, of Erath county; James 
Monroe, of New Mexico; William, Charles 
and Rosa, at home; and Marilla, wife of 
Stephen Keith, of Erath county. 

During the civil war Mr. Ross manifested 



822 



HISTORT OF TEXAS. 



his loyalty to the Union by joining the federal 
forces, becoming a member of Company A, 
Eighth Tennessee Infantry, in 1861. He 
did not believe that it was right to withdraw 
from the Union and through the long war, 
which fully tested the bravery of both the 
"boys in blue " and "the boys in gray," he 
followed the stars and stripes, participating 
in seventeen hard-fought battles and for 
fifty-eight days participating in the Georgia 
campaign with Sherman. He served until 
the close of the war and was then honorably 
discharged in North Carolina. His service 
in two of the wars of the nation indicates a 
strong trait in Mr. Ross' character, — his 
absolute fidelity to any cause or principle 
which he believes to be right. In politics 
he is a stalwart Republican. His wife is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and both are people of the highest moral 
worth, having the genuine esteem of all 
with whom they have come in contact. 



>Y»AMES TRAVIS SHIRLEY.— Among 
J many other residents within the 
/• 1 bounds of Texas who started out in 
life with naught but an abundance 
of determination and indefatigable industry, 
and a strong and healthy constitution, and 
who have succeeded through their own dili- 
gence, energy and economy, we classify the 
gentleman whose name stands at the head 
of this sketch. He is actively engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in Hood county, rais- 
ing upon his extensive farm corn, wheat, 
oats and cotton. 

Mr. Shirley is a native of South Caro- 
lina, born February 6, 1844, and descended 
from Irish ancestry. His parents, Robert 
C. and Elizabeth (Posey) Shirley, were 
born, reared and married in South Carolina, ' 



where the father followed farming. When 
our subject was nine years of age they re- 
moved with their family to Mississippi, mak- 
ing their location in Choctaw county, where 
they spent their remaining days. The 
great-grandfather Shirley aided the colonies 
in their struggle for independence. 

Under the parental roof our subject re- 
mained until February, 1862, when he 
joined the Confederate army, enlisting in 
Company C, First Regiment of Mississippi 
Artillery, and served until the close of 
the war. He participated in all the 
engagements in which his regiment took 
part, with the exception of the siege of 
Vicksburg, during which time he lay ill in 
the hospital with typhoid fever, and was a 
conservative soldier, always found at his 
post of duty. 

On returning to his home in Mississippi, 
Mr. Shirley worked as a farm hand for some 
time. There he was married, on the 25th 
of January, 1868, the lady of his choice be- 
ing Miss Mary Fair, also a native of South 
Carolina, who had come to Mississippi when 
quite young. Ten children were born of 
this union: Beulah, wife of J. T. Estes; 
Walter, at home; Arthur; Ella, wife of 
Frank Burnett, a farmer of Hood county; 
Ethel, wife of Frank Forest, of the same 
county; James, Vivian, Carrie, Nannie and 
Claude. 

After his marriage, Mr. Shirley pur- 
chased land in Mississippi, where he engaged 
in farming until November, 1878, when he 
sold his property there and removed to 
Hood county, Te.xas. Here he first bought 
two hundred and eighty-five acres, on which 
he still makes his home, but has increased 
the boundaries of his place until it now 
comprises fifteen hundred acres in one body, 
four hundred of which he has placed under 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS, 



a high state of cultivation. It is the old 
Davy Crockett farm, as twelve hundred and 
eighty acres of it were patented to the heirs 
of that gentleman for his services. Mr. 
Shirley also owns five hundred acres in 
Jones county, and in addition to general 
fanning is also extensively engaged in stock- 
raising. Although he started out in life a 
poor man, he has acquired his large estate 
through his own well directed efforts, and is 
now numbered among the wealthiest men 
of Hood county. 

In politics, Mr. Shirley is an ardent 
Democrat, taking a deep interest in the 
success of his party, but cares nothing for 
political preferment. For two years he 
served as county commissioner but declined 
a re-election. He earnestly gives his sup- 
port to our public-school system, and has 
supplied his children with excellent educa- 
tional advantages. Religiously, with his 
estimable wife and family, he is an active 
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church. Financially, he has reason to be 
satisfied with the result of his labors, and 
his course as a citizen has been such as to 
commend him to the people among whom 
he lives. 



^rj^AMES FERGUSON, deceased, was 
S one of the pioneer settlers of Texas. 
A ■ The student of Texan history does 
not have to carry his investigation 
concerning this section of state very far 
before he finds that the name occupies a 
conspicuous place on its annals, for Mr. 
Ferguson became a resident of Erath coun- 
ty in 1858, and from that time until his 
death was regarded as one of the leading 
and influential citizens of the community. 
He was a native of North Carolina, was 



married there, and afterward moved to Ten- 
nessee. Later he removed with his family 
to Missouri, where his first wife died. He 
then married Elizabeth Boucher, who ac- 
companied him on his emigration to the 
Lone Star state. 

Mr. Ferguson took up his residence on 
a tract of land two miles southeast of Ste- 
phenville,- — the farm now owned by his 
son C. E. The land was wild, but he at 
once began to clear it, and soon had a small 
portion planted. Acre after acre was added 
to the improved tract as time passed, and 
to- the development of the farm he devoted 
his energies throughout his remaining days. 
Both he and his wife were exemplary mem- 
bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, 
and in its work were deeply and actively 
interested. Their sterling worth and many 
excellencies of character won them the high 
regard of all, and the circle of their friends 
was limited only by the circle of their ac- 
quaintances. Mr. Ferguson, who was born 
in 1799, died in the spring of 1876, and his 
wife, whose birth occurred in 1820, was 
called to her final home in 1883. 

John Ferguson, a son of the first mar- 
riage, came to Texas in 1858, and entered 
the Confederate service during the civil war, 
becoming a member of Captain Wallace's 
company. He was killed at the battle of 
Mansfield, thus giving his life in defense of 
the principles in which he so truly believed. 
He left six children, and James, the only 
one now living, makes his home in Erath 
county. The mother and the other chil- 
dren have all been called from life. 

C. E. Ferguson, one of the prominent 
farmers of Erath county, and a worthy 
representative of the honored pioneer fam- 
ily, was born in Missouri in 1853 and was 
therefore five years of age when his parents 



824 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



came to Texas. He acquired his education 
in the pioneer schools, but in the school of 
experience has learned many valuable les- 
sons, which have made him a practical man 
of affairs. When he was married he located 
upon the old family homestead, where he 
has since lived, owning here two hundred 
acres of good land, of which ninety acres 
are highly cultivated. There are substan- 
tial ^buildings upon the place, and its neat 
and thrifty appearance well indicate his 
careful supervision. 

Mr. Ferguson was married in 1875, the 
lady of his choice being Miss Sarah I., 
daughter of G. W. Hazelwood. She is a 
member of the Presbyterian church and an 
estimable lady who extends to her many 
friends the welcome of a hospitable home. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are now the parents 
of seven children, — Arthur, Ollie, Ila, 
Thomas, Mettle, Carl and Minnie. One 
child, Olin, is now deceased. 

It will be interesting in this connection 
to note something concerning the family to 
which Mrs. Ferguson belongs. Her father, 
George W. Hazelwood, now deceased, was 
also an early settler of Texas, coming with 
his family to the state in 1855. He was a 
native of Mississippi, where he resided until 
his removal westward. Locating in Tar- 
rant county he purchased land seven miles 
west of Fort Worth, where he lived for ten 
years, removing thence to Stephens county, 
Texas. He was largely interested in cattle 
dealing, having extensive herds grazing on 
the prairies, but the Indians were very 
troublesome in those days, carrying off the 
stock and other transportable property of 
the settlers, who had to be constantly on 
the watch in order to defend themselves and 
their possessions from the savages. On one 
occasion Mr. Hazelwood was engaged in a 



fight with the Indians and was killed by 
them. This occurred in 1868, when he was 
about forty years of age. 

While in Mississippi he had married Miss 
Eliza Meridith, a native of Alabama. They 
had two children at the time of their re- 
moval to Texas, — Fredonia Ann, now Mrs. 
Cain, and John M. The family circle was 
increased by the birth of four children in 
Texas, — Tom; Joshua; Belle, now Mrs. 
C. E. Ferguson; and George W., who re- 
sides in Texas. The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1892, at the age of sixty-five 
years, and was buried in Stephenville, while 
Mr. Hazelwood was laid to rest in Stephens 
county. 



Sr-» ORENZO DOW WOOD, deceased, 
I I was for twenty jears a resident of 
1 A Texas, and one of its valued citi- 
zens, taking an active part in all 
that pertained to the welfare and upbuild- 
ing of the community in which he resided. 
He was born in Spartanburg district in South 
Carolina, April 6, 1805, and was a repre- 
sentative of one of the old families of the 
state. His parents, Robert and Rebecca 
(Tralor) Wood, took up their residence in 
South Carolina previous to the war which 
gave to America her independence. 

In an early day Mr. Wood removed to 
Hall county, Georgia, and was there united 
in marriage with Miss Louisa McCluskie, a 
native of that state, and a daughter of 
Major D. H. McCluskie, who died in Ala- 
bama in the ninety-sixth year of his age. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wood began their domestic 
life in Georgia and remained there until 
1852, when they went to Alabama, settling 
in what was then Marshall county, but is 
now Ottawa county. Mr. Wood carried on 



HIS TORT OF TEXAS. 



825 



agricultural pursuits there for seventeen 
years, and in 1869 emigrated to Texas, 
making his home on the Paluxy creek 
throughout his remaining days. 

To our subject and his wife were born 
nine children, as follows: Eliza Ann, who 
became the wife of Captain Stephen Dun- 
nigan and died in Mexico; Robert, who was a 
member of the Twenty-eighth Alabama In- 
fantry of Bragg's division during the war, 
and has never been heard from since the 
close of the struggle; Zemuly, widow of 
Pickins Buffingham, of Alabama; Benson, 
who died in childhood; David Morton, of 
whom mention is made in the next sketch; 
Martha, widow of George Dunnigan, who 
died in Texas in 1872; Thomas A. ; George 
W., of Hood county; and Sallie, deceased 
wife of W. W. Stokes. The mother of 
these children died in 1873, at the age of 
fifty-three years, and Mr. Wood's death oc- 
curred on the 7th of December, 1889. His 
was a noble Christian life, in which he was 
constantly doing' good to others. He was 
for many years a leading member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, south, and for 
a long period served as class-leader. He 
was ready to extend a helping hand to the 
needy or distressed and he had the confi- 
dence and deepest respect of all. 



kJ^'\ ''^^'ID MORTON WOOD, who rep- 
i 1 resents a family that has been long 
^^^ and closely identified with the in- 
terests of Hood county, and who 
was one of the gallant defenders of the 
south during the war between the two sec- 
tions of the country, was born in Hall 
county, Georgia, on the nth of February, 
1836. With his parents, Lorenzo D. and 
Louisa Wood, he lived through the period 



of his boyhood and youth, accompanying 
them on their removal to Alabama in 1852. 
He was reared on a farm and early became 
familiar with all the duties that fall to the 
lot of the agriculturist, so that when he 
entered upon the same pursuit in his own 
interests he was well prepared for his labors 
by practical experience. 

When starting out on life's journey for 
himself Mr. Wood chose as a companion 
and helpmeet Miss Mary E. Read, and their 
wedding was celebrated in Marshall county, 
Alabama, on the nth of December, 1856. 
The lady is a native of North Carolina, a 
daughter of George and Eleanor Read. 
Taking up his residence upon a farm in 
Marshall county, Mr. Wood successfully 
continued its cultivation until after the civil 
war had been inaugurated, when he went to 
the defense of the south. He was a southern 
man by birth, training and interest, and 
early in 1862 he joined the "boys in gray " 
of the Fourth Alabama Infantry, commanded 
by Colonel Russel. The regiment was 
joined to the Army of the Tennessee and 
with it he remained until hostilities had 
ceased, participating in many engagements. 
He was a brave soldier, loyal to the cause 
which he advocated and made for himself 
an honorable military record. 

Returning to his home and family when 
the war was over, Mr. Wood carried on 
farming in Alabama until 1869, when he 
removed to Texas and purchased three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of land on Paluxy 
creek. This was in its primitive condition, 
not a furrow having been turned or an im- 
provement made, but with characteristic 
energy he began its development and acre 
after acre was placeH under the plow until 
the cultivated tract comprised eighty-five 
acres of rich and productive land. 



826 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



Mr. and Mrs. Wood hnve a family of 
eight children, si.\ of whom are still living, 
namely: Delva Jane, wife of Ezekiel Dun- 
nigan, of Erath county; Mary Louisa, wife 
of N. O. Jackson; Kizzie Emma, wife of 
George Henley, of Hood county; Isabella 
Ray, wife of Archie Caraway, of Hood 
county; Martha Ellen, wife of W. J. Law- 
ing, of the same county; George W., who is 
living on the old homestead; Robert E. , who 
died in infancy; and Elizabeth, who died at 
the age of thirteen. Mrs. Wood died on the 
I 5th of Sejjfember, 1894, at the age of si.xty- 
four years. She was a consistent Christian 
lady and for many years was a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Wood 
has also long been connected with the same 
church and is an active and tireless worker 
in its interests. For twenty-five years he was 
superintendent of the Sunday-school, aiding 
in the work of training the children to lives 
of uprightness and honor and planting in 
the young minds the seeds of truth which in 
due time will bring forth fruit. Socially 
Mr. Wood is connected with Paluxy Lodge, 
No. 393, F. & A. M., and in politics he is 
a Democrat. 



eLLAS SPIVEY, one of the exten- 
sive landownersof Hamilton county 
and a progressive farmer, was born 
December 11, 1832, in McNairy 
county, Tennessee, his parents being Enoch 
and Zilpha (Allen) Spivey. They removed 
to Te.xas in the fall of 1841, locating in 
Nacogdoches county, and subsequently went 
to Henderson county, where the death of 
the' father occurred. 

Our subject spent the first nine years of 
his life in the state of his nativity and then 
accompanied his parents to Texas, assisting 



his father in the cultivation and improve- 
ment of his land in the days of his youth, 
then turning his attention to farm work, 
which should more directly benefit himself. 
All business cares, however, were put aside 
in 1 86 1, for he felt that his duty was to the 
south which he loved, and he went forth to 
defend the principles with which he had 
been familiar from earliest boyhood. He 
enlisted in Captain G. W. Manion's company 
and Colonel Darnell's regiment, and later 
was assigned to an ordnance company. His 
service was in Texas and Arkansas and at 
the time of the surrender he was in Tyler, 
this state. On one occasion he svas slightly 
wounded by a shell striking the ground near 
him, and all his companions were severely 
injured. 

When the war was over and peace had 
been restored between the two sections Mr. 
Spivey returned to Henderson county, 
Texas, and began working for others. He 
took up his abode near Spivey's ferry and 
continued his residence there until 1879, 
when he removed to Hamilton county and 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of 
unimproved land near School Land Cove. 
i As his financial resources have increased 
and he has found opportunity to judiciously 
invest his capital, he has added to his realty 
until he now has one thousand three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of good land, of 
which three hundred and twenty acres are 
highly cultivated and yields to him a golden 
tribute. 

Mr. Spivey has been twice married. In 
1866 he was joined in wedlock with Eli- 
ciph Burton, of Texas, who died in 1878, 
leaving three children, — Elias, Ephraim and 
Ella. In 1883 Mr. Spivey married Miss 
Mary Alice Culifer, a native of Alabama, 
and their children are Enoch, Alice Pearl, 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



827 



Anna Myrtle, Jeff and Austin. Mrs. Spi- 
ve3''s parents were James William and 
Susan A. (Curry) Culifer. 

Mr. Spivey formerly gave his political 
support to the Democracy, but since 18S2 
has been identified with the Populist party. 
He has neither time nor inclination for pub- 
lic office, preferring to devote his energies to 
his business interests. He is numbered 
among the prominent farmers of the county, 
and although now well advanced in years 
he is vigorous and strong and may still be 
found at work on his farm overseeing its 
operations. He has been very successful, 
accumulating a handsome property through 
diligence, perseverance and capable man- 
agement, and his prosperity is certainly 
well deserved. 



BI^ANCIS MARION BERRY.— It is 
only a small portion of the citizens 
of a countr\- who become promi- 
nent in military or political affairs. 
The great majority are those who quietly 
devote their energies to business pursuits, 
performing each day's duty as it comes and 
are thus ready to perform the task that the 
morrow brings. It is this class of citizens 
to whom the country owes its stability and 
prosperity, and it is to this class that our 
subject belongs. He is an energetic, enter- 
prising farmer and stock-raiser, whose 
career is unmarked by events of startling in- 
terest, and yet who faithfully performs his 
duty to his country, his neighbor and 
himself. 

A native of Montgomery county, Ala- 
bama, Mr. Berry was born August 24, 1 848, 
a son of Elijah and Candace (Thompson) 
Berry. His parents were among the early 
settlers of Alabama, and in 1849 emigrated 



to the Lone Star state, locating in Travis 
count}-, where the father taught school for a 
time and is still living. 

The mother of our subject died when he 
was but a year old and he was reared by a 
maternal aunt, Miss Mary Thompson. 
When thirteen years of age he was taken by 
her to Smith county, where he grew to man- 
hood on a farm, remaining with his aunt un- 
til twenty-five years of age. He then 
started out in life for himself and chose as 
a companion and helpmeet on life's journey 
Miss Stacy Kelly, a native of Tennessee, 
who came to the Lone Star state when a 
child. Their marriage was celebrated Feb- 
ruary 27, 1870, and they began their do- 
mestic life upon a farm in Wood county, 
Te.xas, where Mr. Berry continued agricul- 
tural pursuits until his removal to Hood 
county. His wife died May 2, 1872, and he 
was again married February 12, 1875, his 
second union being with Mary Catherine 
Kelly, a sister of his first wife. She died 
and Mr. Berry was married December 17, 
1876, to Miss'L. C. James, a native of 
Tennessee and a daughter of Elijah James, 
who came to Texas in an early day. The 
children of this marriage are Elijah, who 
was born in December, 1877, and died Sep- 
tember 2, 1891. The mother died in 1877 
and for his next wife Mr. Berry chose Miss 
Sarah Gifford, a native of Wood county, 
Texas, and daughter of Jesse Gifford, who 
came to Texas in pioneer times. There was 
one son of this marriage, William Adolphus, 
who was born July 17, 1879. Mrs. Berry 
died and on the 7th of February, 18S2, was 
celebrated the marriage of Mr. Berry and 
Mrs. Drusilla Turner, a native of Tennessee 
and a daughter of John and Sarah Ann 
(Rogers) Burton, who were probably na- 
tives of Virginia and came to Erath county 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



when Mrs. Berry was a child. The children 
of this marriage, four sons and a daughter, 
are Julia C. , born May 23, 1884; Robert D., 
June 23, 1887; Addison L., October 27, 
1888; Hubbard O., March 17, 1890; and 
Iva Marsh, October 14, 1892. 

In the spring of 1877 Mr. Berry came to 
Hood county, locating on Squaw creek, 
where he purchased a tract of land upon 
which but few improvements had been made. 
There he lived for a year and moved twice 
more before coming to his present farm in 
1893. He has one hundred and sixty-six 
acres of land, of which sixty-five acres are 
under cultivation. He has acquired his 
property entirely through his own efforts 
and is truly a self-made man. Jle started 
out for himself with no capital but a deter- 
mination to succeed, and has steadily and 
persistently worked his way upward, making 
the most of his opportunities. In his deal- 
ings he has been so straightforward and 
honorable that he has gained the confidence 
and regard of all with whom he has been 
brought in contact, and throughout the com- 
munity he has many friends. 



>pj» C. JACKSON is a well known citi- 
K zen and leading farmer of Bosque 
A J county, Texas, where he has resided 
for about twenty years. A native of 
Georgia, he was born in Greene county on 
the 20th of December, 1849, a son of John 
S. and Frances (McBride) Jackson. His 
father was born in South Carolina and was 
of Irish Hneage. His mother was a native 
of Macon. Georgia. They had eight chil- 
dren, namely: Lena, John H., Eliza, Lizzie, 
deceased, J. C, Mary, Milton and Willie. 
Their father, who was born in 181 8, died in 
1 87 1, and their mother has also departed 



this life. He was a farmer by occupation 
and followed that pursuit throughout his 
business career. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat and in religious belief was a Baptist. 

J. C. Jackson, whose name introduces 
this review, was reared on a farm in 
Georgia and there obtained a liberal edu- 
cation, but business experience and observa- 
tion have made him a well informed man. 
He came to Bosque county about 1876 and 
has since been identified with its agricultural 
interests. 

Mr. Jackson married Mrs. Margaret 
Pierce, a native of Alabama and a daughter 
of John Lattimore, a native of Tennessee 
and a descendant of the prominent Lattimore 
family of England. He married Elizabeth 
Stripling, a native of Georgia. Her people 
were descendants of the famous Stewart 
family of Scotland, and the great-grandfather 
of Mrs. Jackson was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary war, valiantly aiding the colonies 
in their struggle for independence. During 
that war her grandfather hid in a hollow 
log to escape capture by the British soldiers. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lattimore became the parents 
of ten children, five sons and five daughters. 
The father died in Cherokee county, Texas, 
in 1870, and the mother died in 1872, at 
the age of fifty-four years. 

Margaret Lattimore was married in 
Cherokee county, Texas, when twenty-three 
years of age, to George Tipton, a native of 
Georgia and a soldier in the civil war. He 
died in October, 1871, leaving one daughter, 
Mrs. Georgia Chambers. On the iith of 
August, 1872, Mrs. Tipton was married to 
A. C. Pierce, by whom she had three chil- 
dren: Mary, now the wife of John Barry; 
Maud and Alfred C. Mr. Pierce died No- 
vember 3, 1878, and his widow afterward 
married Mr. Jackson, with whom she is now 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



829 



living. They have one son, Ro}', about 
two years of age, and have also lost one 
child, Claude. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jackson 
are honored and respected people and have 
many friends in Bosque count}'. Mr. Jack- 
son is in politics a supporter of the Populist 
party. 



^^^ W. SHELTON, who has been 
■ ^^ identified with the interests of 
^^^9 Erath county since 1875, is now 
engaged in general merchandising 
in Huckabay and is one of its prominent 
business men. A native of Kentucky, he 
was born in Union county, March 16, 1845, 
a son of William L. and Elizabeth Shelton, 
also natives of Kentucky. The grandfather, 
Elijah Shelton, was born in Ireland, a son of 
Joel Shelton, who with his family emigrated 
to America prior to the Revolutionary war, 
settling in South Carolina. When a young 
man Elijah Shelton entered the service of the 
colonies and fought for the independence of 
the nation. After the war he married and 
removed to Kentucky, being one of the 
pioneers of that state, where he lived until 
his death, which occurred when he had at- 
tained the age of ninety-nine years! The 
maternal grandfather of our subject was 
a native of Scotland, and also located in 
Kentucky at an early period in its history. 
His wife reached the advanced age of ninety- 
eight years. 

William Shelton followed farming and 
merchandising in Union county, Kentucky, 
until 1852, when he removed to Vernon 
county, Missouri, v.'hich was then a wild 
and undeveloped region. He still resides 
in the county and retains the mental and 
physical vigor of youth to a remarkable 



degree, although now seventy-seven years 
of age. His wife die.d in 1850, and he 
afterward married Lydia Halmon. He had 
five children by the first marriage, two of 
whom are now living, and thirteen by the 
second marriage. Mr. Shelton is a promi- 
nent citizen of the community where he 
makes his home, has served his county as 
magistrate for eight years, and after the 
war served as deputy sheriff for several 
years. 

G. W. Shelton remained on his father's 
farm until the breaking out of the civil war, 
when, at the age of si.xteen, he enlisted in 
February, 1S62, in Captain Gatewood's 
company, of the Third Missouri Cavalry, 
Shelby's brigade and Marmaduke's division. 
He participated in the battles of Springfield, 
Wilson's creek, Lone Jack and Cape Girar- 
deau, where he was twice wounded and 
thus disabled for further service, but al- 
though badly injured he rode with his com- 
mand back to Arkansas. After his recov- 
ery he took part in the battles of Cane Hill, 
where his horse was shot under him, Coon 
creek, Prairie Grove, Parsons' Springs, Jen- 
kins Ferry, and Marks' Mill. He was cap- 
tured and for a short time held as a prisoner 
in Missouri. He served until the close of 
the war and surrendered at Shreveport, Lou- 
isiana, in June, 1S65. He then went to 
Cave Rock, Illinois, where his father was 
then located, reaching home in August. 
There he remained until the following Feb- 
ruary, when he went to Shreveport, Louisi- 
ana, where he was employed in the gas 
works for twenty-three months. On the ex- 
piration of that period he went to Mississippi, 
where he operated a farm for two years, 
after which he once more went to Arkansas. 

Mr. Shelton was married near Hot 
Springs, October 22, 1869, to Miss Mis- 



880 



HISTORY OF TEXAS. 



souri Hyde, a native of Hardin county, Ten- 
nessee, and a daughter of N. R. P. and 
Martha Ann (Holt) Hyde, who were born 
in Tennessee. After his marriage Mr. 
Shelton located in what is now Grant 
county, where he followed farming until 
1 8/ I, when he removed to Lamar county 
and thence to Coryell countj'. On coming to 
Erath countj"in 1875 he rented a farm for 
one year and the following year secured a 
homestead claim of one hundred and sixty 
acres of wild land, where the village of 
Huckabay now stands. This place he im- 
proved and followed farming until 1886. 
On the 2 1st of April, 1890, he began his 
present business, which he purchased of J. 
A. Huckabay, since which time he has suc- 
cessfully conducted his general merchandis- 
ing establishment. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shelton are the parents of 
seven children, namely: Professor William 
Henry, of Stephenville College; Sarah 
Alice;]. E., a druggist of Huckabay; Laura 
Ann, Robert P. , Cora Lillie and Benjamin. 
Mr. Shelton, his wife and four children, are 
members of the Christian church and in the 



work thereof take a deep interest. He is 
now serving as clerk of the church. In 
politics he is a Democrat. 






E PIONEER EXPONENT, a 
weekly publication issued at Co- 
lanche, Texas, is the official Pop- 
ulist journal of Comanche county: 
Messrs. W. H. and Frank Chancellor, pro- 
prietors. The Exponent has had an existence 
for nearly ten years, having been established 
in 1887, and since that date has been an im- 
portant factor in local politics, being true to 
its name and ably representing the cause 
for which it was instituted. Its editorial 
and business management has, since 1894, 
been under control of Mr. Frank Chancel- 
lor, a journalist of marked popularity and 
ability and of some years' experience, and 
under his wise directions its standard of ex- 
cellence has been raised and its circulation 
largely increased. At this writing it has a 
circulation of three thousand copies, besides 
exchanges, and goes into all parts of Co- 
manche and surrounding counties. 






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